r/Volvo

I have a 3-series BMW with a car seat behind the passanger seat for our two year old. My wife is 5'4" so she sits rides passanger, and I am 6'2" (182 cm) so I tend to drive, and our small dog is behind me. It's on the verge of being uncomfortable.

We are about to have a second child and so we need a larger car. We have between £15 to 20K, and I am struggling! The XC40 and XC60 are obvious choices too, but the width of the rear bench doesn't seem to vary hugely between all the Volvos—in fact, as far as I can tell, the boot space, leg room, and drivability are really what change.

Has anybody got any Volvo that is around 3-6 years old with two car seats in the rear? Frankly I'll take any car at this rate! I would be so grateful if anybody with experience can share some real world experience. My wife isn't a fan of massive cars, and we'd stuggle to fit a large SUV in front of our house, so we're limited to small SUVs and estates with a decent internal layout at this point.

Thanks!

Hi,

So I have 2008 volvo c70 t5 with automatic transmission. At first it wouldn't go to manual mode (would show D), so I fixed the blind with magnet. Now it goes to manual mode (it shows a number), but + and - does nothing, it just stays in the same gear no matter what I do. Transmission itself works just fine when in D, it's just ignoring + and -.
When I serviced my transmission (changed fluid and recalibrated it) the blind issue was not yet fixed. Can it be that transmission recalibrated without manual mode will not work in one? Or is there more issues with the magnet/shifter?
Very hard to find any info, as all the manual mode issues online goes to "change blind"

Edit: Okay, so chatgpt suggested "trying harder" to push +/- and it sometimes works. I assume there's some sort of contacts for +/- and they're out of alignment/dirty/corroded and not contacting properly. Anyone has a video with teardown instructions (manual would work as well)

I own a 2023 xc60 recharge. I rented a 2026 Kia sedan this week, and the lane assist is almost perfect. It would easily handle turns, and wouldn't lose its goddamn mind when a lane split happened. The Volvo's is straight up dangerous, with sudden jerky movements to the side to the point where I often turn it off as it tires my arms out just fighting it on turns and when lanes split.

The cruise control in my Volvo is worse Than any car I've ever driven. My 2025 Rav4, old 2016 forester, and this Kia actually slow down gradually and can sense cars fairly far away. The Volvo makes sudden sharp braking moves, is jerky, and gets like 2 feet from the car in front of it when coming to a stop - way too close!

As we all know the software is a decade old, slow to start, and just a dinosaur compared to most other brands. The Kia felt like a new car. The Volvo feels like a 10 year old android phone you pulled out of a drawer, updated to the newest software, and struggled to use today.