this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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I don't know much about Mazda, except a vague memory of my dad having a moss-colored one when I was 5 or so. Other than that, I have absolutely no experience or knowledge with the brand.
My old one was manufactured by welding I-beams together at 90 degree angles, so there's only so much that can go wrong with that design. But I still needed to park it at my local shop for a few weeks for some extensive repair, and in the mean time I borrowed a Ford (a brand I absolutely detest for personal reasons, but that's a whole other story on its own). One day while visiting a town about an hours drive away I had an hour to kill, so I stopped by the local Volvo dealership out of curiosity and spoke to a guy about what I needed. Long story short, he gave me one to test drive for two days: A brand new Volvo XC90.
I parked the Ford, and I phoned up my GF to confirm that there was nothing scheduled that day. I revealed nothing about what plan I had in mind, but I told her to make sure that the kids stayed home once school had finished for the day. Just before arriving at home I phoned again and told them to get ready. It was fun seeing their surprise once I drove up to the house and told them we'd be driving to this niche/specialized candy store that had just opened in the aforementioned town. All of us would be going at the same time for a change.
Last day, when dropping the kids off at school they unanimously agreed that I should buy one. And this March I was looking through available vehicles at the dealership, and they had a 2019 model that was reasonably priced and with almost no wear on it. Well, the guy at the dealership worked there for a reason, because I just wanted some information - The next morning I picked up the car.
I was aware the entire time that the new Volvo and the old Volvo had almost nothing in common, and I've never been much of a brand loyalist. It just so happens that the XC90 was what I needed, was available, and a car I really enjoy driving.
When heading to the head office for work stuff, I used to fly for an hour. Now I don't mind driving for 7 hours.
That's a story! My partner was at the point where they were begging me to buy anything. The need for the car was for real. Haha. I should have done something like that. π
I just looked up the XC90. It's a beefy boy. It can hold a family with ease plus alllll the luggage. Now you're equipped for any trip. Including the dreaded in-law visits. π
Beefy yes, not that much luggage. The 3rd row of seats comes at the expense of luggage space. So when everyone is onboard there's only room for a couple of suitcases in the back. What is convenient is that the seats fold down completely flat, so when I need to haul something alone it's quite roomy.
We did do the 16 hour drive to visit my mom this summer, and for the occasion we got one of those roof mounted ski boxes for the additional storage/luggage space. That gave us room for 5 extra suitcases, fishing rods, life vests et.al. (boating was on the agenda).
Despite being a lot heavier and more powerful than the old car, the fuel economy is much better as it's a chargeable hybrid. For long trips this clocks in at roughly 25% less fuel spent. When it's just the daily driving stuff I switch to full electric. The battery is enough for 40ish minutes of driving.
Right after I bought it I took the kids on a small trip up this mountainside close to where we live. While driving I explained the concept of power-to-weight to them, and then told them some figures about the old and the new car. I could see them in the back mirror, thinking hard about the numbercrunching. I quietly switched to the "power mode" which basically connects all three engines for performance over economy. Just as they started to answer that the new car had a much higher PWR I floored it and I heard four surprised happy cheers from the back as the car practically jumped up the 30 degree slope.
As for the dreaded in-laws trip, for me that's almost every day, as they live 300 meters away. For my GF, that was this summer.
300 meters away! π¬
Reminds me of my old Grand Cherokee in terms of space and seating. Adding a car topper really helped. When the kids were young, we did many 3200 km trips back and forth between where we lived and where the family lived. That's a lot of car time with kiddoes and a dog. So many pee breaks.
Now, we have a minivan which has the third row of seats plus decent storage pace (in the back and below seats, millennium falcon style). It's not sexy, but it really gets the job done well. The V6 pulls the camper with ease, too. Now we only live 1300 km away. Phew!