Last First-Gen Volvo XC90 Rolls Out Of Torslanda

So that day has, sadly, come. In today's world of Vorsprung durch Marketing even the best, most efficient designs must make way for the ALL-NEW! and AMAZING! And, at least in my opinion, a great design that XC90 surely was. I've sat in ML-classes, X-fives and sixes, Infinities etc. and time and time again I struggled to see any meaningful improvements over the Swede. Sure, I sure as hell am biased, but the XC90 was the car that pretty much made us a one-make family. It had its faults - the abysmal leather quality and horrible GM-sourced 4-speed gearbox paired to the T6 engines are prime examples - but it took abuse that a lesser car wouldn't be able to take, and kept going strong regardless. In my opinion, the second gen has big shoes to fill, and I'm curious how it will do. Since my father would probably buy the second-gen next year, I will luckily have a chance to see that. I predict that it will be a significant improvement over the old one for the average buyer whose primary concerns are fuel economy, luxury and equipment. But what interests me more is: how good of a workhorse it will be, as that's how that one would be used. Right now, it doesn't look too good since the engines would probably be limited to turbocharged 4-bangers; hybrid or not. That's unfortunate since the 3.2 I6 from the first gen is a great engine, and not an old one at that, so it probably wouldn't be too costly to keep offering it and eventually make it compliant with any emission standards that will come into force in the near future.

When I was SUV shopping back in late 2011, I considered an XC90. It checked almost all of my boxes. However, the year I bought 2012, the V8 option was dropped. I didn't particularly care for the stupid split tailgate as well, is it really that hard to make a liftgate? Ended up with a Q7.

Oh FINALLY they kill this design. It has aged well used, but has not been a good purchase-as-new option since about 2006, when it started looking aged outside and in. They're hard to find [used] in a decent color with the right options. Especially hard to get one with nav. And then it's scary if it hasn't been really well maintained, or if it has the Yamaha V8.

Corey, EVERY leather in a Volvo developed before the XC60 (except the RWD models maybe, I don't know) ages poorly. There was this one particular XC90 with about 270K miles on it that I had to literally sit on the sponge with leather on the center hanging on just two lines of stitches and the left side torn completely. Another XC90 seems to be going the same way, with the stitches starting to let loose and wrinkling present since around the 50K mile mark. The first gen '99 V70XC didn't fare much better. At least the XC60 has significantly better seats. Luckily, my S40 has cloth, even though it's in that non-color that this generation generally seems to love - grey. Although having seen many Volvo seats throughout the years I agree with you, black seems to be the worst. It seems to me that when it comes to interior choices I have similar tastes to yours. Non-black and with wood. Even though I'm cheap (it's base models all day, every day for me) I would pay a lot to have wood accents and a beige/red interior on it. And about the exterior colors - now I know why you couldn't find the car you were looking for. In Europe, brown was relatively popular but it doesn't seem to be the case stateside. Navy blue - now that's rare I believe. I have personally seen just one.