Volvo XC / Pilot Pics

[a2Pilot]

My brother-in-law visited us last weekend driving his new Volvo Cross Country. It's a very nice looking car with plenty of great features. Funny, though. When it was time to go out to dinner, I drove the Pilot since his XC can't seat six adults. Here are the pics!

[a2Pilot]

Both are about the same length, but the XC felt so much smaller in the interior!

[a2Pilot]

The Pilot clearly wins in cargo room:

[a2Pilot]

I have fog light envy......

[ramirami]

wow...the pilot look cool....

does you brother-in-law know that this volvo is being trashed on this forum

[a2Pilot]

What he doesn't know won't hurt him!

I'm not trashing the XC. It looks great. I just prefer my Pilot......

[Qbrozen]

yer comparing a wagon to an SUV?

if he had bought the XC90, then we'd have a comparison to discuss.

[ChuckW]

That thing is a station wagon! Just like the new Porsche and Toyota.

[bkwon]

Hate to break this up, but I can't see how you can compare an SUV to a station wagon. A somewhat "unfair" comparison, though it is still a better comparison is the Pilot vs XC90. "Unfair" because the XC90 is a lot more expensive. I like the Pilot very much, but I have to hand it to Volvo for building such a remarkable vehicle like the XC90. Anyway I look at it, it's still comparing apples and oranges. The Pilot needs to be compared with its close competitors, i.e. similar price range, size, etc. like the Highlander, Pathfinder, Rendezvous ... and of course, the Pilot comes up on top ...

[bkwon]

very nice pictures, though ... and it looks like a very lovely place you live in!

[michaelp95]

Originally posted by bkwon
Hate to break this up, but I can't see how you can compare an SUV to a station wagon. A somewhat "unfair" comparison, though it is still a better comparison is the Pilot vs XC90. "Unfair" because the XC90 is a lot more expensive. I like the Pilot very much, but I have to hand it to Volvo for building such a remarkable vehicle like the XC90. Anyway I look at it, it's still comparing apples and oranges. The Pilot needs to be compared with its close competitors, i.e. similar price range, size, etc. like the Highlander, Pathfinder, Rendezvous ... and of course, the Pilot comes up on top ...

Aren't all SUVs really just station wagons on steroids? Their just up higher off the ground, made to look more truck like, have 3 rows of seats to hold more people/ stuff etc.....its something called "Marketing". People got bored with "station wagons" so a few changes here and there and Voila, its now an SUV.....

[bkwon]

I suppose you're right. Come to think of it, one could say that the Pilot is the Odyssey (since it's based on the MDX which is based on the Odyssey) ... so where is the "Sport" in SUV? So perhaps we're all driving mini vans but some of us just don't want to think of the Pilot as a mini van. May be that's why Pacifica is not labelled as SUV ... can't remember off-hand what they call it. Doesn't matter. I still think for fair comparison of two vehicles, somehow they should be in the same or close enough "class". I don't think a station wagon and an "SUV" (if I could call it that) are in the same "class". However, it all comes down to personal preference, I guess. So if you want to call an "SUV" a higher station wagon, OK. As long as you don't call it a mini van ... (it's for soccer mom)

Well, may be only the H2 is a true SUV (perhaps eventually we may get tired of this and the term SUV will disappear).

Here's a good write-up on the XC70 -- "not quite an SUV"

http://www.autonet.ca/AutonetStories...m?storyID=8318

[a2Pilot]

Yes, I realize the XC is a wagon, but it is a vehicle we considered while shopping. It does have a third row seat, BUT it only holds two <60 pound kids. Not very effective. It's drivable around town on a daily basis, and can be used to explore remote places on the weekends. Just like the Pilot.

The Pilot is not really a wagon, but the definition of SUV has become very blurry. The XC is a wagon with SUV attributes. They're both a little difficult to classify.

We obviously passed on the XC, as well as the MDX since the Pilot meets our needs for about 8 grand less.

[krygny]

The XC90 is a beautiful vehicle with some great features. It's funny that Volvo, traditionally known for dull styling, is now making some the most distinctively styled vehicles around (IMHO).

There were two things about the XC90 that forced me to eliminate it from consideration. First, I'm simply not interested in a turbocharger, and it only comes with a turbocharged 2.5L inline 5-cyl (good gas mileage, but a slug) or a turbocharged 2.9L inline 6-cyl, the engine of choice (plenty of power but lousy mileage). The Honda VTEC is the best of both worlds, especially since it takes regular. Second, I didn't really want to spend 40K+. If I did, I'd have gotten the MDX, but even at that, I felt I'd be paying 6-8K for a nameplate.

[borg]

Here's an actual photo comparo of the Pilot and XC, the XC belongs to a friend who likes it very much, he has had other Volvos and like Honda has loyal customers so does Volvo. But I agree with krygny, for about the same money I would get the Acura MDX, not only because I am a loyal Honda customer but in my opinion offers a lot more for your money than the Volvo.