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New Car -- The Lincoln is gone / Time for SwedSpeed

Started by 14SHOCAR, December 23, 2017, 10:34:53 AM

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14SHOCAR

I'm sure all of you know by now the issues I had been having with my 2017 Lincoln MKZ. (https://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php/topic,8701.0.html)

I really became disenchanted with cars, as I was truly disappointed in my experience with a car I really wanted. Truly I still love the lines of the MKZ -- but then I am reminded that because of these lines -- there isn't enough head room for a 6 foot tall guy to lean forward without hitting his head on the sun visor. (a small but annoying problem).

I went on a mission to find "the car" once again. Here's my feedback on all of the new cars out there:

- I drove the newly re-branded 2017 Genesis G80 (5.0L V8 is doggy but the 3.3T was a ton of fun), my problem was that it was still a Hyundai. I felt a little snobby turning away from a $60,000 car because it was a "hyundai" but it just wasn't me. Plus, the technology, like the blind spot monitoring system (BLIS) didn't work consistently -- like it turns off when you are driving by by a semi truck trailer.

- I also took out a Lexus GS350, but their infotainment controller / joystick would have driven me crazy. I'm a computer guy and it still wasn't intuitive.

- I ventured over to the Infiniti store and took a Infinti Q50 Red Sport for a spin. This car was quick, and a ton of fun to drive but it lacked one thing, sound quality. I'm not talking about the speaker system, I'm taking about the general quality of the windows and sound cancelling equipment. Case and point, if you knock on the sunroof, it sounds just about as thin as a glass coffee table. I couldn't get past the lack of interior quality, and how the car just seemed to lack "quality".

- Frustrated, I walked next door to the Mercedes dealership and I fell in love with a Mercedes C43 AMG -- when you put the car into sport mode and the electronic exhaust valve opens, I just grinned ear to ear. When I took my wife out for a test drive, I realized how cramped I was in the drive seat. Shoulder width wise, I was crammed between the center console and the A pillar. For tooling around town, I could get by, but I drive too much to want to be crammed into a car.  The E43 was priced too high, and I would have had to put down 5k for a $1100 lease payment (I didn't like the car that much). No Mercedes for me this round....

- I drove over to the BMW store and took a 540i xDrive out. I owned two 335xi's which have a similar engine, and I was reminded quickly that the interior hasn't changed much since 2008. Any feature that had "technology" was an up charge, and yet again, they came at a premium. I just didn't see the value.

- So I then walked over to the Audi store. I took an Audi A7 out. This had all of the modern features that you'd like -- lane assist, BLIS... and the interior was incredible. Did you know that all of the natural wood in the car is made from the same tree so the grains match? I didn't, but thought it was a neat story lol. I had a little beef with the A7. The engine in the A7 is a 3.0T -- so was my Lincoln. The feel and power was incredibly disappointing in the A7. It didn't throw you in the back of the seat, rather it was just a gradual climb to 60. I love the looks of the A7 but I also hate it says "supercharged" on the side when in fact it is a "turbo". A major WTF moment for me. I decided against the car when I was getting out of the car and my shoulders hit both the a-piller and the top of the door frame, making me realize my shoulders are too wide to easily get in and out of the car.  SOOO CLOSE.

- So my final stop in my adventure was to a Land Rover / Jaguar dealership to take out an Jaguar F-Pace. Its been a while since I've been in a Jaguar, and I thought maybe I could roll into an F Pace. I wasn't incredibly taken back by the car. It had the same door issues and with the seat all of the way down, My head was about a half inch away from the headliner.

I was just about to quit searching for cars when I walked to the attached dealership --- Volvo. What? A Volvo? I NEVER in a million years would have considered a Volvo, never the less walk into a Volvo Dealership. I literally was desperate to find a car that I could replace my Lincoln with so I had nothing to lose.

All I can say is HOLY SH*T, how have I never driven a Volvo before?? I think the shock is emphasized by my complete lack of knowledge in the Volvo Brand.

My newest vehicle is a 2018 Volvo S90 Inscription (with the redesigned rear seat that has 4" of extra leg room). Immediately sitting in the car, I was blown away by the large tablet-like infotainment system, the wood, the Premium Bowers and Wilkins speaker system with its "center" tweeter, and the comfort of the front seats. I then took to the back of the car and I was surprised that there is enough room for a 6' tall guy to comfortably sit in the rear seat even when the front seat is all the way back.

The engine in the car is a 2.0L twin charged 4cyl. Yes, twin charged -- the engine is both supercharged and turbo charged.  The super charger gets you off the line and the turbo charger pushes you through the higher speeds. Genius. The car doesn't have as much torque as the Lincoln but it pushes the boat up to 60 in 5.9 seconds. I ended up getting the Car PoleStar tuned (which is the AMG / //M Sport series of Volvo), and my numbers are closer to 5.7 seconds... within .1 seconds of the Lincoln with two less cylinders.

The car has every feature you can think of -- Pilot Assist (automated driving (speed and steering) for up to 1 minute), Adaptive Cruise, 360 parking camera, automatic parallel parking and backing into a parking spot -- heads up display, BLIS, heated windshield wipers, headlight washers, rear sunshade, rear side windows sunshades, panoramic roof, auto leveling rear end (air ride)-- and so many more features it would take forever to explain... This has features not even the Mercedes, Lincoln Continental, BMW, Genesis, and Audi had. Plus, the new redesigned look, I kind of like.

If you haven't taken a look at a Volvo lately -- it might be time.

So here it is boys, the 2018 Volvo S90 Inscription:









18 Volvo S90 Inscription - 2.0T Twin Charged - Polestar Tuned.
17 Lincoln MKZ 3.0T GTDI -To Tune, or Not To Tune -- THAT is the question.
15 Road Glide Special - CFR Exhaust, Powder Coated everything, DirtyAir Air ride
14 Taurus SHO (Sold)
LMS 93 V8 3Bar Tune, K&N Intake, LMS 160 t-stat, LMS pre-gapped plugs, Corsa Exhaust

SHOdded

Polestar does some amazing work.  Congrats and enjoy!
2007 Ford Edge SEL, Powerstop F/R Brake Kit, TXT LED 6000K Lo & Hi Beams, W16W LED Reverse Bulbs, 3BSpec 2.5w Map Lights, 5W Cree rear dome lights, 5W Cree cargo light, DTBL LED Taillights

If tuned:  Take note of the strategy code as you return to stock (including 3 bar MAP to 2 bar MAP) -> take car in & get it serviced -> check strategy code when you get car back -> have tuner update your tune if the strategy code has changed -> reload tune -> ENJOY!

ZSHO

Nice! Congrats on the new purchase Brenton! Best of luck and hope it serves you well!  :)


2013 Performance Package SHO| Livernois Custom Methanol Tune|3-Bar Map|Reische-170-Stat|Full Race Tial-10psi BOV in Black|PPE-Gloss Black Hot Pipes|EPP Dual Intake in Gloss Black|PPE Catted DP|Corsa Sport Cat Back Exhaust|H&R Sport-Springs|CFM Performance Billet Valve Cover Breather In Gloss Black|Llumar 20%Ceramic window Tint|MSD Ignition Coils in Black|Extreme Roof Spoiler|Redline Fluids all around|Gearhead Intercooler|First-SHO With Direct Port Alky-VP-M1-100%-Methanol Injection|LMS-Custom-Dyno-Tuned @ 415whp-465wtq| Best Trap Speed of 115.54 mph|

AJP turbo

Nice ride, can it be tuned further? What are the tuning solution options if any?

So with your dealer installed tune?, what are the power numbers?

Enjoy
SCT Dealer/Custom Calibrator                        
Specializing in 3.5 Ecoboost   
Remote/email custom tuning including E85 blends 
Authorized retailer for all SCT devices. 
 
Former:2014 PP SHO
3 bar 93 tune, Airaid, Stainless Works non catted DP's  
405whp/520tq
Dyno
     
Current:2016 F150 2.7 Ecoboost
Tuning in progress

Agentlongwood

Volvo is the low key brilliant choice in quality cars.  I'm a nurse and I was talking to one of the Psychiatrists at work, and we concluded that Volvo is 100% the current stealth wealth car.  If you want excellence without the "hey look at me" factor that Mercedes/BMW have, then it's the best choice.  I think they worked with orthopedic surgeons at one point for seat design, too.  Grats, man.  The thing looks great.
2014 Lincoln MKS - Sold... And I still miss it sometimes

SilvererSHO

Quote from: Agentlongwood on December 23, 2017, 08:44:08 PM
Volvo is the low key brilliant choice in quality cars.  I'm a nurse and I was talking to one of the Psychiatrists at work, and we concluded that Volvo is 100% the current stealth wealth car.  If you want excellence without the "hey look at me" factor that Mercedes/BMW have, then it's the best choice.  I think they worked with orthopedic surgeons at one point for seat design, too.  Grats, man.  The thing looks great.


You may be a nurse but you sound like you may moonlight selling Volvos on the weekend/afterhours? ;D
All Silver(er)SHO.  2012, every option with PP running new Firehawk Indy 500's.

SilvererSHO

A little off topic but, I noticed Volvo makes a car that's FWD with a 4-cylinder turbo and rear wheel drive with an electric motor for their hybrid.  Someone hear needs to ditch the PTU, driveshaft, RDU and slip in  a 200HP motor in the rear of a SHO?  Rear wheels could re-charge the battery when not accelerating.  I think you'd be in the 10's pretty easily.  Probably add 200-300 lbs. to the car.  They're doing some amazing stuff with motors.
All Silver(er)SHO.  2012, every option with PP running new Firehawk Indy 500's.

AJP turbo

Curious......What is the difference in MSRP for the Lincoln and the Volvo?
SCT Dealer/Custom Calibrator                        
Specializing in 3.5 Ecoboost   
Remote/email custom tuning including E85 blends 
Authorized retailer for all SCT devices. 
 
Former:2014 PP SHO
3 bar 93 tune, Airaid, Stainless Works non catted DP's  
405whp/520tq
Dyno
     
Current:2016 F150 2.7 Ecoboost
Tuning in progress

Brucelinc

Volvo recently offered me a $75 Visa gift card just for test driving a Volvo S90 and I took advantage of it.  They have a nice interior.

I wrote review of it on Blue Oval News and concluded that it would be a compelling choice over an MKZ for many people.

14SHOCAR

Quote from: AJP turbo on December 23, 2017, 12:29:21 PM
Nice ride, can it be tuned further? What are the tuning solution options if any? So with your dealer installed tune?, what are the power numbers?

That's a great question. I would suspect yes? There is another tuning company called Heico that also does tuning for the Volvo. Their tunes are ridiculous in cost ($2000+). Its actually a pretty interesting how the tunes work for the car. When the car is going off the line, the super charger is engaged, when it gets to a certain RPM range, the Super charger disengages and the turbo kicks in.

General Tuning Information:
Midrange 1500-4000 RPM (original 225HP/295TQ Optimized 245hp/321TQ)

Tuned Peak HP is 330HP / Peak torque is 325

Tuning information:
https://engineered.polestar.com/us/product/optimisation/s90-t6-drive-e-awd-automatic-2018-3-1

Another thing to note here is I wasn't going for the fastest car --- we are starting a family soon, so I figured I can do without the "speed" and go more for luxury and comfort.

Quote from: AJP turbo on December 24, 2017, 01:40:40 AM
Curious......What is the difference in MSRP for the Lincoln and the Volvo?

Well the Lincoln Continental is about 70k. I priced out a comparable with feature per feature and it came out to $77,000. The Volvo S90 Inscription was 68k and they gave me $11,000 off of MSRP. They also have ridiculous leasing incentives. Speaking with the Ford dealership you cannot walk out with a fully loaded Continental for less than $1000 / month. (I'm sure people here would disagree but its what I was told). My monthly payment on the car is $830/mo for 15k / year.
18 Volvo S90 Inscription - 2.0T Twin Charged - Polestar Tuned.
17 Lincoln MKZ 3.0T GTDI -To Tune, or Not To Tune -- THAT is the question.
15 Road Glide Special - CFR Exhaust, Powder Coated everything, DirtyAir Air ride
14 Taurus SHO (Sold)
LMS 93 V8 3Bar Tune, K&N Intake, LMS 160 t-stat, LMS pre-gapped plugs, Corsa Exhaust

14SHOCAR

Quote from: SilvererSHO on December 24, 2017, 12:44:25 AM
A little off topic but, I noticed Volvo makes a car that's FWD with a 4-cylinder turbo and rear wheel drive with an electric motor for their hybrid.  Someone hear needs to ditch the PTU, driveshaft, RDU and slip in  a 200HP motor in the rear of a SHO?  Rear wheels could re-charge the battery when not accelerating.  I think you'd be in the 10's pretty easily.  Probably add 200-300 lbs. to the car.  They're doing some amazing stuff with motors.

They actually make an FWD Twin Charged car with an electric rear motors. It's most similar to an AWD car -- and has the same traction characteristics. It's yet again a cool design. Instead of putting the batteries in the back of the car, they integrate the batteries along the bottom frame rails. The output from the car is 400HP and 400 TQ. The downside of the car is that it is a true Plug-in electric. When the battery is low, you don't get all of that power, it is back to the speed of the standard engine w/ AWD. The other downside is that the charger for home is $2500 to install. Yes you get a $3000 tax credit this year (congress is taking it away next year) but at that price I'd consider getting a Tesla charger :)

I was stuck between the 400HP which actually I found very little use for -- the driving I do to and from work (highway bumper to bumper), and the 2.0L twin charged system. I figured that I can sacrifice power for saving $2500 cash to install a charger, and a higher electric bill. LOL.

If you look at the Power / Liter ratio, its 165HP/liter which is very impressive.

Ferrari Portofino: 151.5 hp/liter
Ford Focus RS: 152.2 hp/liter
Honda Civic Type R: 153 hp/liter
Nissan GT-R nismo 157.9 hp/liter
Volvo T6 Engine non tuned 158 hp/liter
Audi RS3 / TT RS 160 HP/liter
Ferrari 488 GTB 169.4hp/liter
Alpha Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio 174.1hp/liter
McLaren 720S 177.5 hp/liter
Volvo S60 Polestar 181HP/liter (this is the polestar upgraded engine)
Mercedes CLA/GLA 45 AMG - 187.5hp/liter (also a 2 liter)

To AJP's point, I think there is room for growth here.

Speculation is that Polestar is working on a 600 HP plug-in electric beast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69gZgYg80qM
18 Volvo S90 Inscription - 2.0T Twin Charged - Polestar Tuned.
17 Lincoln MKZ 3.0T GTDI -To Tune, or Not To Tune -- THAT is the question.
15 Road Glide Special - CFR Exhaust, Powder Coated everything, DirtyAir Air ride
14 Taurus SHO (Sold)
LMS 93 V8 3Bar Tune, K&N Intake, LMS 160 t-stat, LMS pre-gapped plugs, Corsa Exhaust

griggs95

Looks like a really nice purchase based on all the cars you drove; you should work for road and track lol.

The comfort and layout of the interior (especially the rear seats) looks like you could drive across country and enjoy every second of it. Never seen anything like it. Volvo, who'd of guessed!?
2011 pp: lms 91 tune - ppe downs w/ kitties - Amsoiled myself all around - gapped 30 sp plugs - enthused driver, nervous passengers - aem drop in dry filter.

bpd1151

Quote from: griggs95 on December 24, 2017, 12:32:48 PM
Looks like a really nice purchase based on all the cars you drove; you should work for road and track lol.

The comfort and layout of the interior (especially the rear seats) looks like you could drive across country and enjoy every second of it. Never seen anything like it. Volvo, who'd of guessed!?
Agreed wholeheartedly.

Who would've thunk. A Volvo.

Definitely sharp. Would be interested in its longevity and it's experiences after the honeymoon phase is over.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


14SHOCAR

Quote from: bpd1151 on December 24, 2017, 01:08:03 PM
Definitely sharp. Would be interested in its longevity and it's experiences after the honeymoon phase is over.

You know I'll objectively review the car when I have some miles on it. I did get summer tires on the car -- so I admit I wasn't paying that close of attention to the 20" rim package. I ended up getting Continental Extreme Contact DWS's and in the snow today -- its been fun to play with. I want to find a good open parking lot to see how much this car will let me slide before interfering.

I'll keep everyone in the loop :)
18 Volvo S90 Inscription - 2.0T Twin Charged - Polestar Tuned.
17 Lincoln MKZ 3.0T GTDI -To Tune, or Not To Tune -- THAT is the question.
15 Road Glide Special - CFR Exhaust, Powder Coated everything, DirtyAir Air ride
14 Taurus SHO (Sold)
LMS 93 V8 3Bar Tune, K&N Intake, LMS 160 t-stat, LMS pre-gapped plugs, Corsa Exhaust

markssho

Very nice write up, thanks!

I went through a similar search back in 2010 and the SHO won me over.

I'm starting to get the new car itch again, but keep holding out, hoping that Ford has something in the works that they are hiding. However, seems more and more like Ford is exiting the car business. Oddly enough...
Right now, the Kia Stinger and Hyundai G80 have my attention!


Sent from my XT1094 using Tapatalk

2010 Taurus SHO, Cinnamon, 402B, ACC