Hello. My wife and I just bought our first Volvo a couple days ago. Never had one and have been wanting one for a long time. Going from a 95 Chevy Lumina (that we've had since 2003) driving the 2004 Volvo was whole new kind of experience all of which has been pleasant... except for one thing... there seems to be a bit of a lag time accelerating from a complete stop.

My first impression was "crap... transmission..." but having driven my fair share of cars with transmissions-in-need-of-repair I'm in a bit of a quandary as with the Volvo there is no revving of the engine prior to taking off... and once it takes off, it takes off like a rocket! and there seems to be no lack of power over all. Passes cars on the highway like a dream. No issue with timing or anything else.

So my question is this: Is this normal? Or is it something I am going to wish I didn't need to have to look into further.

 

Welcome to Drive by wire! My 01 does that when cold and I looked into having the intake TPS software updated. helped for a while and its now doing it again. Then I saw there was a fuel pump recall but mine was done already. How many miles on er and do you have a reasonable dealer nearby?

 

Thank you! 116K miles when we bought it and it's now up to 118K. I've since gotten used to the hesitation though now that it's colder out I've noticed a slight hesitation shifting between 1st and 2nd, but that's to be expected considering the times that it hesitates happens usually when I'm running a tad bit late for work and don't have a lot of time to sit and idle.

As far as reasonable dealers... I only know of one Volvo dealership in the area. Given that it's probably the only one within 20 or so miles I don't have much for high hopes that it's reasonable. No matter, I do want to get it looked at and am quickly closing in on my next oil change. Also... the car alarm started going off without provocation a month or two ago. It was an easy fix to get it to stop. Simply pulled the fuse and called it good.

Apparently this is common from what I have been able to find out online. From the looks of it, it'll cost $400 to get the sensor or whatever replaced. Can't say I have an urgent need to get it fixed... particularly if there ends up being more pressing matters that need addressing.