Hello everyone,

I've owned a 2025 XC60 for about 6 months.

During this time, I frequently experience a jerking sensation in first and second gear at specific RPMs (1600-1800 rpm).

Has anyone else encountered this? The service center couldn't find any error messages on the ECU and even reconfigured the transmission ECU, but the problem persists after a while. It's especially noticeable when turning at low speeds or in traffic jams, and it's very frustrating.

 

I cant speak for the year and model but often when cars are worn all the backlash in the drivetrain stacks together and it can make the car uncomfortably jerky at low speeds in traffic.

normally I can jack one back wheel off the ground , put the car in gear and just try turnign it, the amount you can turn the wheel witout moving the engine is a way to quickly check all this stacked backlash.

this thing might be FWD so Id look in a similar way, i fyou can feel around while you have a helper continuously rock the wheel back and forth you may be able to feel freeplay in various places, CV joints etc.

if you drive a car hard instead of smoothly you will wear it out a lot faster.
Some of the rubber parts are related. you can check engine mounts ,suspension points, etc.

at low speeds you have quite a lot of torque on the drivetrain and at slow speds you are constantly reversing from a driving to driven , causing all the backlash in the drivetrain to be constantly reversing.
on the highway all the backlash is taken up as it is then only "driving" and not "being driven"

 

Thank you so much for sharing. I bought a brand new car in 2025 with a four-wheel drive system(AWD). I found that the situation is much better when I use the accelerator harder, but it's prone to problems in frequent traffic jams or when I press the accelerator too lightly.

But I think your points about the gap issue and the backlash are very valid.