Hi everyone,

It's been a while since my last post when my husband and I were looking at buying an xc90. We ended up purchasing a different vehicle, but are now looking at them again since we have 2 kids now and want a more family vehicle and one to replace our JGC. Also wanting a 3rd row.

How are the xc90's at towing? What's the most that you've towed and how did it handle power-wise and stability-wise? Which xc90 model do you have?


Thank you,
Sharlene

 

Instead of thinking about towing in terms of strictly weight, you have to consider the frontal area of what you are towing that will be above the roof height of the tow vehicle. Obviously the V-8 is available for certain model years and if you are towing something tall like a travel trailer I wouldn't recommend anything other than that. If you are talking boat or pop up camper that is low profile that is a different story. What would you tow?

 

Currently we'd be occasionally towing a stuff hauling trailer, but later on we may be towing a boat or a small camper. Would be nice to be able to tow a car trailer and our 4x4, but that would more than likely be too much, so thankfully we have a good friend who lets us barrow his F350.

 

The tow rating for the 6 cyl engine is ~3900 lbs and the V-8 ~4900 lbs, so a car trailer with anything beyond a compact car is out, even for the V-8. The XC90 is a very capable tow vehicle within its rating, though the 6 cyl will find it tough to handle anything with a high frontal area, so if the camper you would be considering is a full height travel trailer definitely stick to a V-8. Also watch out for a boat without a V hull or a pontoon boat. For local towing picking up construction materials, mulch, etc., the 6 cyl would be fine. 2011 was the last year the V-8 was available. Don't forget a brake controller if the trailer will have electric brakes.

 

I just posted a pretty detailed write-up on my towing experience so far with our XC90. Check it out here:

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...wd-xc90-78524/

Overall it's been just fine. I have the 2.5T FWD and it tows our boat just fine. If you have questions feel free to PM me.

 

Hi Sharlene,


I have a minor data point for you... I have a 2005 XC90 V8, and I recently started towing with it. I put on the 5000# hitch, and I'm very happy with it. Thus far I've only towed a few light U-Haul trailers, (once with a yard tractor on it, and once with a bunch of lumber,) but it was quite stable on the freeway and I barely noticed the trailer there.


Based on my experience to date, I think I'd be quite happy pulling a U-Haul 5x9 or 8x12 across the country with it. Hope this helps!

 

We have a 2004 with the 6. It's towed a 3200 lb trailer all over the west from the Grand Canyon to Jasper. My trailer is a Trail Manor, and it collapses to about the same height as the car, so my cross-section going down the road is pretty minimal. That said, towing the trailer we get 12.5 MPG, which is about the same as we get unburdened around town.

We're on the 3rd transmission; thank God for an extended warranty. The third one has been going strong for 30K miles or so, longer than the previous 2 lasted, so I think Volvo finally fixed the problem. We had to replace the bevel gear (not 'cause it failed, but because it leaked slightly and they couldn't dismantle it to replace the gasket), and had all the suspension bushings replaced too. We had the well-documented water leak into the front foot wells; cleaning the grommet in the A pillar solved that problem and took about 20 minutes - that's my kind of repair.

Recently had a "Reduced Performance" and associated codes thrown; we'll see what failed this time.

As a tow vehicle I think it has done well. Like I wrote, it's towed our rig over more mountain passes than I can count, and done so with power. I wish the compression ratio was higher so that we could brake with the engine, but that just doesn't work. Therefore, make sure your trailer has brakes that work!