[Gilt40]

I have ordered an R Design scheduled for delivery in mid June. I drive a Subaru Outback with paddle shifters that I use a lot to downshift going up and down hills. The setup works safely and well. My driveway slopes steeply down to the garage door.

I just drove an XC 40 demo and am very concerned about the non-intuitive shifter. It has no detents, and requires double taps to get through neutral and into Drive (back taps - counter intuitive) or Reverse (front taps - idem), and side movements of the shifter instead of paddle shifters. Recent professional reviewers, including Consumer Reports, find this design confusing and dangerous (e.g., miss a tap and the car is in neutral and will roll downhill.

What is the real world experience of owners with using the shifter?

Any other safety concerns? (e.g, blind spots, brake pedal placement...)

 

[revolvo]

Haven't gotten mine yet, but I assume it's like with any new car, just takes practice to make sure you don't accidentally shift into neutral on a hill.

 

[Got F?]

I have ordered an R Design scheduled for delivery in mid June. I drive a Subaru Outback with paddle shifters that I use a lot to downshift going up and down hills. The setup works safely and well. My driveway slopes steeply down to the garage door.

I just drove an XC 40 demo and am very concerned about the non-intuitive shifter. It has no detents, and requires double taps to get through neutral and into Drive (back taps - counter intuitive) or Reverse (front taps - idem), and side movements of the shifter instead of paddle shifters. Recent professional reviewers, including Consumer Reports, find this design confusing and dangerous (e.g., miss a tap and the car is in neutral and will roll downhill.

What is the real world experience of owners with using the shifter?

Any other safety concerns? (e.g, blind spots, brake pedal placement...)

My wife and I have had our XC40 for about 3 months now and we don't particularly like the console shifter but are getting used to it. The unconventional shifting mechanics between park, reverse and drive really only come into play during starting and stopping the vehicle, at least for our driving habits, so confusion/forgetfulness doesn't happen for the majority of the time while driving. The situation you describe may be more of a concern, however.

As far as the paddle shifters, I find them helpful when downshifting to a lower gear to get torque quicker rather than stomping on the gas pedal and waiting for the vehicle to react, which it will but the turbo lags and often overcompensates after kicking in. Paddle shifter usage temporarily move the transmission into manual mode (10 second delay, if I were to guess), so if you want to quickly move back to automatic mode then the console shifter needs to be pulled down twice. I only wish the paddle shifters were attached to the steering column instead of the steering wheel, so that they would stay in a fixed position when turning.

That may be more than you were asking...:smile

 

[Doctorold]

Shifter is a moot point to me. I just hit it twice and move on. I’ve heard the detractors but once you live with it, you don’t really notice it.

 

[Dcrism83]

It is a little querkie but you get used to it as far as shift paddles I don't use them

 

[White Shadow]

I have ordered an R Design scheduled for delivery in mid June. I drive a Subaru Outback with paddle shifters that I use a lot to downshift going up and down hills. The setup works safely and well. My driveway slopes steeply down to the garage door.

I just drove an XC 40 demo and am very concerned about the non-intuitive shifter. It has no detents, and requires double taps to get through neutral and into Drive (back taps - counter intuitive) or Reverse (front taps - idem), and side movements of the shifter instead of paddle shifters. Recent professional reviewers, including Consumer Reports, find this design confusing and dangerous (e.g., miss a tap and the car is in neutral and will roll downhill.

What is the real world experience of owners with using the shifter?

Any other safety concerns? (e.g, blind spots, brake pedal placement...)

If this new Volvo is like pretty much every other new car with an electronic shifter, then I'd think that it would automatically engage Park if you inadvertently selected Neutral and exited the vehicle. They pretty much "idiot proof" new vehicles these days to prevent that sort of thing from happening. That said, I really don't know why all of these car companies can't get together and decide on one single mechanism for gear selection. Acura now has pushbutton gear selection, BMW has their own joystick version and so does Mercedes Benz, who sometimes puts theirs on a stalk on the steering column. Jeep/Chrysler has another strange gear lever that changed over the last couple of years compared to the one in most of their 2015 vehicles, Dodge sometimes uses a rotary knob, etc...

 

[yeoman]

I keep reverting to the behavior of my lawn tractor - push shifter forward, go forward; push shifter back, go backwards - which is opposite of the XC40 shifter! It does seem non-intuitive, but you do get used to it.

 

[Jezza]

Shifter is a moot point to me. I just hit it twice and move on. I’ve heard the detractors but once you live with it, you don’t really notice it.

I agree. I actually like the quirkiness of it.

One real-world issue is that I recently valeted my car for the first time and it took a long time for the car to come back when I picked it up. The exasperated valet was a bit upset, and based on his description of trying to get it to shift, I have the feeling he had really been jamming the shifter around.

 

[yakers]

I agree. I actually like the quirkiness of it.

One real-world issue is that I recently valeted my car for the first time and it took a long time for the car to come back when I picked it up. The exasperated valet was a bit upset, and based on his description of trying to get it to shift, I have the feeling he had really been jamming the shifter around.

Thata a good heads up, I'll have to remember it if/when we valet.

 

[Tyzodavid]

I agree

 

[cobie1]

After a few months I have to say I've grown to really like the shifter. I saw a lot of videos criticizing it, but now it's so easy; no buttons to squeeze, just tap and go. It's really great once you get used to it.

 

[jeff]

Consumer Retorts Has been downhill for years now, but when I read the review where they bashed the whole car because the shifter was different , that made me realize they had gone Full Ebert* and evaluated the car based on needing to have something “different” and “fresh” to say , as opposed to “well-researched” or “meaningful”


*ebert was great. If he thumbed it up, I avoided it like the plague. Thumbs down? Must-see.

The shifter had me totally bamboozled... for like thirty seconds until I realized I’m a human and can learn stuff, so I did.

Blind spot when you look over your right shoulder instead of using the blis mirrors is not great. But the mirrors are better and blis is upgraded to flash at you if you are about to be dangerous. Would have loved a nudge back into my lane like MB does, but wouldn’t trade it.

Just finished a winter in SLC without snow tires. Was totally fine but didn’t go up into mountains or off-road. Used off-road mode in 15 inch storm in feb- worked great.

Biggest gripe: can’t start car in individual drive mode, and having to choose either CarPlay or wireless charging but not having both.

Hey Volvo if you lurk here you can just enable voice control to set drive mode as an OTA software update.

 

[Watson58]

I have seen so many defended the Shifter issue but I think those who defended this bad design have not thought about it carefully.

For starters, let's look at it from a user interface design point of view. If you have to explain how it works to people who does car for a living (like parking lot attendants) you have to admit that there is something wrong. I have a piece of laminated instruction sheet specifically for valet parking since I am tired of the issues.

For those who still want to defend the Shifter, I just have one point to raise. Consistency. If all gears can be selected using the Shifter, why do we have to press a button to "Park"?

 

[bdalameda]

On a standard automatic shifter you either have to push a button or push the lever through a detent to shift into park - similar functionality. I just don't see the big deal with this shifter at all. It is simple and effective and cleans up the design. Both my wife and I have adapted to the minor difference in functionality with ease after owning this car since late January. I have had car wash and parking attendants etc. drive the car without issue.

 

[Watson58]

On a standard automatic shifter you either have to push a button or push the lever through a detent to shift into park - similar functionality. I just don't see the big deal with this shifter at all. It is simple and effective and cleans up the design. Both my wife and I have adapted to the minor difference in functionality with ease after owning this car since late January. I have had car wash and parking attendants etc. drive the car without issue.

We have to agree to disagree. Must be nice being in California with lots of performance cars. Here in NY, I still have to help my car wash people fake a driver so that the car can go through the car wash. Help my valet parking because he shuts off the engine because he can't figure out how to push a button to Park.

I don't mind all these technology as long as there is a way to disable it. I am in the law enforcement field and there are instances that I have to be able to open the door without the car forcing it into Park or jump out of the car leaving the engine running without having to think "OK release seat belt before putting into park" or other nonsense."