Volvo XC90 review

sooooooo a new series I'm starting: Car reviews.

all car reviews are sponsored by: Omanternity.com


Volvo is respected car manufacturer, once crowned as the “World’s Safest Car”, offers a variety of multi-use cars, well-known to have innovative interior designs, and world-class engines. However, Volvo unfortunately is underrated here in Oman; nobody really knows the car unless they buy one.
In Arabic there is a famous proverb that says: “Rubba Dharaten nafi’a”, which means “Some bad stuff lead to other good stuff”. This proverb explains how I got the opportunity to drive the amazing XC90, which was a courtesy car we got when our LR3 had some air-suspension problems. I would say that this test drive was like a blind date. I never knew the girl I was going to go out with, but some of my friends said good things about her.

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Looks:



Okay, so we are off to a bad start. The car didn’t really give a good 1st impression with its looks. It Looks like a stretched up Volvo sedan that got a jeep suspension. In my opinion, the only thing I liked about the exterior were some of the nice rims options the car had.

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Interior:



WAIT! Before getting into the car, the moment you open the door, you understand why this car is rated as one of the safest cars in the world. The door is so heavy (yet so smooth when opened).
Getting inside the car gives you a whole new perspective about the car. It’s like its making up for the messed up 1st date. The materials used feel so elegant, the buttons and switches are organized well so that the driver has no problem using them. The gauges are stylish and practical. You can’t argue that Volvo spends time designing their interiors.

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Driving:


Now this is the 3rd date. In most of my test drive, I test how the car goes when you floor its paddles badly. How fast can it go? How does it handles at high speeds? How good are the brakes?
For some reason I still don’t know, I didn’t do that with the XC90, I just wanted to drive slowly and cruise around the quite area of Shatti (in the afternoon). Maybe the remarkably calm cabin was it. I switched on the radio and “breathe” by Angels & Airwaves was playing, a perfect song for my quite/calm mood. I left the quite area and headed to the empty highway. I drove at normal speed on the highway for some time, enough time for me to know that car is going to be a good partner in long trips. As I was on my way back on the highway, the radio started playing “Breath” by Breaking Benjamin (a totally different song but the names are very close) (bas tashabuh asmaía). As the song progressed, I couldn’t keep my foot off the acceleration paddle, till I reached a point where I NEEDED to floor the car. I switched to manual mode on the tiptronic gear box, shifted to 2nd gear, and floored it. Now I don’t know if the song had its affect on the car, but the massive torque surprised me, and before waking up, the car hit the rev limiter. I changed to 3rd and the car literally throws my head on the headrest. I honestly didn’t expect a big, heavy SUV to perform like that. The acceleration is pretty amazing, and it gets better at higher speeds. The brakes also perform really great and the car doesn’t throw you on the steering wheel in hard stops.
Now we all know that SUV cars like this, the X5, the Cayenne are not real off-roaders, but wont harm to try out the Volvo in the dunes (wouldn’t do it if it was my car though). The car didn’t really make it to the places where the Jeeps and the land rovers did, but it went high enough because of the torque it has. So yeah, it is true when people say that things get crazy on the 3rd date.

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Specifications:

Engine Type: 4.4L V8

Power: 311 Horsepower @ 5850 RPM

Torque: 325 @ 3900 RPM

Transmission Type: Tiptronic

0-100 kmph in: 7.3 seconds (estimated)

Average fuel consumption:

-City: 16.3 L/100 km

-Highway: 10.7 L/100 km

Weight: 2389 kg.

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Pros:



- The driving is amazing and smooth; you really don’t feel like you’re driving a 2+ tons car.
- The power and torque is way over what I expected, mind you this car is heavier than other cars in its category.
- The sound system is great and clear, 6 CD changer, steering wheel control.
- The interior is a Volvo interior, enough said.
- It’s a sleeper (not so many people know its power).

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Cons:


- The design isn’t that good, that’s my opinion at least.
- Heavy weight.
- When using the tiptronic, the car doesn’t change gears before red line, it revs.
- The response of the manual mode in the tiptronic is slow; you have to change the gear about 1.5 seconds before you want the car to shift.
- Mirrors don’t tilt downwards when you’re in reverse.

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Verdict:

The XC90 is a family-friendly SUV with a comfortable interior, adequate performance and an excellent safety record.

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List of kills:

- Nissan Armada.
- GMC YUKON.
- Infiniti FX35.

We did some accelerating videos as well:

Volvo XC90 from 20 – 130 KM/H.

Volvo XC90 from 40 – 170 KM/H.

Volvo XC90 from 130/210 KM/H.

End of blog entry...

Marriage stories – Chapter 1:

Ok I know this post sounds like a typical girl's post, but honestly I find it interesting how each one of my friends has his own marriage story. I will try to write a story or 2 in each post (hopefully). Don’t hate me if I write this one then stop =P

Friend one: A. T. Al-H:

A.T. loved a girl who was with him in collage so much that he proposed when he was in his 3rd year! Off course the girl's family asked him to wait till the girl graduates then propose again.

A year later, the girl's father passed away (Allah yra7moh). In his well, he mentioned that he wants his daughter to marry her cousin. The girl felt torn between her family and the man she loves. She couldn’t go against her family and chose her cousin. A.T. was devastated but respected the girl’s choice.

During the last 2 years in collage, A.T. came across many girls inside and outside collage, but none of them was even close to his lost love. Till one day, he participated in this exhibition arranged by the university. He was struck by this girl he worked with. Beautiful, sweet but have a strong personality and ambitious. Knowing that she and his cousin study in the same department, he started his investigation. She turns out to be the girl of his dreams. He liked everything about her, and she was a far relative. He told his parents and they promised him to think about it and proceed with it later on.

I met A.T. on his graduation day. His father was there to attend and we had this small conversation:

- Me: Assalamu Alaikum Abu Salim. Kaif el 7al? esh el a5bar? 6aybeen? Etc.
(Hi Abu Salim. How are you? Hope you are great, etc)

- The father: al7amdulilah, ma nishki baas, ma shay 3loom min 9obkum?
(replying to my questions and asking me the same)

- Me: el laila lailet A.T. mashallah 5ireej. 3uqbal el zoga el 9al7a.
(tonight is A.T’s night. He is a graduate. Next thing he gets a good wife).

- The father: inshallah. A. hadiyyat ta5arrujak fil bait. La tit2a5ar
(If Allah wishes.*Turns to his son* A, your graduation gift is at home. Don’t be late)

- A.T: Inshallah Aboy (Ok Father).


2 days later, A.T. Called me and told me that his wedding gift was that his family were all prepared to go to his fiancé-to-be family’s house to ask for her hand the day after he graduated =D

He is now happily married and have a 1 year-old son ;)

Next are the marriage stories of:
- A.S. Al-W: the young shock!
- N.S. Al-A: Depression followed by a relief.
- K.S. Al-H: typical.
- T.S. Al-A: persistence.


End of Blog entry.

Bureaucracy

I have been hearing this word a lot but I never found myself dealing with it till recently.

Ever since we took over this new project, 80% of the time we spend is in dealing with bureaucracy issues because they are the main reason the project is WAY behind schedule. it exists to make whatever possible impossible.

no matter how much I explain, you guys won't understand how bureaucracy is involved in every single aspect we deal with. I once read this quote about bureaucracy which was funny but somehow true (Sharr Al Baliyyah ma yu'97ik)
“I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughtnut... I don't need a receipt for the doughnut. I give you money and you give me the doughnut, end of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this. I can't imagine a scenario that I would have to prove that I bought a doughnut. To some skeptical friend, 'Don't even act like I didn't get that doughnut, I've got the documentation right here... It's in my file at home. ...Under "D".














you think that's funny, here is a story that happened at work yesterday. We occupied a new office space and we are sharing it with 2 other companies. I was really tired and stressed and needed some tea to straighten up my mind. I call the tea boy to ask him to make me tea and this is his reply: "Sorry sir, I can't make you tea without my boss's permission, I need you to submit a letter requesting my service and it needs the signature from the project manager and must be signed by the developer"

Blank...

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Still in shock...

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having a "WTF" moment.

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ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!!!!!

I used to get tea everyday when I used to be a visitor. now that I'm an employee, I can't?! Anyway my colleague handled it the old cowboy way: "no need for any letter, you bring us tea and whatever we require and if your boss has a problem let him deal with me"

The reason why this project came back to life after a messy state is because our CEO is the biggest enemy of bureaucracy. he follows a simple way of dealing with it:" I would rather apologize later than ask for permission."

I'm sure many of you deal with bureaucracy everyday in work and school. you know that when "paper work increases as you spend more and more time reporting on the less and less you are doing." <<< Gotta love that quote.



End Of Blog Entry...

R.E.O shuts down operations

I’m back! (but maybe not for a long while)

I have been super busy lately. I feel I have no life anymore xD

For months I and my colleagues got the vibe that the company is not doing well. After getting this big project 4 months ago we forgot how bad the situation is and got caught up in work.

September 16, 2009: early Eid gift: The Mexican resigns after giving up on the directors in Dubai. They have been so unsupportive, so negative, so stingy, and worst thing: they keep lying over and over again.

September 26, 2009: The board of directors gets into a very long meeting discussing the resignation of the Mexican and the situation of the company. 3 possible solutions were proposed:

Appointing the COO to be the new CEO.

Appointing a new CEO from Dubai.

Closing down the company.

(Last option is the most likely option they will pick)

October 3, 2009: The directors send an auditor to check all company’s accounts and files. (can it get any more obvious??)

October 4, 2009: CFO flies down from Dubai to give us the hit: R.E.O decides to shut down all its operation due to negative liquidity and insufficient funds. This means that all employees are to be terminated from their jobs!

The news of the company shutting down operations wasn’t as shocking as the fact that the board decided to give us a pity amount as compensation. To be thrown in the streets jobless with so little money isn’t pleasant at all …

Thank god I saved enough money to survive and I have my family to back me up, but what about the others?? Some of my colleagues support 3 families, have couple of loans, and are struggling after the salaries cut. Is it humane to throw them in the street with only a month notice?

October 10, 2009: Chairman Sh. A.M. is back in Oman after a long business trip, TOTALLY unsatisfied with the compensation the directors gave to the employees. He got them to pay us 3 times what they previously promised us. I (and I’m sure all the employees) can’t thank him enough for his support =)

October 10, 2009 – present: Serving my notice period of 1 month, finalizing everything.

I think I can start a whole blog about this closure, probably make a movie out of it, but just wanted to share this part with whoever reads this blog.

I have already received 2 job offers that I need to study and will hopefully start by beginning of November.

End of blog entry…

and I was called "David"

another post related to my recent work change.

There was this somehow-old couple who were inspecting their new house before moving in. They have spent nearly 19 years Oman and the guy could even speak Omani (yup, not just arabic, but the Omani accent of it).

They were very pleased with the amount of work done in the last month, and being the only guy with construction group wearing a Dishdasha , the two were very friendly and the guy spoke with me in Arabic.

I was wondering around with my camera taking several photos here and there, and they asked me politely to take couple of photos of the house and the view in general.

a month later, the wife came with a friend to inspect another house, and the 1st thing she said when she arrived was: "Oh I can see you still have your camera with you"
"Always", I replied being Formal and friendly at the same time.

During the 1st couple of minutes of inspection, she referred to me as "Camera guy".
"What do you think, camera guy?"
"beautiful view isnt it, camera guy?"

she never asked for my name, and for some reason, I never gave my name either.

I think after a while, she felt like she doesnt want to call me "camera guy" anymore, but she never asked for my name. She decided to call me "David", like the famous photographer. ;)

in the rest hour or so of the inspection, she would refer to me as "David". She asked me if I mind that and I told her I don't.

The inspection was done, and we got an "Ok, Thank you Carl, Thank you Marry, and thank you David for your time, hope to see you all soon".

"Who's David??" asked Carl, the troubleshooter with a REALLY BIG question mark over his cowboy hat that he wears 24/7. (which was soooo typical of him, he gets so busy with his work he looses touch with the surroundings. That's why he never noticed that the lady was calling me David this past hour.)

"Oh I called him David, like the famous photographer"

now every now and then Carl would call me "David", along with "Buddy", "difficult", "MTV omani" and couple of other names he has for me :P

The funny thing is, I had couple of conversations, emails, SMS's with the lady's husband regarding financing/payments issues, but I don't think he and her know that I am "David" xD

So that's how I was called David.


End of Blog Entry ...

People are so different

Throughout my job, and being around one of my friends, I got to meet many homeowners from different backgrounds, different personalities, different perspectives, etc.

It’s really interesting in so many ways. I met people who had lousy jobs but inherited lots of money. Some started from scratch and now have become millionaires and some started normally, found a connection, and then built their empire based on that connection.

People are also different in how they treat each other. We met some people who seem to be born with stand-up comedians' character, and some that are just too cold you would yawn in the middle of the day just talking to them.


I'm not being biased here, but honestly, amongst the many homeowners that i have met, the Arabs were the best (generally). I'm not saying all the non-Arabs were bad and the Arabs were great, but that's in general. Most of them were very understanding, talk politely and they were open and easy going.


I will post some good and bad examples.

Special features in the house
- Good: one guy was really upset that he ordered some extra stuff for his house but they weren’t there. He just asked the construction manager politely to check if those stuff can be added or not. A second after that he was throwing jokes about his assistant having an iPhone which is "a joke" to him.
- Bad: one guy found out that he does not have a big back-yard (even though its size is standard in that complex) and kept bitching about it for the whole hour of inspection! :S

Material used in toilets:
- Good: one guy was complaining that the material used in toilets were bad in quality, but when he was told that the same material used in all the houses, he accepted it.
- Bad: one guy replied saying: "well I don't care if all the other owners were dumb enough to accept these materials, I'm not paying till you change them all"

Treating the workers:
- Good: one guy shock hands with all the construction workers and at the end apologized to them if he have taken some of their time during the inspection.
- Bad: one guy told one of the workers: hey, stop what you are doing and leave the house, and he asked the construction manager to take all the workers to wait outside (in the sun) during his inspection (which lasted a little bit over an hour).

I can go on and on but these are just few examples of how people can be so different.

It makes me wonder, those owners must be dealing with many companies and have several properties, so how do they view us (or view me). Sometimes it's easy when you get a pat in the shoulder and a "great job" said to you, or maybe get an email that says that. However, most of the time, people don't show that.

I think giving a little bit of time and thought while doing your work (which is not a very hard thing to do), gives you some comfort that at least other people appreciate you and know that your better than most of the other people they have dealt with.


Let us all make that small extra effort to be better than "most" people ;)

(or you can follow what this poster says) xD

A man I admired

I was with one of my friends who is working in a big residential project.

It was a day where one of the units owner is coming to check his house for final touches before the handover.
Neither I nor my friend have seen the owner. We just knew he is a wealthy businessman from Jordan. I expected to see a guy with an Armani suit, long hair styled with lots of gel.


When the guy came, we were all shocked. We saw a guy with a slightly-over-average beard wearing a normal short jalabiya (Arabic dress men wear in Jordan) and a simple red cap. We greeted each other and exchanged names. He was walking around the house and admiring the finishes, the material used and the design. All the workers there were appraised for their work. He was always smiling and had a simple, very polite way of talking to everyone. Even when there were some obvious flaws, he asked the supervisor to correct them without showing any sign of ingratitude or un-satisfaction.


Just when I thought I can’t admire him more, I was proven wrong. He was discussing the rental agreement (that his house will be rented by a hotel for 11 months, and he’ll be using it for 1 month). The agreement states that when the hotel rents the room for him, he gets 60% of the profit and the hotel gets 40%. He then asked an interesting question: “will these 60% applies only to the room charges? Or will I also get profit from the food and beverages (F&B) the guests order? “

Now I thought that he asked because if the profit includes the F&B, he’ll make more profit. It turns out; he doesn’t want to get profit from the F&B because he doesn’t want to make profit if the guests orders alcohol or pork. Then I admired him even more for having such way of thinking =)



God bless him, his family and may we have more people like him.


End of Blog entry.