To buy or not to buy a 2009 XC90

To buy or not to buy a 2009 XC90

Author
Discussion

ratazzi

Original Poster:

51 posts

219 months

Thursday 16th January 2014
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Any comments would be appreciated as I have heard rumours of gearbox issues, poor fuel economy, low quality interiors etc…


shavenhaven

465 posts

135 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2014
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personally i'd stay away from the XC90 altogether. Just got rid of our 2011 R-design Premium 200bhp. It's soooo unrefined and outdated. Very comfortable car on a long-journey admittedly, and looks pretty good too, but the coarse engine, massive turning circle, and slow-to-respond acceleration from standstill made our mind up to ditch it. Horrible thing to drive.

JamesK

2,124 posts

279 months

Thursday 23rd January 2014
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Other than the turning circle, which isn't great (but not truck like to be fair), those symptoms are all diesel. Can I recommend sir try a V8 smile

hoganscrogan

725 posts

284 months

Monday 17th February 2014
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Just bought a 2007 se lux 3.2 petrol for my Dad, had to drive it 250 miles to deliver to him.

Very comfy and refined, 26mpg on the trip. I didn't want to hand it over in the end, really nice cruiser. Compared well to his old lexus LS430.

£46k car with 85k on the clock and full VSH. £10k.

Post 2007 re-fresh cars get 6 speed auto, slightly nicer interior (super soft leather seats on this one).

Father in law got a V8 Executive one six months ago and loves it, lots of power and massage seats! Same mlles and service history, £14k.

Edited by hoganscrogan on Monday 17th February 05:15

dazzalse

564 posts

179 months

Tuesday 18th February 2014
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We have run many things but for value for money they are excellent, if you ignore the list price as for the last few year there has been 10-12k off a D5 executive they make sense as a family hack, yes they are only 200bhp but it is adequate for most situations, they return 30mpg + and can seat 7 comfortably, infact on a long journey they are great comfortable cars and we have often used ours to get back and forth to the Germany, France and Switzerland.

The problem you have is a lot of people compare these to an X5 BMW, M class Mercedes or a Range Rover sport all 50k+ with this spec and not as spacious. The thing about these is they do what it says on the box, and are great if you have kids, dogs, extended family and luggage. We are now on our 6th XC90 with a new one coming March 1st, I've been changing them every 6 months as the deals are so good, over the last 10 years there are not many cars that i haven't run and for reliability and build quality they have been up there with the best, if your a status person buy a Range Rover and invest in AA membership, I speak from experience after owning too brand new TDV8's which were utterly unreliable.

Volvo are stopping making these in April so I imagine prices will start to firm up on used cars as the new Model will not be out until Oct/Nov.


Ken Sington

3,959 posts

238 months

Friday 14th March 2014
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Had ours as a daily since 2006. Only additional expenditure over and above servicing has been replacing a sensor on the turbo and another one which led to intermittent 4wd, and replacement of the rear hubs which seems to be a common problem. Otherwise it is tardis like in it's ability to swallow people, dogs and stuff, does 32mpg, and is more than capable of outside lane cruising all day long. I also noticed when doing a clean the other day that despite it's use, the interior is standing up very well and shows little sign of deterioration.

Might not be the sexiest looking or best equipped car of it's sort on the road now, but for our current lifestyle, I struggle to think of anything better.

GreatGranny

9,124 posts

226 months

Friday 21st March 2014
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Ken Sington said:
Had ours as a daily since 2006. Only additional expenditure over and above servicing has been replacing a sensor on the turbo and another one which led to intermittent 4wd, and replacement of the rear hubs which seems to be a common problem. Otherwise it is tardis like in it's ability to swallow people, dogs and stuff, does 32mpg, and is more than capable of outside lane cruising all day long. I also noticed when doing a clean the other day that despite it's use, the interior is standing up very well and shows little sign of deterioration.

Might not be the sexiest looking or best equipped car of it's sort on the road now, but for our current lifestyle, I struggle to think of anything better.
After coming out of an Alhambra I struggled for space in our XC90.
Boot is quite shallow because its a 4x4 but it was 100% reliable the 18 months we had it.
Averaged about 30, could do 35 on a run but fell dramatically if 70mph+ or urban driving.
AS said above slow to respond auto and barge like handling.
Disco so much more refined

I would still have another, only got rid because wife wanted a car to commute 40 miles per day in.