S60 D5 which one is best?

[Limpet]

I'm about to opt out of our company car scheme, and want something comfy and reliable to last me around 6-9 months of mostly motorway use until a new lease scheme gets announced. Having had a petrol S60 before which I loved, I'm really keen on a D5 version.

My problem is I'm confused which engine to go for. I'm looking to spend around 2k which seems to give a reasonable choice of facelift 2005/6 examples with around 120-130k on the clock. Although I'm likely to stick 10-15k on it in my ownership, the petrol one I had had 160k on it when sold and still drove like a car with a fraction of that mileage. I reckon if I buy the right car, it will be fine.

I know the later 185 engine has a DPF, and internet wisdom says DPFs are best avoided where there's a choice, but how much of a problem is this likely to cause me bearing in mind the car is going to get plenty of long runs? I like the idea of a facelift car, and limiting myself to the older Euro III 163 engine gives quite a narrow production window. Also I am guessing the extra 20 bhp might come in handy occasionally, although in the real world I don't know what the difference is on the road.

I plan to get a manual car, whichever engine it is.

Any advice or tips welcome.

Cheers in advance.

Edited by Limpet on Tuesday 8th November 20:43

[jgy6000]

I have a 2007 d5 185bhp and haven't had any problems with it at all. Manual 6 speed. I think there's a lot of people who get scared by the dpf but if your doing good runs I don't see what the issue is.

[Limpet]

That's good to know, thanks. I've run newer diesels with DPFs and haven't had an issue, so unless there are any DPF related issues that are likely to arise with age and miles, that sounds promising.

[rat840771]

I have the euro 4 163 2.4D, but its been mapped to 220bhp.

Awesome car, but if you go for the manual, make sure the clutch slave cylinder is ok, as they can leak as mine did, which means gearbox out and new clutch and DM flywheel. As there is no point putting the old clutch back in the car.

[Limpet]

I had the same thing on a Renault. The big downside of concentric slave cylinders. Thanks for the heads up though

Bet your car goes like the clappers with 220 bhp.

[rat840771]

The transformation was amazing, it pulls from 1200 to 3000 like a train. 40k since the map and trouble free. As the CSC went soon after i bought the car its had a new clutch etc with the new map.

1st gear is too short, in fact you can pull away well in 2nd.

Average 42MPG, which isn't bad for 220BHP car. I had a Mazda MPS before and this car feels so much better to drive, it just has so much torque.

The emissions flap broke ( they all do ) so check for that. I just put up with it for 2 years, but now i have reconnected it with some wire and its been fine for the last year.

Turning circle is st, rear leg room is st, but who cares as i'm in the front!

Limpet said:

I had the same thing on a Renault. The big downside of concentric slave cylinders. Thanks for the heads up though

Bet your car goes like the clappers with 220 bhp.

[confused_buyer]

The 185 engine doesn't just have a DPF but also has swirl flaps, different EGR, throttle body and a few other changes. It also has a 6-speed rather than 5-speed gearbox.

The injectors and electrics are also different.

[croakey]

I've got a crossover 163/facelift manual and can vouch for them as being a decent cheap mile muncher.

I picked mine up for £2.5k with 84k on the clock.

Intrigued in how you bumped yours up to 220?

[rat840771]

Mine is the 163 2.4d euro 4, so it is a restricted D5 (185). I think it is to lower the tax band for company car drivers.

http://www.sharkperformance.co.uk/index.php?route=...

I didn't go for the full blown map, but i am tempted to go back, you can also buy a box that you plug into the car and can change between maps.

With some cars it is amazing and Volvo's are one of them. The same as VW/AUDI. My mate has just got his Audi TTS mapped from 240 - 330! 90BHP gain by plugging in a lap top and you get TTRS performance. He even claims it a bit better on fuel!

[hashtag]

I bought a '52 D5 S recently

112000

FSH

Okay condition, some lacquer peeling.

£800.00

Brilliant car!

[Limpet]

confused_buyer said:

The 185 engine doesn't just have a DPF but also has swirl flaps, different EGR, throttle body and a few other changes. It also has a 6-speed rather than 5-speed gearbox.

The injectors and electrics are also different.

What impact does that little lot have on reliability?

Barring any known issues with this setup, the DPF itself doesn't concern me as the car will do regular motorway runs of at least 30 miles, 2-3 times a week. The rest makes me a little nervous. But for obvious reasons there are more E4 facelift cars around than E3s.

What I'd like to do is look for a nice example within my budget rather than a specific engine. If it's a E3 or E4, so be it, but I'm not sure if this is the right approach.

[rat840771]

The swirl arm is a known problem, lift the engine cover off and to the left of the head you will see an arm that connects to a flap inside the engine, this arm will probably be hanging off as the link is weak and breaks. There are cheap fixes, or it can be updated for about £400. With it broken you can drive it, but above 3K it will throw up a service warning.

Never had any other problems as listed, DPF, i have had the soot filter warning come on twice in 4 years. But like you i do the odd 20mile trip every week and it keeps it tip top.

[Bessacarr]

Ran a 185 V70 for many years on 7 miles a day to and from work and very few long journeys .

Never had a dpf issue.

DMF was starting to get a little noisy on first start at 130000 miles but I understand these would last a long time even noisy.

It was a super engine and would definitely have another.

[Bonefish Blues]

I was asking myself the same thing a couple of years ago. I settled on the 163 E3.

We bought the same engine in two different Volvos. I still think we chose wisely