Potential Volvo V70/V50 purchase. Advice, warnings, etc.
Discussion
Hi there,
I didn't want to hijack mudpluggers 'Buying a V70 Which one?' thread, but the wife has decided she needs a massive car (
)... after a bit of a chat last night we're thinking of reducing the fleet to just the one car that does everything - so it needs to be able to cart two adults and two 18 month olds around in comfort (and potentially in a couple of years be able to handle two boosters and a baby seat), have a boot that will take the double buggy, and a couple of weeks worth of shopping... also needs to be able to tow our (small and light) caravan. We'll probably be doing around 15-18k p.a. so fuel economy is a consideration too.
Now the V70 D5 (or the XC70 D5 - yum) look like the obvious choice, but the problem is that the budget will be really stretched at 15k, and I haven't seen much available for less than that; hence we're (on paper) also considering the V50 (pending seeing one in the metal and if it's going to be capacious enough).
Finally, it needs to be reliable and niggle free - my wife falls out with things at the first let-down, and although I don't mind paying the extra that 'premium' cars cost for servicing, I don't want to be picking up too many bills for rapid wearing consumables, etc.
As an afterthought - does anyone know of any specialists/independants in the Kent area (especially round Canterbury).
So if anyone has any advice, recommendations, warnings, or comments, please pipe-up! Thanks,
CH
I didn't want to hijack mudpluggers 'Buying a V70 Which one?' thread, but the wife has decided she needs a massive car (
)... after a bit of a chat last night we're thinking of reducing the fleet to just the one car that does everything - so it needs to be able to cart two adults and two 18 month olds around in comfort (and potentially in a couple of years be able to handle two boosters and a baby seat), have a boot that will take the double buggy, and a couple of weeks worth of shopping... also needs to be able to tow our (small and light) caravan. We'll probably be doing around 15-18k p.a. so fuel economy is a consideration too.Now the V70 D5 (or the XC70 D5 - yum) look like the obvious choice, but the problem is that the budget will be really stretched at 15k, and I haven't seen much available for less than that; hence we're (on paper) also considering the V50 (pending seeing one in the metal and if it's going to be capacious enough).
Finally, it needs to be reliable and niggle free - my wife falls out with things at the first let-down, and although I don't mind paying the extra that 'premium' cars cost for servicing, I don't want to be picking up too many bills for rapid wearing consumables, etc.
As an afterthought - does anyone know of any specialists/independants in the Kent area (especially round Canterbury).
So if anyone has any advice, recommendations, warnings, or comments, please pipe-up! Thanks,
CH
Dr Bob said:
have a boot that will take the double buggy, and a couple of weeks worth of shopping...
That alone eliminates the V50.I have one and whilst it meets my needs it's a medium sized car at best, with rose tinted specs on, especially in the boot space with rear seats in use and the luggage compartment cover in place.
You could remove the luggage compartment cover because it is quite deep and intrudes on height, but in doing so you not only lose the boot roller blind, but also quite a useful oddment storage space. That is a bind because the V50 is not particularly well endowed with oddments space.
For example door pockets are miniscule on front doors and non existent on back doors. The floating in space design of the dash might be stylish but the space behind it is not much use.
My glove box is full of satnav and other various bits of comms kit to do with work so not much storage there, and so on.
But on the boot space issue, I carry one of those Tesco blue boxes with various bits in, with that in place, a decent shop and we fill the boot. With a double buggy as well; no chance, and maybe you would not get the buggy under the rather low boot cover roller blind housing.
I think if you take a look you will see exactly what I mean.
For anyone else thinking of a V50 don't get me wrong it's fine car if it suits your needs, just that I suspect it's too small for the OP.
regds
~FiF
Edited by F i F on Monday 28th January 22:27
I have a V50 2.0D SE company car - just over a year old, 35,000 HARD miles has been absolutely faultless till now.
It has now developed a fault in the ABS/Anti skid system which has shut down - booked in to be fixed under warranty - prob just some sensor I've buggered thrashing it around!
Yep, very good, well made car - BUT not the biggest estate in the world - the boot space is actually quite small when you have the boot cover and dog net fitted!
Ideal for me though...
It has now developed a fault in the ABS/Anti skid system which has shut down - booked in to be fixed under warranty - prob just some sensor I've buggered thrashing it around!
Yep, very good, well made car - BUT not the biggest estate in the world - the boot space is actually quite small when you have the boot cover and dog net fitted!
Ideal for me though...
Cheers guys,
Having had a rethink last night, I don't think that the V50 is going to be big enough, so we're going to look at V70s at the weekend, maybe book a test drive too... boot space is definately the issue, my Saab 9-3 hatch is probably the smallest that we'd want to go to, and more space would be better(!).
One thing that's come up from the limited amount of reseach I've done so far is this issue with the ETM... does anyone know if it affects the diesel engines - the places I've looked seem to suggest that it's something that affects the petrol and dual fuel engines, but I haven't found anything that specifically mentions the diesel engine.
Cheers, CH
Having had a rethink last night, I don't think that the V50 is going to be big enough, so we're going to look at V70s at the weekend, maybe book a test drive too... boot space is definately the issue, my Saab 9-3 hatch is probably the smallest that we'd want to go to, and more space would be better(!).
One thing that's come up from the limited amount of reseach I've done so far is this issue with the ETM... does anyone know if it affects the diesel engines - the places I've looked seem to suggest that it's something that affects the petrol and dual fuel engines, but I haven't found anything that specifically mentions the diesel engine.
Cheers, CH
One thing to consider looking at your budget, and please don't dismiss the suggestion out of hand but ...
... and no I'm not going to say what about an MX-5 but...
... and this might be sacrilege on the Volvo forum but...
we have a lot of V70s, and I drive one at some point most weeks, the seats are
but I'm getting impressed and so are a lot of our guys with the Skoda Octavia Estates. 
OK so they are VRS versions but don't ignore them.
... and no I'm not going to say what about an MX-5 but...
... and this might be sacrilege on the Volvo forum but...
we have a lot of V70s, and I drive one at some point most weeks, the seats are
but I'm getting impressed and so are a lot of our guys with the Skoda Octavia Estates. OK so they are VRS versions but don't ignore them.
F i F said:
One thing to consider looking at your budget, and please don't dismiss the suggestion out of hand but ...
... and no I'm not going to say what about an MX-5 but...
... and this might be sacrilege on the Volvo forum but...
we have a lot of V70s, and I drive one at some point most weeks, the seats are but I'm getting impressed and so are a lot of our guys with the Skoda Octavia Estates.
OK so they are VRS versions but don't ignore them.
I'm not dismissing anything at the moment - I know my wife won't go for a Skoda (not even the Laurent & Klemin -sp? ... and no I'm not going to say what about an MX-5 but...
... and this might be sacrilege on the Volvo forum but...
we have a lot of V70s, and I drive one at some point most weeks, the seats are
but I'm getting impressed and so are a lot of our guys with the Skoda Octavia Estates. OK so they are VRS versions but don't ignore them.
), but I may try to convince her some more - especially as there are a couple of decent VW specialists round here for servicing etc, also looking at a Mondeo estate.The trouble is, with our budget I can't see us getting a great V70, and the biggest concern with two kids is that it doesn't leave us stranded, whereas I've seen 2yr old low mileage Mondeos with everything on 'em from franchise dealers for around 10k.
CH
yep Mondeo Estate, good choice.
That was me before this V50 and wanting something smaller.
The biggest problem with the car was not actually the car, it was the Ford dealer. There is/was a problem with the software on the Ford TDCi emmissions control system, leading to a hesitation which felt like a flat spot. At first you could drive round it but gradually it got worse.
The Ford dealer flatly denied there was anything wrong, denied that there were software updates, and it was only when a copy of the TSB was slapped under thir nose that they promised to look at it, only to fail to do anything about it because their test driver could not replicate the fault, therefore there was deemed nothing wrong. basically obstructive and I could not figure out if part of the problem was they consistently overbooked the workshop hence looking for get outs.
Anyway insisted that went out with their test driver, and no wonder he could not find a fault, he had two throttle positions, fully open and shut. Within half a mile I'd demo'd the problem and they agreed to do the software update.
Unfortunately after doing that they forgot to recalibrate the injectors which left it now running like a bag of spanners. Back to workshop. Eventually got it running half decent but basically the car was fine, the dealer yuk!
The same engine but with different engine and emissions management in the V50 is a totally different animal. The dealer is spot on, though I suspect that they aren't too busy so maybe drumming up trade.
The only fault, apart from the one mentioned above with the Mondeo was a turbo pipe popped off under fairly extreme use. :cough:
You asked about the D5 engine, it's a diamond and we've had very good results with it, but as you say the budget is problematical.
Yeah well re 'er indoors, know what you mean, marmite thing, one of my Mrs mates openly stated she would never have a Skoda on the drive. My Mrs is running around in a fab Fabia and her mate has a right bag of nails, new car, the right badge, but so bad in reality at one point she was running about in an old Punto in order to get more reliable transport.
That was me before this V50 and wanting something smaller.
The biggest problem with the car was not actually the car, it was the Ford dealer. There is/was a problem with the software on the Ford TDCi emmissions control system, leading to a hesitation which felt like a flat spot. At first you could drive round it but gradually it got worse.
The Ford dealer flatly denied there was anything wrong, denied that there were software updates, and it was only when a copy of the TSB was slapped under thir nose that they promised to look at it, only to fail to do anything about it because their test driver could not replicate the fault, therefore there was deemed nothing wrong. basically obstructive and I could not figure out if part of the problem was they consistently overbooked the workshop hence looking for get outs.
Anyway insisted that went out with their test driver, and no wonder he could not find a fault, he had two throttle positions, fully open and shut. Within half a mile I'd demo'd the problem and they agreed to do the software update.
Unfortunately after doing that they forgot to recalibrate the injectors which left it now running like a bag of spanners. Back to workshop. Eventually got it running half decent but basically the car was fine, the dealer yuk!
The same engine but with different engine and emissions management in the V50 is a totally different animal. The dealer is spot on, though I suspect that they aren't too busy so maybe drumming up trade.
The only fault, apart from the one mentioned above with the Mondeo was a turbo pipe popped off under fairly extreme use. :cough:
You asked about the D5 engine, it's a diamond and we've had very good results with it, but as you say the budget is problematical.
Yeah well re 'er indoors, know what you mean, marmite thing, one of my Mrs mates openly stated she would never have a Skoda on the drive. My Mrs is running around in a fab Fabia and her mate has a right bag of nails, new car, the right badge, but so bad in reality at one point she was running about in an old Punto in order to get more reliable transport.
Hi all,
Thanks for the advice so far... bit more looking around shows that we're not going to get a V70 in budget, so a bit of a change of plan - I'm keeping my Saab and the missus is going to get a bigger car than her focus - the V50 looks like it'll be big enough for her, and affordable.
The annual mileage is likely to be less (initially) - around 8-10k p.a., and the budget has been reduced to about 7.5k - might hang onto the diesel requirement at the moment though because it may in the future become the family car.
Seen one or two in budget with about 50k on the clock, so is there anything to watch out for? I'm guessing that at that mileage things will be run in, but are there any issues with the turbos on these sort of engines?
Thanks, CH
Thanks for the advice so far... bit more looking around shows that we're not going to get a V70 in budget, so a bit of a change of plan - I'm keeping my Saab and the missus is going to get a bigger car than her focus - the V50 looks like it'll be big enough for her, and affordable.
The annual mileage is likely to be less (initially) - around 8-10k p.a., and the budget has been reduced to about 7.5k - might hang onto the diesel requirement at the moment though because it may in the future become the family car.
Seen one or two in budget with about 50k on the clock, so is there anything to watch out for? I'm guessing that at that mileage things will be run in, but are there any issues with the turbos on these sort of engines?
Thanks, CH
I'm over 50 k, lot over actually and the engine is just getting into it's stride. No idea about the turbos tbh.
D5 issues with timing belt tensioners at 60-70k but a D5 won't be in your budget.
Hate to send you to another website but the low down is here
Check that the recalls have been done, parking brake mod, the EGR valve mod and the various software updates.
Two things that are not listed on that site, there has been a mod done when people have complained. You can lose the electrics down one side of the car, eg windows, central locking, mirrors heating and adjust, indicator in mirror and christ knows what else. Basically there is a problem with the plug from the loom to connect with front doors. There is a modified plug available.
Also the washer system seems vulnerable to the practice we all do of tipping in windscreen washer additive and then water hoping it will mix in the tank. Sometimes it doesn't and in extreme cases is known to affect seals on the tank, pump body and headlight washer system.
D5 issues with timing belt tensioners at 60-70k but a D5 won't be in your budget.
Hate to send you to another website but the low down is here
Check that the recalls have been done, parking brake mod, the EGR valve mod and the various software updates.
Two things that are not listed on that site, there has been a mod done when people have complained. You can lose the electrics down one side of the car, eg windows, central locking, mirrors heating and adjust, indicator in mirror and christ knows what else. Basically there is a problem with the plug from the loom to connect with front doors. There is a modified plug available.
Also the washer system seems vulnerable to the practice we all do of tipping in windscreen washer additive and then water hoping it will mix in the tank. Sometimes it doesn't and in extreme cases is known to affect seals on the tank, pump body and headlight washer system.
I've been driving a V50 2.0D for just over 50K miles from new. Great car, but agree with the others about size. It's not a really big car, but otherwise hard to fault. The only slight thing that bugs me is how badly the front end deals with potholes and other sharp edged bumps in the road. If you happen to be on power and hit a small pothole it feels like the whole front suspension is going to fall off. Sounds dramatic, but it's not really a big deal. The general ride quality on most road surfaces is pretty decent. The interior is classy too, right up there with BMW, Audi etc.
Dr Bob said:
Cheers for the advice so far - but I've just realised that I meant a V40 not a V50! Doh!
CH
Ah!! That explains your lower budget. I was wondering about that. The V40 is a totally different car. I think it's very dated in comparison to the V50. But haven't actually driven one.CH
Have a look at Rybrook, Chester. Good folk to deal with. I bought an S60 D5 off them in Nov. As others have said; the D5 is a real gem.
Alternatively try the forums on the Volvo Owners Club. They are great folks and there is a mountain of info there.
www.cardealerdiscount.co.uk/usedvolvo.shtml
www.volvoclub.org.uk/
Alternatively try the forums on the Volvo Owners Club. They are great folks and there is a mountain of info there.
www.cardealerdiscount.co.uk/usedvolvo.shtml
www.volvoclub.org.uk/
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