Which Volvo estate to choose

[budfox]

Hi all.

I'm looking at buying a big old Volvo estate now that I won't be doing many miles, and this pair are on the radar:

T5 V70: http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C567867

850 TDI: http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C580112

Similar price, similar miles, both adverts read pretty well and on paper the cars seem fine. However, whilst I don't care too much about the much better fuel economy of the diesel, I do care about the likelihood of a big repair big.

So my questions to the PH collective are:

Which car is probably the better buy?
Which car is more likely to give me a big repair bill?

All help much appreciated.

[ImpossiblyDaft]

I'd go with the V70. both are reliable, especially with the manual, so might as well get the more interesting one and the ad looks like a good one.

Only specific thing to check I can think of is make sure there's no oil leak between the engine and gearbox. The PCV can sludge up too, but that's cheap to fix

Edited by ImpossiblyDaft on Monday 9th February 11:02

[Fattyfat]

Both look Ok but at that price point the T5 with the recent cambelt change would probably be the way to go.

[anonymous-user]

Is this question serious? That's an ancient, stty, old school diesel engine and you don't care about fuel economy but you're considering it over a manual T5?

Both will be as tough as old boots if looked after.

[gazza285]

That diesel will be old enough to not have all the emmissions bks on it that make modern diesels so unreliable and expensive to fix. No DPF, no EGR and no common rail, just solid lumpy performance. More to go wrong with the T5, but more fun to be had.

[soad]

T5 V70.

[budfox]

Thanks for the answers. I hadn't realised that the T5 was such a powerful car. (Seriously, I thought that was what the "R" designations meant).

The bit about an "old school less to go wrong diesel" is very telling though, because I'm not really interested in performance in a big estate car, and fuel economy isn't too much of an issue. (It will probably only cover 5k miles per year in my ownership). I just fancy a comfy old reliable barge for not too much money. For me it's the potential for a large bill that would be the deciding factor, hence asking on here.

[anonymous-user]

budfox said:

Thanks for the answers. I hadn't realised that the T5 was such a powerful car. (Seriously, I thought that was what the "R" designations meant).

The bit about an "old school less to go wrong diesel" is very telling though, because I'm not really interested in performance in a big estate car, and fuel economy isn't too much of an issue. (It will probably only cover 5k miles per year in my ownership). I just fancy a comfy old reliable barge for not too much money. For me it's the potential for a large bill that would be the deciding factor, hence asking on here.

The problem I have found time and time again with old diesels is that they have been run by skinflints and misers and a lot of maintenance has been deferred and they have been allowed to accumulate a massive host of small faults. You never want a used car that's been run by a penny pincher, and sadly most older diesels fall into that category.

[gazza285]

If you want proper bomb proof motoring go a bit older and get a 940 or 960 estate.

[andyalan10]

...and if neither performance nor economy are top of your requirements, why not look at a bog standard mid range petrol car, far more around and many of them likely to have been owned by careful long term owners.

Andy

[anonymous-user]

andyalan10 said:

...and if neither performance nor economy are top of your requirements, why not look at a bog standard mid range petrol car, far more around and many of them likely to have been owned by careful long term owners.

Andy

Fair point. Odd thing to want to pay for Volvo T5 economy when you don't care about performance. Might as well get something less highly strung and as such more likely to be trouble free.

On a related note OP, what DO you care about in picking a car if neither economy or performance matter?

[Vee8man]

I'm looking for the same kind of budget/vehicle at the moment and, having driven a good many Volvos over the years, I do prefer the newer shape V70's which are just within budget....you could go 2.4 petrol (170 brake though) or at this money a well used D5 even...both have adequate power and reasonable economy.....
My reason for change being that my Golf TDi estate is just too small for my needs currently.....a superb all round workhorse though....and will be missed....
Mileage that made me smile last week....

[Ilovejapcrap]

850 Volvo should be square as possible

[ImpossiblyDaft]

dme123 said:

Fair point. Odd thing to want to pay for Volvo T5 economy when you don't care about performance. Might as well get something less highly strung and as such more likely to be trouble free.

On a related note OP, what DO you care about in picking a car if neither economy or performance matter?

There's bugger all difference economy-wise between the 850/V70 petrol engines (at 5k a year, what £100?) and there's not a great deal extra to go wrong between the 2.0/2.5 and the 2.3 T5 other than the turbo (which has been done on that one according to the ad), is there?

If I were in the op's shoes I wouldn't rule out the other petrols (other than the 2.0 10v, too weedy), but there's no reason to rule out the T5s either & the one in that ad looks really good.

[curlie467]

Ilovejapcrap said:

850 Volvo should be square as possible

Say what?

[adsvx220]

The fastest!?!

[budfox]

Sadly the T5 is sold, but I am drawn to the 850. What I like about it is that the advert is very well written and the car is very close to home.

I've been in email contact with the seller and will be going to take a look on Friday or Saturday.

It's a fairly old car I know, but it's not huge money and hopefully it has a few more years of life left.

[PositronicRay]

This one