volvo s80 e drive (the tiny engined volvo)

[princeperch]

I have been given the opportunity to purchase a Volvo s80 1.6e 2010 with 85000 miles on the clock. Full service history and well looked after (I know the owner well).

The car drives very well. It is well appointed and in a low tax bracket, which will help with regards how much my local council charge me for my controlled parking permit (it’ll only cost £35 quid compared to the £200 quid or so a larger petrol engine variant).

The question is this: I only do a low-ish mileage every year. Between 3-5000 miles. This is a mixture of local driving and some longer trips on the motorway – an hour or so in length.

Is getting a diesel car of this vintage likely to pose a problem with the DPF with mileage of this nature and length or is the DPF problem overblown? If its not wise then I’ll be looking at getting a base/mid spec 1.6/1.8 C class (2011/2012) which is not quite as nice a place to be as the Volvo…

[Magictrousers]

We have the slightly later V70 equivalent, around the same mileage. It was happy enough doing a 2 mile each way commute every day for a fair time. I never saw the dreaded Soot filter full warning, but the overall average yearly mileage was higher at around 12000 miles or so. On paper, the whole 1.6 diesel in a big Volvo shouldn't work, but it actually copes quite well, lively enough to get away reasonably, enough to keep speed on the motorway.

My wife is now happily abusing it, having come down power wise from a remapped Zafira 1.9. She notices the comparative lack of power, but her journey times are no different.

Edited by Magictrousers on Thursday 16th November 17:17

[Teebs]

princeperch said:

I have been given the opportunity to purchase a Volvo s80 1.6e 2010 with 85000 miles on the clock. Full service history and well looked after (I know the owner well).

The car drives very well. It is well appointed and in a low tax bracket, which will help with regards how much my local council charge me for my controlled parking permit (it’ll only cost £35 quid compared to the £200 quid or so a larger petrol engine variant).

The question is this: I only do a low-ish mileage every year. Between 3-5000 miles. This is a mixture of local driving and some longer trips on the motorway – an hour or so in length.

Is getting a diesel car of this vintage likely to pose a problem with the DPF with mileage of this nature and length or is the DPF problem overblown? If its not wise then I’ll be looking at getting a base/mid spec 1.6/1.8 C class (2011/2012) which is not quite as nice a place to be as the Volvo…

I personally wouldn't fancy an older Diesel car with that low annual mileage. I know people doing 15k a year who've had DPF issues.
The parking permit saving would be wiped out by an expensive DPF repair bill..

[Dolf Stoppard]

Would have thought a long run every couple of weeks would help avoid problems. Diesels are, however, pretty rubbish from an economy point of view until warmed up. Might not be as cheap to run as you think.