High mileage XC90
Discussion
So, after saying goodbye to my much loved i30N, the idea was to buy something family (and towing) friendly for about £5k, and spend about £1k on a 50% share with a mate in a cheap track day toy for fun.
We had to sort out the family bit first, and immediately thought about P2 XC90s. We looked at them back when they were current, and although we decided against spending the money at the time (and stupidly bought a POS Renault Scenic II instead), both of us were quite taken with the Volvo, the sheer comfort and practicality of it, and the way Volvo hadn't gone down the BMW route of trying to make an SUV into a sports car. The way the XC90 is unashamedly a soft, comfy, practical family wagon is part of its appeal, in my view.
Anyhow, when looking at sensible stuff for around £5k, I found myself perusing these once again. After a looking at a few, I found this one, and despite the mileage, I knew it was a gem.
It's a 2011 D5 SE Lux auto in Ember Black. A 3 owner car, with the later 200 bhp engine and 6 speed auto, I bought it privately from a chap who'd owned it for 5 years and had what I can only describe as pampered it. It's had a transmission oil change, a couple of injector replacements, 4 recent Michelin Latitudes, new PAS fluid, new coolant, the swirl flaps replaced and various other bits of additional maintenance done, as well as a comprehensive service history. MOT is until March 23, and the history is good. It's only ever failed one MOT in its life (on a damaged tyre) and the past two have been clean passes with no advisories.
The car is in lovely condition overall. The interior is really tidy. There's some creasing to the leather on the drivers seat squab, and a few marks here and there, but it doesn't look like it's done half that mileage. Outside, there's some minor battle scars, most serious of which being some minor damage to the rear bumper, and couple of small dents in the roof above the passenger door, where it looks like something has been dropped putting it on or off a roof rack.
It drives really well. Starts on the key, hot or cold, and settles immediately to a smooth, steady idle with no unexpected noises. Turbo is quiet and boosts smoothly, and the D5 really does get about as close to being a decent sounding diesel engine as I've personally encountered, with a lovely 5 pot growl as the revs build. If I had to nitpick (and I'm terrible at this when running old cars), there's a slight vibration under load around 1500-1600 RPM which I suspect is down to one of the vacuum engine mounts. It's noticeable mostly because the engine is so smooth either side of it (and at idle). Not expensive or difficult to sort if it becomes a problem.
The Geartronic is laggy when moving off (they all do that, sir) but once rolling it shifts smoothly with no bangs or jolts (perhaps just a hint of flare going from 4th-5th but its mild), and the D5 engine feels very strong and delivers more than enough performance for such a tall, soft riding car. I've put about 600 miles on it already, and it's just a comfy, smooth, lazy thing that eats up the miles. It is well specced for an older car as well, with climate control, a rather clunky and ancient, but functional sat nav with a screen that rises out of the dash top, simple Bluetooth connectivity for phone calls, mp3 and aux in on the (excellent) stereo, wonderfully comfortable heated leather seats, cruise control etc etc. It (mostly) all works as well.
I've found a couple of issues that need attending to. Although the electric seat adjustments all work fine, 2 of the 3 memory buttons don't appear to do anything at all. According to live data, they don't even register when pushed, so I suspect it's just the switch panel - a £20 part from an eBay breaker. The drivers mirror doesn't auto fold either. Like the previous owner (who mentioned it) I don't care enough about that to fix it. Maintenance wise, it's not due another service until next year, but the timing belt is coming up due on time (not mileage), and the front pads are on the low side. I'll be tackling both jobs myself. There are no fault codes anywhere apart from one for an interior air quality sensor malfunction. A quick Google suggests this sensor is used by the HVAC to automatically switch on the recirculate function if it detects a drop in air quality, such as when coming to a halt in a tunnel.
Road tax is £360 a year which is steep, but a useful £300 cheaper than it would be on an 06-58 car. After 600 miles total, it's averaging 35 mpg on the computer. I haven't refilled it yet to work out what it's actually done, but 35 mpg average is comfortably more than the i30N ever achieved. Not bad for a 2 tonne lump of lard.
It is however twice as expensive to insure as the i30N using my existing insurer.
Time will tell how reliable it is, but so far so good. I'll start getting the outstanding bits sorted, and just keep on top of other stuff as it arises. In the meantime, early indications are it's just a supremely comfy, smooth old thing that is very relaxing to drive.
Anyway, here it is. Quite a handsome old barge I think for £4,900. I've since removed the wind deflectors as they were noisy, and my wife complained that the one on the driver's side added quite a noticeable blind spot around the A-pillars. The car is much quieter without them.
And this milestone achieved the day after we bought it.
We had to sort out the family bit first, and immediately thought about P2 XC90s. We looked at them back when they were current, and although we decided against spending the money at the time (and stupidly bought a POS Renault Scenic II instead), both of us were quite taken with the Volvo, the sheer comfort and practicality of it, and the way Volvo hadn't gone down the BMW route of trying to make an SUV into a sports car. The way the XC90 is unashamedly a soft, comfy, practical family wagon is part of its appeal, in my view.
Anyhow, when looking at sensible stuff for around £5k, I found myself perusing these once again. After a looking at a few, I found this one, and despite the mileage, I knew it was a gem.
It's a 2011 D5 SE Lux auto in Ember Black. A 3 owner car, with the later 200 bhp engine and 6 speed auto, I bought it privately from a chap who'd owned it for 5 years and had what I can only describe as pampered it. It's had a transmission oil change, a couple of injector replacements, 4 recent Michelin Latitudes, new PAS fluid, new coolant, the swirl flaps replaced and various other bits of additional maintenance done, as well as a comprehensive service history. MOT is until March 23, and the history is good. It's only ever failed one MOT in its life (on a damaged tyre) and the past two have been clean passes with no advisories.
The car is in lovely condition overall. The interior is really tidy. There's some creasing to the leather on the drivers seat squab, and a few marks here and there, but it doesn't look like it's done half that mileage. Outside, there's some minor battle scars, most serious of which being some minor damage to the rear bumper, and couple of small dents in the roof above the passenger door, where it looks like something has been dropped putting it on or off a roof rack.
It drives really well. Starts on the key, hot or cold, and settles immediately to a smooth, steady idle with no unexpected noises. Turbo is quiet and boosts smoothly, and the D5 really does get about as close to being a decent sounding diesel engine as I've personally encountered, with a lovely 5 pot growl as the revs build. If I had to nitpick (and I'm terrible at this when running old cars), there's a slight vibration under load around 1500-1600 RPM which I suspect is down to one of the vacuum engine mounts. It's noticeable mostly because the engine is so smooth either side of it (and at idle). Not expensive or difficult to sort if it becomes a problem.
The Geartronic is laggy when moving off (they all do that, sir) but once rolling it shifts smoothly with no bangs or jolts (perhaps just a hint of flare going from 4th-5th but its mild), and the D5 engine feels very strong and delivers more than enough performance for such a tall, soft riding car. I've put about 600 miles on it already, and it's just a comfy, smooth, lazy thing that eats up the miles. It is well specced for an older car as well, with climate control, a rather clunky and ancient, but functional sat nav with a screen that rises out of the dash top, simple Bluetooth connectivity for phone calls, mp3 and aux in on the (excellent) stereo, wonderfully comfortable heated leather seats, cruise control etc etc. It (mostly) all works as well.
I've found a couple of issues that need attending to. Although the electric seat adjustments all work fine, 2 of the 3 memory buttons don't appear to do anything at all. According to live data, they don't even register when pushed, so I suspect it's just the switch panel - a £20 part from an eBay breaker. The drivers mirror doesn't auto fold either. Like the previous owner (who mentioned it) I don't care enough about that to fix it. Maintenance wise, it's not due another service until next year, but the timing belt is coming up due on time (not mileage), and the front pads are on the low side. I'll be tackling both jobs myself. There are no fault codes anywhere apart from one for an interior air quality sensor malfunction. A quick Google suggests this sensor is used by the HVAC to automatically switch on the recirculate function if it detects a drop in air quality, such as when coming to a halt in a tunnel.
Road tax is £360 a year which is steep, but a useful £300 cheaper than it would be on an 06-58 car. After 600 miles total, it's averaging 35 mpg on the computer. I haven't refilled it yet to work out what it's actually done, but 35 mpg average is comfortably more than the i30N ever achieved. Not bad for a 2 tonne lump of lard.
It is however twice as expensive to insure as the i30N using my existing insurer.Time will tell how reliable it is, but so far so good. I'll start getting the outstanding bits sorted, and just keep on top of other stuff as it arises. In the meantime, early indications are it's just a supremely comfy, smooth old thing that is very relaxing to drive.
Anyway, here it is. Quite a handsome old barge I think for £4,900. I've since removed the wind deflectors as they were noisy, and my wife complained that the one on the driver's side added quite a noticeable blind spot around the A-pillars. The car is much quieter without them.
And this milestone achieved the day after we bought it.
Edited by Limpet on Wednesday 31st August 14:38
We had two XC90s and loved them.
Unfortunately the last one committed suicide when the aux belt shredded and went through the cambelt.
I'd had the car well maintained and had planned to keep it - it was in good condition and did everything that we needed. The cambelt, aux belt and water pump had only been replaced 12 months prior to the failure. I'm guessing that a tensioner, alternator or the power steering pump seized or failed causing the belt to jump.
If I have another D5 engined car I think i'll be changing everything on that end of the engine!
Unfortunately the last one committed suicide when the aux belt shredded and went through the cambelt.
I'd had the car well maintained and had planned to keep it - it was in good condition and did everything that we needed. The cambelt, aux belt and water pump had only been replaced 12 months prior to the failure. I'm guessing that a tensioner, alternator or the power steering pump seized or failed causing the belt to jump.
If I have another D5 engined car I think i'll be changing everything on that end of the engine!
Searider said:
We had two XC90s and loved them.
Unfortunately the last one committed suicide when the aux belt shredded and went through the cambelt.
I'd had the car well maintained and had planned to keep it - it was in good condition and did everything that we needed. The cambelt, aux belt and water pump had only been replaced 12 months prior to the failure. I'm guessing that a tensioner, alternator or the power steering pump seized or failed causing the belt to jump.
If I have another D5 engined car I think i'll be changing everything on that end of the engine!
The D5 aux tensioner pulley is a known defect and I 'think' when ours went, luckily without causing crazy damage , the design was about the 9th or 10th to try and make it work from Volvo/ Ford parts bin. They also changed the alternator free pulley at the same time, I mean its all linked. Unfortunately the last one committed suicide when the aux belt shredded and went through the cambelt.
I'd had the car well maintained and had planned to keep it - it was in good condition and did everything that we needed. The cambelt, aux belt and water pump had only been replaced 12 months prior to the failure. I'm guessing that a tensioner, alternator or the power steering pump seized or failed causing the belt to jump.
If I have another D5 engined car I think i'll be changing everything on that end of the engine!
If the gearbox hasnt had any love or the Haldex , for the OP's car, I would genuinely advise to get them oil serviced. Many XC's gearboxes of the auto variety end up dead on fleabay because it fails to proceed after gearbox woes.
Edited by Justin S on Wednesday 31st August 17:05
You cant beat an xc90 for a general family bus. Its also an incredibly nice commuting motor as its relaxing, safe and has a brill stereo (dynaudio)
You can keep all your schporrrty suvs, if rather relax and get it over with in comfort, thank you very much.
As for tales of woe, yes gearboxes can take a dump as they are not sealed for life (yours has had an oil change, so super stuff), steering racks can fail if you don't change the fluid as soon as the pump starts being noisy (rubber seals break down in the pump and foul the rack up - so don't wait for the pump to fail, change it the moment it starts to groan), and belts can fail if you don't periodically change them (with tensioner) every 5 years. Rear diff is a silly electric thing and if its never been used it can stick open. Change the oil and periodically leap out of a junction like a boy racer to get it locking up once a month.
But that's it really and the failure rates are extremely low compared to a significant chunk of other motors out there.
Gratuitous pic of mine.
You can keep all your schporrrty suvs, if rather relax and get it over with in comfort, thank you very much.
As for tales of woe, yes gearboxes can take a dump as they are not sealed for life (yours has had an oil change, so super stuff), steering racks can fail if you don't change the fluid as soon as the pump starts being noisy (rubber seals break down in the pump and foul the rack up - so don't wait for the pump to fail, change it the moment it starts to groan), and belts can fail if you don't periodically change them (with tensioner) every 5 years. Rear diff is a silly electric thing and if its never been used it can stick open. Change the oil and periodically leap out of a junction like a boy racer to get it locking up once a month.
But that's it really and the failure rates are extremely low compared to a significant chunk of other motors out there.
Gratuitous pic of mine.
Thanks everyone for the comments. It does seem that people who've owned these generally have good things to say, which bodes well.
We've had it a week today, and due to some particular things going on family wise at the moment, it's done about 750 miles, which is about what my i30N did in the last 2 months of ownership! Not found any unpleasant surprises yet. Both Mrs Limpet and I enjoy driving it, and the two surly teenagers seem to enjoy being chauffered in it. Early indications are it is averaging a genuine 33 mpg in mixed use, which isn't bad for a 2 and a bit tonne lump with a slushbox and the aerodynamics of a barn door.
I'm chalking up a list of jobs which I'm going to start tackling over the next few weeks.
Cam belt and water pump. Following Searider's comments I will also change the aux belt and tensioner to mitigate any belt related disasters. I'm going to bite the bullet and use genuine Volvo bits given how critical this all is. Volvo do a timing belt and pump kit which is actually not too badly priced. Good old fashioned timing marks for TDC means no special tools needed to time the engine, but I will have to invest in (or make) the tool to hold the crank pulley when refitting. Job looks really straightforward otherwise. One of the things I remember from my S60 was how logically everything seemed to be engineered, and how easily it all came apart and went back together. Being a car of the same generation, this would appear to be similar.
Replace driver's seat electric adjust / memory function panel with a good secondhand unit.
Replace the front brake pads and discs. Nothing difficult here, but first I have to establish whether my car has the 316, 328 or 336mm discs fitted....
I've also found an intermittent issue with the driver's side electric window. If you use the one touch close function, the window will sometimes close, then reopen by itself, almost as if it has detected something trapped in there. If you hold the close button down, it will close and stay closed. Not earth shattering, but something I will investigate.
We've had it a week today, and due to some particular things going on family wise at the moment, it's done about 750 miles, which is about what my i30N did in the last 2 months of ownership! Not found any unpleasant surprises yet. Both Mrs Limpet and I enjoy driving it, and the two surly teenagers seem to enjoy being chauffered in it. Early indications are it is averaging a genuine 33 mpg in mixed use, which isn't bad for a 2 and a bit tonne lump with a slushbox and the aerodynamics of a barn door.
I'm chalking up a list of jobs which I'm going to start tackling over the next few weeks.
Cam belt and water pump. Following Searider's comments I will also change the aux belt and tensioner to mitigate any belt related disasters. I'm going to bite the bullet and use genuine Volvo bits given how critical this all is. Volvo do a timing belt and pump kit which is actually not too badly priced. Good old fashioned timing marks for TDC means no special tools needed to time the engine, but I will have to invest in (or make) the tool to hold the crank pulley when refitting. Job looks really straightforward otherwise. One of the things I remember from my S60 was how logically everything seemed to be engineered, and how easily it all came apart and went back together. Being a car of the same generation, this would appear to be similar.
Replace driver's seat electric adjust / memory function panel with a good secondhand unit.
Replace the front brake pads and discs. Nothing difficult here, but first I have to establish whether my car has the 316, 328 or 336mm discs fitted....
I've also found an intermittent issue with the driver's side electric window. If you use the one touch close function, the window will sometimes close, then reopen by itself, almost as if it has detected something trapped in there. If you hold the close button down, it will close and stay closed. Not earth shattering, but something I will investigate.
That looks a solid buy for the cash.
My aunt had a late, fully loaded one of these for years. It never broke and lugged kids and digs around without issue. It was comfy. I drive it a few times and I remember the turning circle being hideously bad and the gearbox was a bit dim, but if it’s time.
She replaced it with the current generation which continues from where this left off, just with better tech.
My aunt had a late, fully loaded one of these for years. It never broke and lugged kids and digs around without issue. It was comfy. I drive it a few times and I remember the turning circle being hideously bad and the gearbox was a bit dim, but if it’s time.
She replaced it with the current generation which continues from where this left off, just with better tech.
W201_190e said:
Volvo dealers were doing a fixed rate of £425 for the cam belt change.
Thanks for the info, and that isn't a bad price at all. As cam belts go, these really are one of the easier ones to DIY, so I'll be having a crack at it myself next week. There's not much 'stuff' in the way to deal with before you gain access to the belt, and once you get to it, there's adequate room to work. No special tools needed to either time the engine or tension the belt, which is pretty unusual by modern standards. Just need to make (or buy) something to hold the crank pulley with while I wang 300Nm through the centre nut to tighten it 
I believe the book time for the belt for the pros is about an hour, so adding in the pump and it being my first belt on this type of engine, I'm hoping a leisurely morning in the garage will do it.
In terms of parts costs, a genuine Volvo timing belt, tensioner and water pump kit is under £200 from Rybrook Volvo's trade counter on eBay.
I'm running a 2013 D5 SE Lux thats just ticked over 55k miles.
Its a mega family car and i cant see me parting with it even if it gets relegated to just a bus for holidays and days out.
Nice to see your has worn its mileage well.
I've done all the belts and waterpump and serviced the gearbox and its feels really solid.
I'd budget around 15-20k miles for a set of tyres if you rotate them for even wear and a set of disc/pads every 25-30k depending terrain/style.
The new ones are nowhere near as good, sadly aimed at a different type of buyer
Its a mega family car and i cant see me parting with it even if it gets relegated to just a bus for holidays and days out.
Nice to see your has worn its mileage well.
I've done all the belts and waterpump and serviced the gearbox and its feels really solid.
I'd budget around 15-20k miles for a set of tyres if you rotate them for even wear and a set of disc/pads every 25-30k depending terrain/style.
The new ones are nowhere near as good, sadly aimed at a different type of buyer
What The Deuces said:
I'm running a 2013 D5 SE Lux thats just ticked over 55k miles.
Its a mega family car and i cant see me parting with it even if it gets relegated to just a bus for holidays and days out.
Nice to see your has worn its mileage well.
I've done all the belts and waterpump and serviced the gearbox and its feels really solid.
I'd budget around 15-20k miles for a set of tyres if you rotate them for even wear and a set of disc/pads every 25-30k depending terrain/style.
The new ones are nowhere near as good, sadly aimed at a different type of buyer
Good info, cheers Its a mega family car and i cant see me parting with it even if it gets relegated to just a bus for holidays and days out.
Nice to see your has worn its mileage well.
I've done all the belts and waterpump and serviced the gearbox and its feels really solid.
I'd budget around 15-20k miles for a set of tyres if you rotate them for even wear and a set of disc/pads every 25-30k depending terrain/style.
The new ones are nowhere near as good, sadly aimed at a different type of buyer
Just ordered a set of front pads and discs as they are worn, and they're now starting to squeal at low speeds as well. Went genuine Volvo in the end which at £179 delivered from Rybrook's trade shop on eBay, was actually cheaper than Euros/cp4l wanted for Pagid or Brembo. It was also useful that, being a Volvo dealer, they were able to confirm the discs were the correct size for the car from the reg number. There are three options, and it doesn't seem to depend on any specific thing (wheel size, model, year, engine etc). The only other option was to take a wheel off and measure them on the car, which I didn't fancy doing just for the sake of it.
Limpet said:
I've also found an intermittent issue with the driver's side electric window. If you use the one touch close function, the window will sometimes close, then reopen by itself, almost as if it has detected something trapped in there. If you hold the close button down, it will close and stay closed. Not earth shattering, but something I will investigate.
This is an easy fix. The sensor indicating what is the 'closed position' can go out of whack and the window thinks a finger is in the way and auto opens a bit.Plenty of YouTube guides on how ti fix it by pulling a fuse when it's gets to the top to reset the position sensor.
Nicks90 said:
This is an easy fix. The sensor indicating what is the 'closed position' can go out of whack and the window thinks a finger is in the way and auto opens a bit.
Plenty of YouTube guides on how ti fix it by pulling a fuse when it's gets to the top to reset the position sensor.
Cool, will keep that in mind if the removal of the rogue wind deflector clip doesn't fix it. So far, it seems to have done the trick, but will look this one up. Thank you Plenty of YouTube guides on how ti fix it by pulling a fuse when it's gets to the top to reset the position sensor.
By way of an update, the car is still running and driving beautifully, and we haven't discovered any new issues. My youngest daughter has christened it "Lando". This is because she referred to it as a "Land Yacht" when she first saw it (it's a lot bigger than any car we've owned before), and being a Star Wars fan, she extended it to "Land Yacht Calrissian" which then got shortened to the character's actual first name, Lando. This has now stuck, and is what you get when you live in a household where you are outnumbered 3 to 1 by girls!
Although the brakes felt OK, they were a bit squealy at low speeds, and being mindful that the previous owner said the front discs and pads were due, and with quite a lip evident on the discs, I decided to waste no time getting these sorted. DHL turned up midweek with some presents for Lando. Courtesy of Rybrook Volvo's eBay shop, a set of genuine pads and discs were delivered in 24 hours for the very reasonable sum of £179. Disc size is a bit of a minefield on these things but they were super helpful on this, too and of course nailed it first time.
Set to work this afternoon. Quickly discovered my cheap trolley jack won't go high enough for this beast, so had to utilise the scissor jack in the boot. Just to clarify, as it's not clear in this shot, the car is also supported by an axle stand under the front wishbone mount, and the wheel provides an additional insurance policy. Add to shopping list, a proper trolley jack instead of the Mickey Mouse one I've struggled with for about 15 years.
I even roped Mrs Limpet in on the job for a bit. Her boredom threshold was exceeded in about half an hour, and she inevitably wandered off to do horse related stuff instead, but she tried.
This would have been a legit "Your pads won't last til the next service, sir" conversation! #toast
All done!
While it was all apart, I cleaned up the calipers and carriers, cleaned and greased the slider pins, and checked the hoses etc for bulges and leaks. All looked good. Pistons were nice and free and pushed back in smoothly and easily, although the shocking state of the old discs meant I had to lever a screwdriver in between the old pad and disc to push the piston back enough for the pads to clear the lip. Nothing I haven't done before, but it all adds minutes.
Pretty straightforward job on the whole though. Removing and refitting anti rattle clips is always the worst bit of a pad change. This was no exception!
Next job, cambelt, aux belt, water pump and all tensioners and idlers. I'll go for genuine bits again on this, as the kits are actually surprisingly reasonably priced from the Rybrook shop.
Looks a very clean car for its mileage!
We have a 2012 D5 R-Design which cost us almost double what you paid with 111k on the clock at the time. Body work doesn't appear to be as clean as yours either.
Your MPG seems a lot higher than ours, most we have seen is about 34, was a terrible 28 the other week with the roof box on.
I thought the 2011 cars were 185ps, 2012+ 200ps
We have a 2012 D5 R-Design which cost us almost double what you paid with 111k on the clock at the time. Body work doesn't appear to be as clean as yours either.
Your MPG seems a lot higher than ours, most we have seen is about 34, was a terrible 28 the other week with the roof box on.
I thought the 2011 cars were 185ps, 2012+ 200ps
Edited by the-norseman on Sunday 11th September 09:50
the-norseman said:
Looks a very clean car for its mileage!
We have a 2012 D5 R-Design which cost us almost double what you paid with 111k on the clock at the time. Body work doesn't appear to be as clean as yours either.
Your MPG seems a lot higher than ours, most we have seen is about 34, was a terrible 28 the other week with the roof box on.
I thought the 2011 cars were 185ps, 2012+ 200ps
Yeah mines a 200ps and on a mixed motorway cruise 34-36 is normal without roofboxWe have a 2012 D5 R-Design which cost us almost double what you paid with 111k on the clock at the time. Body work doesn't appear to be as clean as yours either.
Your MPG seems a lot higher than ours, most we have seen is about 34, was a terrible 28 the other week with the roof box on.
I thought the 2011 cars were 185ps, 2012+ 200ps
Edited by the-norseman on Sunday 11th September 09:50
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