VOLCO XC90 - reliable or not?
Discussion
I'm looking at swapping my Golf for a 53 plate Volvo XC90 with 98k miles on the clock.
Reading around the different forums, some people seem to think they are very reliable cars, other say there are common faults like the suspension, AWD system failing, making them 2 wheel drive, and the inter-coolers.
My bro bought one recently from a Volvo dealer with 80k on the clock and that needed a new diff and inter-cooler before they sold it to him.
So what's the experience of PHers?
Cheers.
Reading around the different forums, some people seem to think they are very reliable cars, other say there are common faults like the suspension, AWD system failing, making them 2 wheel drive, and the inter-coolers.
My bro bought one recently from a Volvo dealer with 80k on the clock and that needed a new diff and inter-cooler before they sold it to him.
So what's the experience of PHers?
Cheers.
No first hand ownership experience, but started out looking for an early XC90 recently. Common issues seemed to be as stated already, ie injectors and weak transfer box. The potential for costly repairs looked quite high on the earlier cars and I didn't fancy getting to a snow covered slope to find I only had fwd. The 2.4d isn't particularly lively or economical either.
I have had 2, both from new. I kept mine for a couple of years apiece and both were utterly reliable and trouble-free. I have no personal experience of buying or running them second-hand but would imagine it's exactly the same as any other car: buy on condition and service history.
Forums are often very useful, but they tend to be biased by those who contribute with negative experiences rather than people saying it did what it said on the tin. Find a good one and it's a great family car.
Forums are often very useful, but they tend to be biased by those who contribute with negative experiences rather than people saying it did what it said on the tin. Find a good one and it's a great family car.
Have you looked on the Volvo forums ?
Admittedly only the people with problems tend to frequent them but with my wife's:
Kept going into limp mode - after a year it turned out to be a dodgy MAF - shame the ECU can't show it as a fault code.
It thought there was a problem with the airbag light - there wasn't but to get the bloody message off the screen needed a new £800 dash module.
Many have a delay when moving off (our didn't)
Only managed 28mpg compared to the A6 it replaced which did 44mpg and was faster.
However it seems all MPV's are far less reliable than 'normal' cars - presumably the budgets aren't as big for niche models.
Admittedly only the people with problems tend to frequent them but with my wife's:
Kept going into limp mode - after a year it turned out to be a dodgy MAF - shame the ECU can't show it as a fault code.
It thought there was a problem with the airbag light - there wasn't but to get the bloody message off the screen needed a new £800 dash module.
Many have a delay when moving off (our didn't)
Only managed 28mpg compared to the A6 it replaced which did 44mpg and was faster.
However it seems all MPV's are far less reliable than 'normal' cars - presumably the budgets aren't as big for niche models.
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff