V90 - Which engine most reliable?

[Dracoro]

Forester1965 said:

If you want unicorn sts and giggles, try and find one with the B&W hifi upgrade (think it was about a £3.5k option).

I've seen a few reviews that say it's excellent, however out of all those on sale (auto trader, ph, Volvo) there's pretty much none with it! (unsurprising at £3.5k!!!)

[Mammasaid]

Dracoro said:

Forester1965 said:

If you want unicorn sts and giggles, try and find one with the B&W hifi upgrade (think it was about a £3.5k option).

I've seen a few reviews that say it's excellent, however out of all those on sale (auto trader, ph, Volvo) there's pretty much none with it! (unsurprising at £3.5k!!!)

If I remember £3.5k was for the Harmon Kardon upgrade, the full fat B&W was something like £6k

[Forester1965]

Found a What Hifi review of it from back in 2017. Says it was £3k.back then.

https://www.whathifi.com/features/premium-sound-bo...

[850R]

skyebear said:

I think the D4 would be a miserable thing to live with. What's your budget? There's a few T6 available which represent great value. The Ocean Race spec is horrific but that's just my opinion.

Why do you think the D4 would be a miserable thing to live with? Ok ours is the B4 with mild hybrid - but with polestar optimisation it’s effortless, as I’ve said great economy, and tows way better than our 2012 D5 XC90

[bennno]

Forester1965 said:

If you want unicorn sts and giggles, try and find one with the B&W hifi upgrade (think it was about a £3.5k option).

All the run out ultimate models have it as standard.

[Mammasaid]

Just dug out the brochure, it was 3k, for some reason I though it was double!

[Muppet007]

Dracoro said:

Other than more power, I would think the T5 would be more reliable than the T6 with its elec supercharger as well as turbo? Then may as well look at T8!

That said, I’m not aware that the CC comes with the T8 either….

Budget £20-£25k.

What is ocean race spec?

T6 is the top spec CC... You would not want a T8 version of the CC, the T6 was a bit to much for it.

[Mammasaid]

Muppet007 said:

T6 is the top spec CC... You would not want a T8 version of the CC, the T6 was a bit to much for it.

AIUI, there was never a T8 CC.

[skyebear]

850R said:

Why do you think the D4 would be a miserable thing to live with? Ok ours is the B4 with mild hybrid - but with polestar optimisation it’s effortless, as I’ve said great economy, and tows way better than our 2012 D5 XC90

So not a D4 then.

The OP had said he wanted something with a bit of go and was discounting the <190bhp models. As there's quicker models within their budget that's what they should go with.

But a 530d or 540i Touring would be better still.

[demic]

skyebear said:

So not a D4 then.

The OP had said he wanted something with a bit of go and was discounting the <190bhp models. As there's quicker models within their budget that's what they should go with.

But a 530d or 540i Touring would be better still.

Volvo changed from “T” and “D” to just “B” nomenclature for their non phev ICE engines a few years ago. I guess when diesel suddenly became the devils fuel. So confusingly a B4 could be the old D4 or old T4.

Mines a V60 and the D4 provides plenty of go, sufficient for the kind of car really. As with most modern diesels you can make effortless progress surfing the torque. Of course it’s nowhere near as nice as a 6cyl and gets very coarse and strained when pushed.

[bennno]

A V90 is a motorway slogger / tip barge / family runabout. Cant understand how sub 8 sec 0-60 and 140mph from the 190bhp diesel is insufficient.

If you want faster with better handling then buy a 3 series M-sport and suffer the ride, or go for an older C63 AMG and suffer the running costs.

[PT1984]

I had a V90 Cross Country as a courtesy car. It was superb but a big beast. I’m sure it was a diesel hybrid, one of the ‘B’ models.

Edited by PT1984 on Thursday 4th July 15:14

[Yahonza]

I would suggest the B5 MHEV variant / 250bhp - if not suggested already. No idea about reliability though. Most if not all Volvo ICE now use various iterations of this 2 litre engine.
It should be good for 40mpg and is quite rapid, albeit a bit coarse while doing so and even a bit diesel like (tried this variant in an S60 courtesy car).

[norchi]

There is something in here that derives from
affluent chinese wanting big, blingy cars but having no concern for anything other than an adequate power plant.

Also there is a history with this range of engines bought in with great haste to replace all Volvo's own design of engines plus the odd, extant buy in from elsewhere.

This fundamentally single basic concept was purchased in a hurray and off the shelf as a turnkey project from an Austrian firm AVL. It has been a troublesome design with issues, the costs deriving from covering up, as best as possible, the issues/faults in its design by quiet, obfuscating remedial work under warranties and outright denial thereafter.

[Dracoro]

Mammasaid said:

Just dug out the brochure, it was 3k, for some reason I though it was double!

That's interesting, there's a HK option.

Anyone know if, visually, one can tell? i..e with B&W there's the pod in the middle of dash, and silver bossing things on the door speakers...

[Mammasaid]

Dracoro said:

Mammasaid said:

Just dug out the brochure, it was 3k, for some reason I though it was double!

That's interesting, there's a HK option.

Anyone know if, visually, one can tell? i..e with B&W there's the pod in the middle of dash, and silver bossing things on the door speakers...

I think the speakers on the door have HK branding

[Dracoro]

Thanks!

[MEC]

I have a 2018 S90 T8 so the same engine.

Recently had a 'hybrid battery failure' pop up which turned out to be one of the 27 cells in the hybrid battery failing. Fortunately the car was under used (Selekt) warranty.

Local dealer was very good, loaned me a car for the repair which actually took nearly 6 weeks!! Would have cost approx £4K apparently and I still have another 26 of these time bombs lurking!

Will be selling before the warranty expires &#128512;

[bennno]

MEC said:

I have a 2018 S90 T8 so the same engine.

Recently had a 'hybrid battery failure' pop up which turned out to be one of the 27 cells in the hybrid battery failing. Fortunately the car was under used (Selekt) warranty.

Local dealer was very good, loaned me a car for the repair which actually took nearly 6 weeks!! Would have cost approx £4K apparently and I still have another 26 of these time bombs lurking!

Will be selling before the warranty expires ??

Presumably the £4k covers all the battery packs being replaced as they are a single contiguous unit?

[MEC]

bennno said:

Presumably the £4k covers all the battery packs being replaced as they are a single contiguous unit?

It was done under warranty so no cost to me, but I asked how much the bill would have been.

The cell was approx £1.2K I understand but lots of diagnostic and labour time involved plus some other parts. It was explained that the whole battery was made up of 27 cells and only one of these cells had been replaced? Is that not accurate?

I was also told the parts were coming from Sweden which seems unlikely &#128512;