XC90 DIESEL AUTOMATIC
Discussion
HI. I AM KEEN TO BUY A DIESEL XC90 AUTOMATIC. I HAVE APPROX 12K TO SPEND BUT ALL IVE READ IS THAT THE GEARBOX IS RUBBIH. I HAVE BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD WITH THE WIFES JAGUAR X TYPE AUTO AND THAT SET ME BACK 2K TO REPAIR. I CANT AFFORD TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE SO CAN SOMEONE TELL ME IF THERE IS AN AUTO THATS OK. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT MAKES OF AUTO ONE OF WHICH BEING A GM UNIT THAT SHOULD BE AVOIDED. PLEASE HELP AS NO OTHER AWD TAKES MY FANCY. MANY THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE.
The 4-speed GM unit is in the petrol T6 models only, this is apparantly an unreliable gearbox and will need a rebuild at some point. The 5-speed unit in the D5 models I believe is reliable, but isn't the smoothest of units and has a fair bit of "lag" as you set off, not helped by a 2.5 ton car to lug around with only 160bhp!
Had a D5SE for six years, covered 90,000 miles and had no mechanical problems. As mentioned before, it is the 4 speed auto from the petrol car that seems to get the bad press. Other running costs are fairly high (but not surprising given the size and weight) so tyres, discs, pads. Ours has averaged 30mpg overall which is everything from school runs to 1000 mile, non-stop European hauls. My wife loves it and currently looking for another to replace it.
Chris_ said:
Had a D5SE for six years, covered 90,000 miles and had no mechanical problems. As mentioned before, it is the 4 speed auto from the petrol car that seems to get the bad press. Other running costs are fairly high (but not surprising given the size and weight) so tyres, discs, pads. Ours has averaged 30mpg overall which is everything from school runs to 1000 mile, non-stop European hauls. My wife loves it and currently looking for another to replace it.
Much the same for us. We had our 06 D5 SE for nearly 4 years and covered 30k miles. No problems here. Our front tyres last around 12k miles and we always replace with Continentals as originally fitted. Mix of driving as well and we also return 30mpg. Just had the dealer perform the polestar upgrade to take the 185bhp motor to 205bhp. Also increases the torgue by 50nm. Noticeable difference in performance, especially at higher speeds. Gear changes are quicker as well when you have your foot hard down. However it hasn't changed the downshift characteristics which in ours means that it holds onto 3rd gear right down to 800rpm. Which is anoying as when you bury the throttle (say you're approaching a roundabout and you decide you can go) it takes too long to downshift into 1st causing scary moments 
That's my only complaint.Gassing Station | Volvo & Polestar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff