Japanese Import XC60

[ManFromDelmonte]

Hello,

I'm looking for a petrol XC60 and have seen a few that look great but have been recently imported into the UK from Japan.

Part of me thinks this might be an advantage (no salt on the roads so less chance of rust), but equally I'm worried about lack of service history or verifiable mileage etc.

Does anyone have experience of buying an import and can offer any advice on what to look for or if it's just a bad idea?

One thing that has come up in my research is that Japanese cars aren't treated against rust the same as Euro cars - if this is true (?) - that's one thing to add to the cons list.

Many thanks.

[pd2]

I'm currently sitting on a train from Glasgow to Birmingham to go and see two volvo XC70 imports tomorrow morning.

From my volvo forum research. My understanding is that volvo treats all there cars the same no matter what market they are heading for.
The MOT equivalent in Japan is a lot stricter than ours, so cars seem to be looked after better. If you do get service history, it's usually in Japanese anyway lol.
Bare in mind, the speedo and odo will be in KMs and the FM radio frequencies will be different. Importers can usually arrange a conversion for these.

I would have been looking at an XC60 but need bigger. I'm also looking at imports, as being a car guy, I want the T6 and as its an import, i can take it into work in the Glasgow LEZ area. Not many T6's for sale in the UK either.

Have a look through www.volvoowners.org a UK site and www.swedespeed.com a US one. Both have a load of knowledge on them.

Paul.

[ManFromDelmonte]

Thanks Paul. I was coming to the same conclusion about the rust proofing.

I'm looking at the T5 but I hadn't realised how many different engine and gearbox combos the XC60 T5 had through it's life. The ecoboost engines and Powershift gearboxes worry me...

Let me know how you get on with the XC70s

[pd2]

I was going to look at a couple of V70s that had the 2.0L with powershift, but after reading an awful lot of threads about them I decided against anything with that gear box. Commonly known as the 'powerst' gearbox.

[anyoldcardave]

pd2 said:

I was going to look at a couple of V70s that had the 2.0L with powershift, but after reading an awful lot of threads about them I decided against anything with that gear box. Commonly known as the 'powerst' gearbox.

You are very wise to avoid this gearbox, Ford derived, so reading Ford forums on the issues will help understand why.

Experience tells me, it is worst on big heavy cars, has the clutch pack issues earlier and not so much on lighter cars, which is concerning for a big Volvo.

[pd2]

Well...... I bought one. It'll be getting a fresh services, and a couple of niggles sorted, tailgate struts replaced and jap to English conversion carried out. Absolutely spotless underneath. won't get it for a couple of weeks due to the work, awaiting logbook and my shifts.

2013, XC70 T6 AWD with Polestar upgrade. Espresso brown interior. Roof box that I may or not use.

And it's not brown, it's twilight bronze metallic!!





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Edited by pd2 on Saturday 24th August 00:08

[E-bmw]

pd2 said:

And it's not brown, it's twilight bronze metallic!!

Sounds like metallic brown to me.