Talk to me about shonky Volvos

[DavePanda]

I'm looking at a Volvo V70 for general tip running as well as commuting 60 miles a day, all dual carriageway.

Anyone have experience of these? My understanding is the D5 engine is pretty reliable, the amount of old V70s i see around must mean they're a trusty workhorse.

Budget around £3k

[Snow and Rocks]

We ran one to quite a high mileage back when they were current. The D5 itself was solid but the rest of the car seemed to need a steady stream of little niggles fixed. Can't remember the specifics but I don't think it was ever serviced with there being extra jobs for them to sort at the same time.

I think it made it to 150k before the auto box have up the ghost which apparently was a common issue so be careful to test drive it thoroughly if you auto.

Comfy seats, great stereo, engine had plenty of grunt and sounded quite fruity - crap handling and terrible turning circle though!

[Hugo Stiglitz v2]

Depending how lucky you are I'd budget £500 a year in niggle and mot rectifications

[M28TTR]

Ran one from 141k to 190k no issues. Very comfy, the best seats in the business. Pre 2008 were P2 and proper Volvo, P3 model 2008 onwards was full of Ford parts, just avoid the Ford auto gearbox as causes issues (think it was the powershift) whereas Volvos was the geartronic.

[Davie]

I've had many many Volvos over the years and I now seem to buck the trend (or cliches) by saying that the best two I've ever owned in terms of reliability, usability, general build quality, road manners and general value for money were a 2008 XC70 D5 and a 2007 V50 2.0D, both of which are firmly in the Ford era... yet proved to be far better machines and servants than the "proper Volvos" that proceeded them.

[sutts]

I’ve been running this 170 bhp 2.4 petrol auto since February, bought from a local specialist and (fingers crossed) haven’t had any issues in that time. It had just been treated to a new cambelt, brakes, service, wheel refurb, front tyres and a fresh MOT. It was also low miles at 71,000 and I think only two fairly local owners having been sold new not far from where I live in Kent.

It was in lovely condition and everything works - really good air con, fabulously comfortable heated seats, great stereo etc and I use a plug in Bluetooth module to play podcasts and music through. Drives very well; not fast but not slow either and the decent tyre wall soaks most stuff up. I love the shape and the practicality.

Downsides are 23 mpg around town, although I have seen 38 mpg on a long steady run, big turning circle and the major one for most people - £60 per month VED. I’m happy to wear that for a while yet as I like the car so much.







Ultimately if you can find a good P2 V70 I think they still make a great, comfortable and reliable daily and they seem to resist corrosion much better than similar aged German cars.

[DavePanda]

Thanks for the info

I've read something about the auto boxes but i think they fixed the issues later on (or was it vice versa) I've also read they're pretty heavy on the front end with wishbones and other associated items having to be changed more often than other cars.

It seems everywhere i go, someone has one as a second car

[66HFM]

We had one about 5 years ago as a stopgap and ended up keeping it for 12 months, it was a 2.0T petrol and had over 200bhp, it certainly surprised a few people!
Ours was a 2001 and was a 1 owner with full Volvo history with every single receipt from new, paid a bargain £900 for it and sold it for £1250, I only spent £3 on a new wiper blade for the headlights!

The most comfortable seats in any car I've owned and a great stereo.
Buy one and keep it until it dies!

[Davie]

DavePanda said:

Thanks for the info

I've read something about the auto boxes but i think they fixed the issues later on (or was it vice versa) I've also read they're pretty heavy on the front end with wishbones and other associated items having to be changed more often than other cars.

It seems everywhere i go, someone has one as a second car

Early 5 speed Geartronic boxes as found in sort of 2001 era onwards S60 and V70 were a bit flaky... or maybe that was due to Volvo stating they were sealed for life and as with any aspect of a ca that is left to deteriorate, eventually issues start to manifest. On these you absolutely must must test drive it long enough to get the car fully up to temperature then give the box a good going over, any flaring or banging between gears and it's time to pack up and walk away. There are those who claim an oil change will fix a failing box or resetting the adaptions - it rarely does, once they're starting to play up that's usually it unless you go down the valve body replacement route which can be costly. They're not all bad, they're not all on the cusp of failure but it's a bit of a gamble. The slightly later 6 speed boxes are better, then into P3 onwards they seemed less problematic but regular gearbox oil change are no bad thing in helping prolong their lives.

I think the whole "heavy on the front end is a bit of a myth" too, granted yes they're quite heavy cars but I suspect most of these "it eats suspension parts" is a by product of parts wearing and then a singular part being replaced... then something else wears... and so on and so forth. This is compounded by fitting utter dog ste parts, which many of these cars will have given their age / lower values and that just amplifies the issues. So yes, some whine that they are forever chasing front end wear but very few will commit to doing a complete job with good quality parts... so really, as with a lot of budget stuff, it's just glossing over the cracks.

I bought an 08 plate XC70 (the P3 version) at 198k... it had just had Volvo front struts, top mounts, track rods ends, inners, wishbones etc and I ran it to 250k over some really really brutal roads and it never needed anything replaced and nor did it knock or rattle. Conversely, I had a P2 D5 that the seller was proud to say he'd just fitted lower arms and track rod ends on... within about 6,000 miles the things was rattling like a shopping trolley on cobbles. But probably about 78p per item from AutoDoc.

[Bonefish Blues]

OEM lower arms are a c70-80K mile service item IME.

Echo those thoughts about the 'boxes - they don't give trouble in other applications where an ATF change is specified, funnily enough

Unless you have a cast iron guarantee they've been done, change the aux belt and tensioners of any D5 bought. Cambelts never give trouble, aux belts (and specifically tensioners) very much do, and are known to cause fatal damage when they snap and flap, as it were. No need to change the water pump unless rough, and if you do change, always OEM on this item as aftermarket ones have a bad reputation. eBay volvopartstrade are very good for OE stuff.

[Shooter McGavin]

I've always fancied a V70 as a tow car but a bit wary that the auto gearboxes can go postal as mentioned above.

Seems to be a well documented issue but fixable, as detailed here:

https://hortoncars.com/latest-news/volvo-v70-s80-x...

Various flavours of cost to repair: https://hortoncars.com/latest-news/volvo-auto-gear...

I think I'd be tempted to go for the lesser-spotted manual!

[Bonefish Blues]

As long as you check it as advised (long drive, fully hot - and then maintain them) the AW 'boxes are perfectly fine. Graham (Horton Cars) runs some Ice Age Loaners with autoboxes that keep on keeping on well into the 200Ks.

[GreatGranny]

I'm a big Volvo fan (244, V70 P1, XC90 x 2, V60 & S40) and definitely echo above re. decent parts.

Both my XC90s had been well maintained with OEM parts and they were 100% reliable during my ownership (5 years total).
The V70 hadn't and I ended up changing quite a few parts up front which made a huge difference.

Gearbox was slow but you just anticipated that (06 & 07 regs).

The V60 & S40 were run to high miles as commuters and were excellent.

We don't have a Volvo at the moment, chose an X1 ahead of an XC60 2 years ago.
The X1 made the XC60 feel like an old design and it's been great but XC70's are peaking my interest . . . . .

[Davie]

The above applies to 6spd boxes, 06 onwards but I assume the fix for the earlier 5spd boxes is similar.

I think it's luck... I had three V70 with the 5spd Geartronic and all developed issues but as it was shedding, I just got rid. That put me off the auto boxes a bit and so had a few manual cars and had no issues until my last 2008 XC70 with the 6spd manual started to show signs of flywheel failure at around 248,000 miles. Replacement was in the region of £1500 to £1750 with a clutch assembly etc. I bailed out. However, neither are infinite and both can throw up big bills.