XC90 D5 Volvo newbie seeks advice

[desmondbarrow]

Hi

Thinking of buying XC90 D5 SE 2006 Auto. First registered March 2006.

Looks good, 54k miles, FVSH, quite a few features etc, they want about £13k for it. Got a tow bar but apparently not much used. Missing headlamp washer cover and damage to driver seat moulding but electric seat still works. Otherwise seems fine.

What do you think? I have never owned a Volvo and would very much appreciate your advice and the answers to a few questions.

Does it qualify for road tax of £260? Will it really get 34mpg on a run? How is Volvo reliability? Does this one have geartronic and what is that? Is the cambelt likely to go soon? What does the SE have that the others don't? Does this car have the 185 bhp or is it the 163bhp?

Will be used for getting to and from country with kids etc on motorway, then rugged but not much off road country driving. Should I buy it?

Many thanks for your advice and opinions.

[galloot633]

I think I bought your cars brother last year ! I paid £12750 but mine had done 90k miles with fvs and dealer 3 monthy guarantee, this is known as series 1.5 on the forum, in that it has the early body style and the late 185 motor and six speed box , because it was registered before april you pay the lower road tax , mine had the drivers seat trim split aswell, replaced for 15 quid, cambelt should be done at 90 k, not sure what age though, I still love mine, brilliant car
dave

[docjd]

It should be the newer Engine-185bhp
I would get someone with mechanical knowledge to check if it has AWD(all wheel drive) working-known fault
I would get some money off for faults listed-as paint spraying the washer cover is ?£50+vat main dealer-i think that was the figure quoted when we lost ours!
Check tyres -most xc90s seem to eat them!
On a motorway run that figure should be achieveable-in town a lot lower.
Its an extremely safe car if not the most reliable!
i would do some more research before buying and hopefully more learned forum members will help:thumbs_up:

[teambarron]

We bought a 2004 XC90 with 64k on the clock for £12500 earlier this year, full VSH etc, it's an SE trim (when there was only S, SE & Executive!). Has most of the toys your potential one seems to have.

On a recent day trip to Essex from Berkshire (M4, M25 & A12), bugger all non-m'way or dual carriageway driving, the car's computer recorded 33.6 MPG by the time we were on our way home. This is a 200ish mile round trip, and much better than what we get in town (30-31 usually).

You should be able to check the level of road tax you would be liable for somewhere on the DVLA website (via www.direct.gov.uk).

Extremely pleased with ours...we chose it because we needed 6 seats and a decent boot space but it has exceeded expectations in most areas so far.

Happy hunting... :-)