How long to keep a Volvo

[wayner]

Can i ask for your thoughts on the following.
I have a V70 (55 plate) with 48.000 miles on the clock.
I have in the past always driven a Ford Mondeo and had an auto box go on
one 3 months after the warranty ran out.I have purchased a further years warranty on the Volvo but fear it will be too expensive to get one for year 5.
The question is do i get rid now and get a cheaper car or hold onto the Volvo which i really like and hope nothing goes wrong.
I have been offered 9 grand for my car in part ex but it would mean going back to a Ford which is a nice car but not a V70.
Also how do you stand with the warranty if you get the car serviced at a
non franchised garage because their hourly charges are getting silly.

[tt82]

volvo engines are typically bullet proof and will easilly see 6 figure mileage. Im sure theres plenty of life left in the car as long its kept serviced properly.

im sure if you posted in V70 00-07 section, other owners will give you a lot of model specific info

[rick250561]

48,000 miles is only just run in :)

Its got a good few years in it yet, my S60 has 130,000 on the clock and I am not planning on replacing it in the near future.

Enjoy

[greenone]

Hi,

I am a traffic officer and have driven many V70s much harder than the average motorist. Whilst our fleet of V70s are not without faults (front suspension and steering mainly) engine and gearbox faults are very rare indeed.

Obviously every car is different but i would say your at 48000 has many more miles lift in it.

My own car an 850R is coming up to 200000 and engine and gearbox are still fine......touch wood!

John

[Rossi-fan]

Keep hold of it, you're more likely to have problems with your new ford. Ooops, should'nt really say that eh

[Danneh]

You don't need all this extending of warranty stuff. It's like some people are afriad of fixing cars if they have a problem. Someone else has to pay lol.

ANyway, how many times have you actually used your warranty on this car ?

[wayner]

Thank you all for the information,
Guess i`ll be keeping the V70 for a while longer and probably not bother renewing the warranty.
Now all i need is somewhere to get the alloys refurbished and all will be well.
many thanks

[LankyTim]

Keep it until you die, even then you can be buried in it meaning you keep it in the afterlife too.

Keep those oil changes up!

[JackRussel]

Thank you all for the information,
Guess i`ll be keeping the V70 for a while longer and probably not bother renewing the warranty.
Now all i need is somewhere to get the alloys refurbished and all will be well.
many thanks

Do you actually let other people make these kind of decisions for you ??? Take a test drive in a new mondeo estate then weigh up the pros and cons then make your own decision.

[wayner]

No i do not let other people make the decisions for me.
I use a discussion board to ask for opinions then weigh up the options.
I have already tried the Mondeo estate and although i think it is a fine car the depreciation rate is too steep.
Thank you for your input though.

[Tibbsey23]

Keep it until you die, even then you can be buried in it meaning you keep it in the afterlife too.

Actually that hearse I nearly bought off you would have had "Volvo: For AfterLife" painted down the side!

I think really how long you keep a car very much depends on your own personal situation, and how you weigh up the risk of faults developing.

I mean if you are one of those people (like the missus) who thinks that new cars are inherrently faultless, old cars are money pits and depreciation is a key overriding factor in buying a car (even more so than actually buying the car you preferred) then new cars are the way to go.

On the other hand, if you carefully buy an old car, look after the bits that do wear and treat it well, it aught to last you well and will probably have just as much risk of "the unexpected" as any other car new or old. Obviously though, you own the car, so you know how its been treated and know if any common faults have been rectified already.

Just my opinion, but to me it makes sense. A well looked after machine will last as long as its design faults and corrosion will allow, so long as you look after what wears, and replace it as it needs.

[capt jack]

8 of the 11 Volvos we've owned have been autos, and have covered 750,000 miles between them.

Hope I'm not now tempting fate, but we have never had a gearbox problem.

After good design and quality manufacturing, sensible driving and regular maintenance are the two key factors to the longevity and reliability of any car.

Jack

[RaVolvoR]

Depreciation of new cars is what puts me off them. I had one, very nice but it really hurt when I no longer needed it and found it was worth only 35% of purchase price after 3 years.

If your car is worth 9k now, that suggests in 4 yrs you've "lost" around 16k + (depending on model/extras/purchase price etc I guessed at 25k for V70 new) If you buy a new Mondeo estate and change that in 4 yrs you'll lose at least another 10k, possibly more depending on spec.

The question is will you spend 10k fixing the volvo in the next 4 years? Well no one can say no for sure, but aside from the guys who modify their cars etc , how many people on this forum spend 2.5k/year purely on repairs of broken items? I don't!

Aside from servicing I've spent £300 on bushes, £200 on tyres, £75 on new washer bottle and jets and maybe £20 on sundries... call it £600 "unexpected" (though I knew tyres and bushes would wear out!) in two years, (that is from 4yr old to 6yr old car)... if I spend double that in next two years that still only £1800 in total... which makes me £8200 better off than buying a Mondeo estate... I can do a lot with that sort of money! I'm assuming for simplicity that servicing and all other running costs is similar, maybe a bit silly but the difference is a maybe just a few hundred not thousands!

Of course now Ive said this I'm doomed, everything will probably break! :(

Good luck which ever way you decide to go.

[JackRussel]

No i do not let other people make the decisions for me.
I use a discussion board to ask for opinions then weigh up the options.
I have already tried the Mondeo estate and although i think it is a fine car the depreciation rate is too steep.
Thank you for your input though.

You're welcome.

What opinion did you get when you asked the same question on a ford owners forum ?

[wayner]

Did not really need to get an opinion on Ford because i have always had
them but this is my first Volvo so i thought i would use the discussion board
to sound out the people who have owned them .
I bought the V70 when it was a year old with 34.000 on the clock and paid
just under 17 grand for it,probably because of the high mileage for a one year old car.
Thank you to all the members that took the time to give me their thoughts
on this,it is much appreciated.

[jco]

Might be worth checking out other warranties though - I believe there are cheaper options than volvo's own and sometimes you can just cover the big stuff - gearbox etc

[capt jack]

Be wary of aftermarket insurance-backed warranties. The small print is a minefield, and they're really only interested in covering the bits that are extremely unlikely to break.

Jack

[JackRussel]

Depreciation of new cars is what puts me off them. I had one, very nice but it really hurt when I no longer needed it and found it was worth only 35% of purchase price after 3 years.

If your car is worth 9k now, that suggests in 4 yrs you've "lost" around 16k + (depending on model/extras/purchase price etc I guessed at 25k for V70 new) If you buy a new Mondeo estate and change that in 4 yrs you'll lose at least another 10k, possibly more depending on spec.

The question is will you spend 10k fixing the volvo in the next 4 years? Well no one can say no for sure, but aside from the guys who modify their cars etc , how many people on this forum spend 2.5k/year purely on repairs of broken items? I don't!

Aside from servicing I've spent £300 on bushes, £200 on tyres, £75 on new washer bottle and jets and maybe £20 on sundries... call it £600 "unexpected" (though I knew tyres and bushes would wear out!) in two years, (that is from 4yr old to 6yr old car)... if I spend double that in next two years that still only £1800 in total... which makes me £8200 better off than buying a Mondeo estate... I can do a lot with that sort of money! I'm assuming for simplicity that servicing and all other running costs is similar, maybe a bit silly but the difference is a maybe just a few hundred not thousands!

Of course now Ive said this I'm doomed, everything will probably break! :(

Good luck which ever way you decide to go.

What you didn't include in your calculation was the further depreciation of the V70, which will probably lose another £6000-7000 over the next 3-4 years !

Right now is a good time to buy a new car, there are some amazing deals around and in 3-4 years residual values should be strong.

[Kane Perry]

Keep it, I have a 2003 V70 2.4, has 234k miles on clock.
Having a new car on the drive does not pay the mortgage,you have at least another 5 years of trouble free motoring.

[keitha]

Agree with the other replies.
you've got loads of life left in it.
i'm running a 5 year old S40 with 149k miles on clock/ still on original exaust and clutch etc.Its very reliable.
just keep it serviced often.
it's much better than my previous car which was an uncomfortable VW Golf which made my backside numb on long trips however the golf was prettier.

happy motoring.

[andymusic]

Keep it - don't buy a ford - enjoy your Volvo

[NewVolvo]

As a note, Irv Gordon's P1800 have almost 3 million miles and that has been achived with only frequent oil changes, so 48K is really nothing!

[MTerry]

The least mileage of any of my 3 Volvos is 125,000. My 740 will turn over 300,000 soon. All 3 cars were bought from people who didn't take care of them and they were/are loaded with issues, yet all still are worthy of use.

[Simeyb]

My S60 T5 SE is 9 years old on 26th October this year and this weekend I used clay and detailer to clean the body and then a coat of polish (sealer and wax next weekend) and it looks like a brand new car - wouldn't give you anything for a Ford - Viva Volvo!!

[georged]

I never keep any car for more than three years. I just don't like old cars. :thumbs_up:

[white90]

I never keep any car for more than three years. I just don't like old cars. :thumbs_up:

a Dealers Dream !
as long as the ££ is available then great but I like to have my monies worth out of mine
V40 currently at 116k and drives lovely a new exhaust soon to be fitted as the old one is corroded at the rear box joint
I could weld it but a new exhaust (when it arrives) wasn't to spendy..

[GMad]

For what it's worth, I keep my work cars until they have around 200k on the clock and then throw them away and start again (two to three years on average).
Recently that's included a brace of Volvos (still got the latest one) and some Vauxhalls, all of which were still going strong when they hit the mileage.
Most cars will do waaaay more than 48000 miles without issue in this day and age, I wouldn't worry if I were you.

[t5_andy]

48k? thats nothing these days....

I've had my T5 8 1/2 yrs now and she's done over 216k. Still looks great and reliable.

There's something quite cool about seeing this on the dash: