Long periods between using the car.
 

I am having to go abroad with work.

Be about 4 months in total. Leaving the car on a trickle charger is not an option.

If I get Mrs M to use it once a month for a decent run to properly warm it up will that be enough??

Any other issues I need to be aware of? Are the Volvos batteries robust if left for weeks on end??

Thanks.

A good run once a month will be fine , use the brakes a lot , pump up the tyres to 38 psi , keep about 1/3 tank of fuel and after the run which could use a gallon replenish with a fresh gallon . Park in the shade , give it a wash if it gets dirty ; Yes a volvo battery is robust , new cars have to have them charged every 3 months if in storage , however if they go flat just for a day or two it ruins them . If your battery is not 100% good , this rest will show it up .

Keep us updated how long you can leave the car unused without issue. I plan to be away for some time too...thanks alot.

I ve had mine parked for up to 5 weeks with no issues, if that helps.

Thanks for the replies.

I’ll keep updating but the plan at the moment is to get Mrs M to drive it to work (about 10 miles of mixed roads) once a month.

She knows not to leave bird poo on the car and has promised to wash it off if she finds it but I don’t expect her to wash the whole car routinely (not sure I’d trust her!!!). It’ll give me a great excuse to get it properly detailed and ceramic coated when I get home!!

:regular_smile:My 940 estate stood for nearly 4 years with a quick run round the block every 6 months and a trickle charge I put it back on road a few weeks ago, passed MOT no probs. A quick polish and all fine. It was garaged fo its off road time.

Persuade Mrs M to take the car to work at least once a week, it will help her to become very familiar with the car as well as get value from the cost of the car.

Only risk with this strategy is that she might the car so much that she will not let you have the use of it when you return....

Once left my D5 parked for 4 weeks, and no issues upon my return. Car started fine, and Stop/Start was soon working too.

Mrs M has her own XC60 so your fears are unlikely to materialise!

It depends on the vehicle, we did a similar thing when we lived in the US, the qashqai battery went flat at some point in the first 3 months...consequence doors unlocked, radio satnav required code to reset, trickle charged it over the weekend and it was back to normal, ready to sit for another few months.Yaris was fine, but not as much electronics on board.