How long can geartronic last if well maintained?
 

hi
I am big fan of volvos but really scared of geartronic which my wife would like to have in her XC60 she would like to buy.

Could you please share your opinions i still have some chance to persuade her to look for a manual :)

Regards

How long is a piece of string?

The geartronic transmission is a good one, but it needs to be maintained like anything to prolong its life so to speak.

There's plenty of Volvo's that have geartronic's with upwards of 150,000 miles on them. That's not implying that you go out & buy one thinking that you're going to get the same out of it... do your research & buy a car that has been well looked after.

Purchase a car with full service history & ideally one that has had transmission fluid changes done previously. If there's no records of the fluid being changed, then check that the transmission shifts nicely & budget for a future transmission service. At a dealership, you'd be looking £300-£400 for this to be done, but an independent garage would probably be cheaper.

Its very important that the correct spec fluid is used, so a place that has knowledge of Volvo's would be the best place to bring it to & not just any old garage you come across.

Thanks for reply. I usually keep car for many years. D5 engine can last 400k miles if maintained and i was wondering if geartronic can match that. If volvo misled the users and said not to change oil as there is no need than finding well maintained geartronic is going to be even more challenge :(

You ask specifically "how long will Geartronic last if well maintained." My thoughts are. In reality Geartronic is the brand name that Volvo have bestowed on their automatic transmissions but really they are no different to most other auto transmissions on the market, they are conventional torque converter epicyclic transmissions so should be as robust as any other make. Horror stories arise from Volvo's insistence that they are sealed for life and need no maintenance, disregard this advice and they should last as long as any automatic transmission. Many other manufacturers use the Aisin transmission in their vehicles although not branded as Geartronic.

Manual transmissions can be costly if they need a new clutch and Dual Mass Flywheel.

It's not that difficult on a S60 pre 2010 to change the fluid but i don't know about later models.

This is a very informative video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAb9p8Wph-M

So when i look for XC60 automatic for my wife i should make sure there are documents that the oil has been changed apart from thorough test drive when the oil is warm.
Any idea how often should the oil be changed ? every 50k or 80k ? Any other maintenance should be done on the gearbox? In general does automatic gearbox save money or loose money from maintenance cost of view (geartronic oil changes plus filters) comparing to normal volvo gearbox (about 900pounds for plate and dual mass +labor). I have had old s60 2002 for 7 years with no signs of clutch failing any time soon.

Yes the geartronic can let 400k. They are easy to service. Just change the fluid each 75k.

thanks for reply - are there any other maintenance parts on geartronic apart from oil + filter every 50-75k miles?

Since the 2014 facelift, volvo specifies a 60k km transmission oil change interval on the AW transmission.

This is the 8-speed version, but it is virtually identical to the 6-speed, which was also used in the Freelander 2 since 2006 and about which all the complaints are about.

To make more money sooner, some local distributors of European cars substitute the units.

E.g. if the manufacturer specified 60k miles, they change it to kms, which is quite a bit sooner.