Advice buying an xc90
 

Hi brand new here not the greatest techy person actually needed help from the wife to get this far so please make allowances.

I was going to buy an xc 90 paid a deposit from a dealer year model 2008 D5 se auto engine D5244t4 it needed a new heater fan blower motor everything else working well had a lot of volvo main dealer service history lots of maintenance work carried timing belt etc etc rather a nice car and had been looking for a while mileage 129,000.

Dealer had the motor fitted when they reconnected the battery and started the fan it worked but the compressor didnt then smoke and smell of burning now the car has a partial burnt wiring loom no dash lights no satnav and is going in for diagnostics, basically deposit refunded start looking again arrrgh.

Now to my burning question this incident has put me off an xc90 I want the vehicle for size ground clearance I will be off roading in it not mega hard core muddy fields but am now wondering if maybe a vw touareg, landrover discovery 3 or something would be more reliable, are the later xc 90's better or worse budget is about 5k are all xc 90's money pits?

Looking for some advice on what to get currently run a nissan x trail not enough ground clearance off road thanks in advance.

Have you looked on the forum for common faults? I wouldn’t let the experience you’ve just had (poorly executed repair) put you off an XC90.

Agree with what he says ^^^^^^^^

Just go to a different dealer...

Cheers

Dave

Bit confused as to why a garage/dealer (I am assuming not a Volvo dealer) cocking-up a repair would put you off the marque/model ... if that's your criteria then I must ask why ANY Land Rover is on your list (money pit central from my experience) ... the XC90's are very robust cars and if looked after will serve well and probably complete starship mileages if required. There are a few known issues (check the forums,) but the vast majority of the problems are due to poor maintenance by previous owners (these are not cheap cars to run and maintain at any age) ... and also don't forget that the "newest" of these cars is still almost 6 years old ... so maintenance and care is well worth checking for .... check well use your head and you will not be disappointed.

Hopefully some food for though to aid your decision/thoughts.

You don’t but a land rover product for reliability to be honest.

Off road the ground clearance is impressive and you will certainly get down all the green Lane type tracks etc. Mine is used off road and in tracks etc without incidence. And I have never suffered any issues. Mine went from 68,000 miles to 110,000 without incidence.

My advice to you however with owning an XC90 and my father a discovery is.

If you can work on the car yourself then frankly it’s all fairly cheap (as is the discovery. If however you are not working on it yourself I think you would have to buy very very very wisely in order to avoid problems which will run you £0,000s very quickly!

The OP’s not been back on the site since his original post.

He's probably been scared off after reading through the xc90's potential problems :shocked::omg_smile:

Are these legion?

Classic lets join a forum ask a question then disappear in a puff of smoke.