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Which used XC90 to buy?

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Old Mar 23rd, 2019, 09:01   #1
dixomatt
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Default Which used XC90 to buy?

Hello all,

Hope you don’t mind me inviting comment on the following.. Looking at used XC90s due to growing family. You certainly get a lot of car for your money.

At around the £8-9k mark, there are lowish mileage (eg 80-110k miles) cars pre 2006, and much higher mileage (150k plus) cars that are much newer, up to about 2011.

And of course anything in between. What would you go for, and what are the considerations?

Do XC90s reach 200k miles if they are well maintained?

I have read the Practical Caravan and Carbuyer buyers’ guides.

At the moment my heuristic is probably something like - go for a car at around 120-140k miles and get the highest spec / newest available. Avoid tow cars.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Matt
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Old Mar 23rd, 2019, 09:21   #2
XC90Mk1
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It depends how tight the budget is. At that money I would avoid the early low mileage cars because of the inherent design issues they have (angled splines etc) and their lack of kit (no blue tooth for example).

The later ones are the 185bhp versions which are known for drinking a lot and can be 500 quid a year to tax (not all of them).

I would be tempted to go post 2011 and get the 200bhp version with 300odd quid a year tax and relatively easy 30mpg which will prob save around 15 to 20 percent on fuel. You will also get blue tooth, proper sat nav you can update and fresher looks etc.

I purchased mine at 68k from a dealer with full history and fresh service etc for £14,350 and I would expect you to be able to get a 2011 version with 80k for little more than you are looking at maybe even just a grand.

Get a 2011 onwards with 200bhp engine and less than 100k. Then change the gearbox oil to protect the box, change the cam belt (not hard) and give full service. You will be supposed at how modest the genuine Volvo spares are (good value for money).

Try for SE Lux as it’s got soft leather trim etc.
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Old Mar 23rd, 2019, 09:28   #3
Kwozzymodo
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A well looked-after XC90 will last a long time. My 15-year old T6 Executive has done over 150k and is still going strong. It’s a really comfortable, well-equipped car and has more than enough space to lug people/stuff around. I also have a new XC90 D5 Momentum and, aside from the touch screen tech on the new vehicle, I prefer the T6!

Look for a well-looked after car, with service history. The diesels have gone through various iterations that affect VED, so if that has an impact on your purchase decision, check the rates.

Things like towbars and side steps are easy to add as after-market parts.

If you get the right car, you will not be disappointed. Good luck with the search.
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Old Mar 23rd, 2019, 13:35   #4
XC90Mk1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kwozzymodo View Post
A well looked-after XC90 will last a long time. My 15-year old T6 Executive has done over 150k and is still going strong. It’s a really comfortable, well-equipped car and has more than enough space to lug people/stuff around. I also have a new XC90 D5 Momentum and, aside from the touch screen tech on the new vehicle, I prefer the T6!

Look for a well-looked after car, with service history. The diesels have gone through various iterations that affect VED, so if that has an impact on your purchase decision, check the rates.

Things like towbars and side steps are easy to add as after-market parts.

If you get the right car, you will not be disappointed. Good luck with the search.
Have you had problems with the gearbox on your?
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Old Mar 23rd, 2019, 19:19   #5
dixomatt
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Both really helpful replies - thanks!

M
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Old Mar 24th, 2019, 08:42   #6
Odysseus
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dixomatt View Post
Hello all,

Hope you don’t mind me inviting comment on the following.. Looking at used XC90s due to growing family. You certainly get a lot of car for your money.

At around the £8-9k mark, there are lowish mileage (eg 80-110k miles) cars pre 2006, and much higher mileage (150k plus) cars that are much newer, up to about 2011.

And of course anything in between. What would you go for, and what are the considerations?

Do XC90s reach 200k miles if they are well maintained?

I have read the Practical Caravan and Carbuyer buyers’ guides.

At the moment my heuristic is probably something like - go for a car at around 120-140k miles and get the highest spec / newest available. Avoid tow cars.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Matt
Hi Matt,

There are definitely some parallels between what you’re thinking of doing and what I’ve just done. I too have an expanding family (wife due with number three in May) and needed a car capable of taking three children needing child seats. I too arrived at XC90s on the basis a seven-seater SUV is a more palatable proposition than a MPV.

I was working with a budget of circa £10K and was looking at cars from 2008 and newer. They generally had around 100,000 miles by that point.

Main things to consider (as others have pointed out) is that some of the 185bhp cars have road tax at over £500 and niceties like Bluetooth connectivity didn’t arrive until comparatively late compared to other cars - I think around 2011 but others can confirm.

I ended up buying a late 2012 D5 Executive (all the toys) with 183,000 miles - thanks to a tip from this very forum. It’s a one-owner car with a complete Volvo history and has never towed. It came in comfortably under my budget meaning I have some left in the kitty for work should it need it.

I’ve documented my ownership to date in another thread so feel free to take a look at that if you want.

I’ve had my XC90 about four weeks and it’s been great and will definitely do the job I bought it for. I’m just hoping it proves to be as reliable as it is comfortable.

Best of luck with your search and let us know how you get on.
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Old Mar 24th, 2019, 22:06   #7
Tannaton
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So I run a Feb 2003 (one of the very earliest) XC90 D5's, I've had it 5 years it's now got 175k on it. It has been the most reliable car I have ever had (including over 7 company cars I've had from new and done 120-130k in) in that it has never left me by the roadside, not even hinted. I also use it occasionally for towing heavy loads, I would get in it tomorrow and drive it to the moon and back without checking a thing.

However....

It does get lavished with maintenance, I change the oil and filter every 10k, I've changed the gearbox oil twice in my ownership, and every rattle, whine or creak gets sorted the minute it occurs often enough to diagnose it - and there have been a few. In the past 2 years I've done the rear brakes (overhaul calipers, discs, pads, shoes, springs etc.), 2 wheel bearings, an engine mounting, new front wishbones and ball joints, rear tailgate struts, battery, stripped and cleaned the washer bottle (was leaking) 1 x strut top mounting. That lot and routing servicing would cost you probably £2k. And last month I got a SRS System service message which was just a sensor, got a used one on e-bay for £22 - but had that gone to a dealer you would have been looking at £150 minimum I suspect.

The majority of the above is quite simply age/mileage related but it is what it is and you have to expect (budget) for it.

A lot of people would have lived with some of those issues, but I keep my cars in tip top condition.
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Old Mar 25th, 2019, 11:05   #8
idiotgap
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I bought an XC90 at the tail end of 2018. Ours is a 2013 SE Lux model and had 65k miles and a full volvo history up for about £16k. Even then, when I put it into the independent specialist after purchase, I spent about £1k on getting it right, though some of those things were cosmetic, the only mechanical bits I think were a swirl flap actuator rod which was cheap to do and made a big difference to power delivery and I had the front discs and pads changed.

Hopefully if we keep it maintained it'll keep our family mobile for a good while without too much going wrong. We wanted some things on the spec so we had to lie in wait until the right car came up.
- Light coloured interior but black carpets
- Electric childlocks
- Nav
- towbar
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Old Mar 25th, 2019, 11:39   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by idiotgap View Post
the only mechanical bits I think were a swirl flap actuator rod which was cheap to do and made a big difference to power delivery
Hi idiotgap, what were the symptoms of your issues with power delivery the swirl flap actuator rod resolved? Prior to the fix was it throwing an error visible on the instrument display?
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Old Mar 25th, 2019, 14:29   #10
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No visible error and I don't have a code reader yet. To me it was normal because I'd only had the car a day or two. I booked the car into the indy just to see what they thought, fix up a couple of cosmetic items and advise on anything preventative to do. Turns out the D5 swirlflap actuator is a weak point, if it becomes detached you don't get the benefit. Take off from rest is noticeably slower.
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