Possible volvo t4/t5/t5-r purchase

I currently have a saab 9000 carlsson. Very quick, very safe, pretty reliable. Looking for a newer car (its 11 years old now). We have 2 dogs and a new baby - this means large hatch/estate cars. After looking at VW passats, mpv's etc, I realise that I love the saab too much. I need something different, safe, quick......so its either another saab or volvo!!

I think the T4 is too small....I have seen an 850 R estate with 60k miles and fvsh for 8k. Too much for this? What kind of things go wrong with them? Are they as reliable as the less powerful cars?

Will all you t5/t4/t5r drivers say what kind of economy you get?
say at 90mph on motorway, 70mph on motorway, fast A/B roads (as in 60/70mph and lots of overtaking!) and normal A/B road driving (as in wife and kids in car.........!). Also stop start town driving......

Advice on possible cars appreciated.......

Well not T4, but 2.0T, and I can say that I get 700+km's per tankful (437 miles) and that a tank is 50 - 60 liters.

As for performance }( it flies! 0-60 isn't too hot (8 secs approx) but at 50 in third she takes off, and as yet I haven't found out where the acceleration stops. She gets from 50-60 as fast as she gets from 90-100, 100-110 and that's where I decided it was going to get too expensive should a policeman stop me. BTW 75mph to 100mph is 10 secs in 5th, change to 4th and take a couple of seconds off that.


As far as the size goes, I always thought it was quite small, until I tried filling it. You can fit a hell of a lot in the back, I don't know what dogs you have but an Old English Sheepdog (not the smallest of breeds) takes about a 1/4 of the boot with the load cover unit still in. All in all I'm very impressed.

Stu

Paul,

I used to have a Saab 9000i, which I had to sell as it was a manual, and due to sporting injuries I could no longer drive it, although I did keep it for two years after I bought my 855R.

So - on motorways, I would do the same kind of speeds, and get around 20-24mpg, which went up to 26 after a while and with using super unleaded.

A/B roads were not far off that, due to my right foot getting very heavy at times, giving me around 18-24mpg, but having the fun of leaving most people behind. Town in not so good, at least not with mine, and I would get around 12-15mpg if I stayed in town too long.

Bear in mind I did have a lot of stuff in my car most of the time, being in IT I tended to carry a lot of spares and general junk, so this will have had an effect on the figures, and that I never drove it sedately (ask the guy who came with me on the test drive from Ridgeway West in Swindon)

I have gone from that to a Peugeot 406 (company heap) to an S70 2.0 10v Auto, and now the very happy and proud owner of an S80 T6SE.

Still miss my Saab sometimes..

T4 is wonderful
Perhaps a little small for your needs - couldn't take the family and dog on holiday with much (unless you got a roof box!)

Fuel economy
35mpg at 70mph M-way,
32mpg at 80mph M-way
29mpg at 90mph M-way
It gets upset under heavy accelaration if you don't use Super or Optimax

Haven't got much cause for A roads round here to check it out but I'd imagine around the 30mpg mark.

If you ever need to tow anything it is absolutely fantastic

James