Buying used XC90, advice and guidance accepted.

[Pauleden]

Morning all.

Due to an expanding family, we need to buy our first 7 seater. For day to day use, we only need 5 seats, but sometimes we need 7, so I'm thinking the occasional nature of the 3rd row in the XC90 will suit us. Our current manufacturer of choice, Honda don't do one, so we are looking at an XC90. We like it's overall efficient use of space, AWD, good diesel and the fact Clarkson has had three. He knows a little bit about cars.

Anyway, we have a budget of around £12,000. We want a diesel, we don't mind which gearbox, but automatics do seem more common. A nice high spec would be good. Early research has shown this gives us a 2003/4 with around 80,000 miles on it.

What should I be looking closely at when seeing a vehicle of this age/mileage/price?

Is it worth finding a little more cash and buying from the dealer network?

Not all used adverts mention Isofix. I'm assuming it's standard fit in all vehicles?

I am a little concerned about the front-wheel-drive only problems reported as we do live in an area that suffers in poor weather. How common are these issues and how expensive is the fix? Are the covered by warranty?

Many thanks,

Paul & Family.

[theonlyone]

Paul,
Just get on with it. You've done enough research to realise that you want one. You and your family will love the XC90; just be prepared to spend up to a grand every now and then on maintenance (a full set of tyres, new brakes and discs ...)

Through serendipitous timining I bought mine (an 05 D5 SE Auto with 50k) in late 08 from autoquake for about the number you're talking about. It was one of the last 163 bhp models, but it RICA'd it to 180-odd (it was worth it). Since then we've done 40k miles in it and I wouldn't swap it for anything. Search the forum for answers to your questions and you'll get a taste for what might go wrong, but remember that overall most people are probably pretty content with it.

[maxijazz]

Hi Paul,

I was in exactly your position about 3 weeks ago. I did loads of reading up, and had three makes in mind. The Land Rover Disco 3 but this would have needed to be 120k miles to be the right price. The Merc ML270, I felt this is now a bit dated, and the XC90.

I test drove one at a local garage to get a feel for the car and have a good look at it, then used the t'internet to find the best deal.

I got one on the 2nd Jan on an 2004 D5 SE with DVDs and 78k miles for a couple of hundred quid less than you quoted. Amitedly it didn't have tinted windows but you can't have everything all of the time.

The kids (9,7 & 1) love it they don't have to be squished together, they can bring friends with them. I don't really know how we lasted so long without one!!

I'm really pleased with mine, I think we made the best choice, although there are some scare stories out there, it is the same for just about every car on the market today.

If you have arrived at the point of posting on a forum about it, you've already arrived at the point of writing the cheque.
Take your time and find a good one, and don't be scared to travel a bit, I had to drive 2 hours each way to get mine, just think of it as a getting to know you drive home!!

Good Luck
Ric

[chf]

Originally Posted by Pauleden

Morning all.

Due to an expanding family, we need to buy our first 7 seater. For day to day use, we only need 5 seats, but sometimes we need 7, so I'm thinking the occasional nature of the 3rd row in the XC90 will suit us. Our current manufacturer of choice, Honda don't do one, so we are looking at an XC90. We like it's overall efficient use of space, AWD, good diesel and the fact Clarkson has had three. He knows a little bit about cars.

Anyway, we have a budget of around £12,000. We want a diesel, we don't mind which gearbox, but automatics do seem more common. A nice high spec would be good. Early research has shown this gives us a 2003/4 with around 80,000 miles on it.

What should I be looking closely at when seeing a vehicle of this age/mileage/price?

Is it worth finding a little more cash and buying from the dealer network?

Not all used adverts mention Isofix. I'm assuming it's standard fit in all vehicles?

I am a little concerned about the front-wheel-drive only problems reported as we do live in an area that suffers in poor weather. How common are these issues and how expensive is the fix? Are the covered by warranty?

Many thanks,

Paul & Family.

We swapped our previous XC90 for a more recent one Sport version back in Early november 09 and it is still up for sale

Check this link

http://www.harratts.co.uk/volvo/Used...cleId=10276335

Cheer
Chris

[Pauleden]

Thanks Chris, Wakefield is maybe a little far but I will keep that one in mind, not seen it yet.

We are pretty much decided, it's true, Ric. I've not driven a 4x4 for 10 years so am completely new to this game. I too ruled out the Disco for the same reason you did, wouldn't consider the Merc, to ostentatious for little old me.

What I am hoping for in this thread is guidance about what bits on the car to kick hard and what bits to examine closely. For example, on a Mk3 Escort, one looks very closely at the rear wheel arches for rust and the rear wheel bearings for wear. On a Rover 600Ti, we check for the warped front disks. What are the equivalent places on a '90?

[Tups74]

Try stratstone.com, I puchased our current XC90 from them back in August, I did most of ther deal over the phone / e-mail (car was in Birimingham and I live in Portsmouth) subject to test drive. They seem to get ones in from about £12k.

Main things that I looked for the general items I would look for on any car: leaks, body damage etc, tyre wear, service history, and check that all of the electric functions work i.e. seats, mirrors, sunroof, windows etc and since buying from a main dealer I got them to double check the AWD and the injectors and just for good measure got them to add into the deal the upgraded Volvo warranty for free (put their money where their mouth is!)

ISOfix - I think that this has been standard on all XC90's but only on the two outer seats in the middle row, the middle seat in the middle row has a in built booster which we find useful with either our 6 year old or 9 year old.

[maxijazz]

Ah well, if it's a bit of poking and proding advice your after....

There are far more expert people than me, but I drove onto some grass and told the wife to get out........ Then I drove away really quickly. No honestly, I went back for her but I wanted her to check that all four wheels spun when I gunned it. This was mainly from all the scare stories on here about only getting one wheel drive etc.

I'm pretty sure you won't get a problem with the wheel arches etc, but I did find the near side front wheel bearing was making a noise, so I had the dealer replace it before I picked it up.

It's also worth checking the trye wear, they should be wearing evenly if not it could work out expensive, them big old chunks of rubber are not cheap, apparently!

Other than that all I did was the usual Del boy type stuff, make sure all the periferals works, light, DVD's, windows and windscreen washers.
I can't remember how many cars I've bought in the past whose window washers didn't work!!

I think the most important thing is to drive it, I think if there is anything seriously wrong it will become quite apparent in the hour or so you're driving it. Yep, get a good long test drive.

Oh and the fuel economy..... It's not that scary, I use it for a mix of town and motorway everyday and at the moment with fuel prices it's taking £70 to fill it from when the range thingy says 50 miles left and the computer trip calculator thing says it's averaging 32.3 to the gallon. But I have only had it 3 weeks.

It really is a great car, I'm very happy with it, just need to get those windows tinted now.

Good luck with the search, take your time and find a good one.

Ric

[Pickers]

My suggestions are

a) Buy Trade so you get a warranty/sale of goods comeback if you need it

b) The 4-wheel drive check is very simple - if you're unsure, get it specifically warrantied in writing (if you're not buying fom a dealer) and take it round to the nearest dealer for a quick check

c) Check the timing belt and tensioner pulleys have been changed - most advice seems to be it needs doing much earlier than recommended in the handbook

d) Check it starts first time ie the injectors are OK

Also check Honest John's website - he has some good simple advice on what to look out for

[Pauleden]

Excellent, guys. Many thanks. I'm warming to this car more and more and I haven't even driven it yet.

[nemo]

We have had a 53 plate for 2 years my wife loves it but it has just disgraced itself and got stuck in the snow with no rear wheel drive I am looking a large bill for repairs. Have a look at the thread on this forum AWD problems. When you go to see a car get under it and try to turn the prop shaft if it turns it has failed at the transmission and will not show up on a test drive unless the front wheels loose traction and the rears don't spit gravel out.