General: Ownership Thread - 2012 XC90 Executive

[AlainBrighton]

Originally Posted by Odysseus

Thanks very much for your warm words and for taking the time to post. I've benefited hugely from threads similar to this with regard to other cars so I figured I'd try and return the positive karma with a thread of my own, and I'm glad you've found it so useful.

In terms of the DVD-Rs, that's a very generous offer but I was fortunate enough that the hitherto unreadable navigation disc suddenly decided it could be read, therefore allowing the navigation to update itself. I'm now leaving it will alone and probably will continue to do so for a number of years!

With regards to your question of XC90 vs. XC70 costs, I can't speak for your insurance or parking at Brighton but I will try to help with others. The Executive XC90 I have is in quite a high insurance group so I'd imagine it will cost more than your XC70, but you might be surprised. Road tax for the XC90 was £325 last time I bought it, and it's doing around 28 to 32 mpg on average, running on standard (decent brand) diesel. I can't think this is significantly different to your XC70.

I love BMWs but not a fan of the X3 so I'd struggle to recommend it. The 3 Series Touring X Drive I'm sure is a great car (years ago I had a E46 330i Touring which was fab) but is a LOT smaller than the XC90. This may not be a problem for you, but you'll be sacrificing a lot of interior space by opting for that car over the XC90.

A brief aside though, even my XC90 felt tiny inside and out compared to the car I hired in Ontario...

And I thought the Treasure department was solely based on US soil :-) What a monster but I have this cheeky thought of you manouvring your way somewhere in the Lake District :-) Better suited in the Brecon Beacons or north of Inverness !

Paying it forward I appreciate the time you took and it is interesting just by reading how one get dragged in the story ... what happens next ? The fact that another member can diagnose just by your "iffy" description is pure magic, perhaps I should ask him about my squeeky suspension back and front amongst a few other niggles I have.

Interestingly enough I found a 2owner XC90 Executive on a 11plate with 105Kmiles for £10000 which was just as expensive to insure as a XC70 215bhp D5 S/E Lux on a 13 plate with 97K miles: both around £677/year for parking in the center of Brighton on the street, that was not too bad. Have not even tried my own insurer ! So where S60D5-185 has a chrystal bowl where it comes to remote diagnostics, you seem to be able to do the same for insurance purposes. The XC70 was supposedly in group 34 and the XC90 in group 42 ...quite interesting. I have a very light foot and avoid town but guess better than 32mpg is hardly possible for a car 300kgs heavier than a XC70. Can imagine the residual value should be better for a XC90 too ?

The X3 is not my favourite but the X5s are either not reliable enough (up until 2013) or too expensive and the X3 seemed a reasonable size. The F31 320D or 330D xdrive touring would be interesting from a driver's perspective indeed, the load space is shockingly small. My parents both drove Tourings and X5s for ages, I had a 330 E46 convertible next to my current XC70 and loved to jump from the one in the other as they are so opposite ....not sure as there is a lot of choice around the £10K mark. Or should I do what you have done, I choose a cheaper car and keep a couple of thousand quid in the bank to get everything perfect ? I like that idea !

[Odysseus]

Originally Posted by AlainBrighton

Interestingly enough I found a 2owner XC90 Executive on a 11plate with 105Kmiles for £10000 which was just as expensive to insure as a XC70 215bhp D5 S/E Lux on a 13 plate with 97K miles: both around £677/year for parking in the center of Brighton on the street, that was not too bad. Have not even tried my own insurer ! So where S60D5-185 has a chrystal bowl where it comes to remote diagnostics, you seem to be able to do the same for insurance purposes. The XC70 was supposedly in group 34 and the XC90 in group 42 ...quite interesting. I have a very light foot and avoid town but guess better than 32mpg is hardly possible for a car 300kgs heavier than a XC70. Can imagine the residual value should be better for a XC90 too ?

The X3 is not my favourite but the X5s are either not reliable enough (up until 2013) or too expensive and the X3 seemed a reasonable size. The F31 320D or 330D xdrive touring would be interesting from a driver's perspective indeed, the load space is shockingly small. My parents both drove Tourings and X5s for ages, I had a 330 E46 convertible next to my current XC70 and loved to jump from the one in the other as they are so opposite ....not sure as there is a lot of choice around the £10K mark. Or should I do what you have done, I choose a cheaper car and keep a couple of thousand quid in the bank to get everything perfect ? I like that idea !

Thanks again for the warm words!

Your experiences of looking for a replacement car sounds very similar to the journey I went on that led to my buying my XC90. I had the figure of £10K in mind which put a number of 'average' mileage 2010-ish XC90s in range, however these mostly lacked niceties like Bluetooth connectivity, reversing cameras, and suchlike, as well as themselves being near decade old cars, with around 100,000 miles, so hardly barely new.

The decision to buy a newer, but far higher mileage car was I admit a bit of a gamble, but I don't regret doing it and thus far hasn't caused me to question my logic. I have had a large DPF related bill but that could have happened to any model really, especially given what was in my acceptable budget.

I'm sure I'll have more problems in the future, but I think generally age is as unfriendly to modern cars as mileage is. Seals stop sealing, electronics have the odd glitch thanks to dry circuits, rubber parts get increasingly brittle, and so on. This happens regardless of how low the mileage is and unless the car has been completely babied and stored in a heated garage throughout its life and only driven on warm dry days, it's bound to start to be affected by age.

That said, you can buy all sorts of interesting car for £10K. If you don't need the space and carrying capacity of a XC90 I'd be potentially looking at a heavily depreciated big saloon in the S Class, 7 Series, XJ, A8 mould, or potentially a Lexus Hybrid SUV in the form of a RX400H or a high mileage RX450H.

Best of luck with whatever you decide upon and happy motoring to you. :smile:

[WrathOfKain]

How is that swirl arm doing .... i am much in the same predicament

[Odysseus]

Originally Posted by WrathOfKain

How is that swirl arm doing .... i am much in the same predicament

I checked this morning. It's still attached!

I've spent the morning between emails and meetings trying to get through to Kings of Witcham (my indy) to book it in for the air con problem. When it's there I'll also get them to check out the swirl arm, plus rotate the tyres front to back as I noticed the fronts are starting to look a little low.

Now if only they'd pick up their phone...

[Odysseus]

My re-attached swirl flap arm has thus not caused the warning light to go out, despite several days of normal car use with a reasonable number of starts/stops.

I have booked the car into IVS of Letchworth next week to look at this problem, plus the air con re-gas. They stated that it’s possible the swirl flaps themselves might need to be looked at, the replacement costs for such are £400 to £500. Fiddlesticks.

As stated in another thread, disappointingly it seems that Kings of Witcham have stopped trading, hence why I’m now trying IVS. Given IVS haven’t seen my car before and it’s now covered 190,000 miles I’ve asked them to give a general health check, so I’m girding my loins for a chunky bill and repeat visits.

I’ll update this thread with news as I have it.

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by Odysseus

My re-attached swirl flap arm has thus not caused the warning light to go out, despite several days of normal car use with a reasonable number of starts/stops.

I have booked the car into IVS of Letchworth next week to look at this problem, plus the air con re-gas. They stated that it’s possible the swirl flaps themselves might need to be looked at, the replacement costs for such are £400 to £500. Fiddlesticks.

As stated in another thread, disappointingly it seems that Kings of Witcham have stopped trading, hence why I’m now trying IVS. Given IVS haven’t seen my car before and it’s now covered 190,000 miles I’ve asked them to give a general health check, so I’m girding my loins for a chunky bill and repeat visits.

I’ll update this thread with news as I have it.

Yes, I would agree.

If you reattached the arm and the swirl flaps themselves were fine, then the light and message should have disappeared after a few trips if it was down to them.

Good luck.

[Odysseus]

My XC90 is back to full health!

Yesterday was the day it was booked in with IVS of Letchworth. IVS is tucked away down the back of a small industrial estate and there was a reassuring quantity of Volvos of varying ages outside.

IVS don't have courtesy cars, so I found myself in the area with a day to kill. The market town of Baldock was a short (1 mile) walk over the A1 where I managed to waste a few hours in a cafe, then another few hours in the public library, then I had an enjoyable pub lunch next to an open fire, and made use of the extra spare time by getting my hair cut, all interspersed by emails and a few phone calls, figuring I should probably do some actual work as well to help pay for all this indulgence.



The work on the XC90 was fairly involved. The swirl flaps were replaced, and the carbon build up around the area was cleaned, helping the car breathe. This was a big job took up the bulk of the time, and resulted in most of the cost.

The air conditioning was topped up with R134A, and no leaks were found in the system. Good to hear but still irritating that it had lost its gas in 6 months.

Question to the learned community: Does leaving the AC on and the climate control in Auto mean the AC is getting enough of a work out in winter? Should I occasionally set the temperature to as low as possible in order to make it work?

I also asked them to give the car a health check and to swap the wheels from front to back to even out the tyre wear.

My engine mounts are going soft, my turbo seal is worn, my parking brake needs attention and the (now) rear tyres are down to 3mm.

I'll tackle all these before the MOT in February, the tyres earlier if need be.

A bit of a chunky bill at £600, but I shudder to think what it would have been had I taken it to the main dealer...



The car drives better than before, having a bit more urge. Not sure if this is the swirl flaps working or better breathing as a result of the de-carbon, or both, but whatever it is it's appreciated.

Gratifyingly fuel economy is back to late 20s early 30s rather than mid 20s as it was with dodgy swirl flaps.

All in all, an expensive day out, but hopefully one that will mean the car stays functional and reliable over the worst of winter.

Thanks for reading.

[owenfackrell]

I you use the demist button then that brings on the AC and is normally enough of a work out for the system. Use the button and try and turn the AC to off and it wont let you.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by Odysseus

Does leaving the AC on and the climate control in Auto mean the AC is getting enough of a work out in winter?

In short, yes and regardless of what you do to override the functions of the climate system, the compressor will be disengaged anyway once the evaporator temperature reaches around 5°C to prevent freezing of the system.
You can't "force" the AC to work outside of its programmed parameters.

Providing the gas is sufficient and all sensors and dampers are working correctly (these can be viewed in Vida) and there are no internal blockages, the climate system will continue to function perfectly when set to Auto.

[WrathOfKain]

£500 for swirl flap issue to be resolved ..... that aint too bad isnt it ?

I have a horrible feeling that will come to me soon enough .... detached swirl arm but no engine lights mind you no warning lights ..... but my mpg is struggling a bit .... was 24mpg doing a 50miler on motorway ..... checked the arm and it was still attached.