V70: General New to Volvo - Advice if possible

[ghsaunders40]

Hi all,

Coming out of my company car due to a career change and have narrowed down it's replacement to a 2011-12 V70 D5 Geartronic.

Can these cars easier cover 200k miles with normal maintenance? Should I be put off if a car has more than 100k on it?

Other than a full history what should I be looking out for, are there any models to seek out over others?

Thanks in advance,

Gareth.

[patstan]

Originally Posted by ghsaunders40

Hi all,

Coming out of my company car due to a career change and have narrowed down it's replacement to a 2011-12 V70 D5 Geartronic.

Can these cars easier cover 200k miles with normal maintenance? Should I be put off if a car has more than 100k on it?

Other than a full history what should I be looking out for, are there any models to seek out over others?

Thanks in advance,

Gareth.

Four wheels with tyres and never forget to look under the bonnet for an engine. They are most essential, as for milage one of my Volvos tripped 198000 today and with regular OWN servicing It runs beautifully and would never change it for a GERMAN Car, the comfort and reliability can not be matched or bettered. IN MY OPINION !!!

[Tannaton]

The P3 V70 isn't quite the best Volvo made as it's got a few Ford bits on it but yes 200k is not just achievable - it's routine for many. The D5 is Volvo's own engine with Volvo's own gearbox (manual) or a Aisin one (Auto).

Try and get one with full dealer history, there are a few out there. If it's an auto - get the gearbox fluid changed (cost circa £250) then just stick to normal servicing - maybe drop the interval to 15k.

You should easily get to 200k, but you might have a few wheel bearings and suspension bushes along the way.

There's a few around so look for a later car with Sensus navigation rather than the old pop up Sat Nav and Xenon headlights (standard on LUX models) are definitely worth having.

[Sotosound]

The point about Sensus navigation is well-made. The dash is tidier and the ergonomics of the centre console are far better on those cars. With earlier, pre-Sensus ones, the buttons are a bit all over the place, whereas the Sensus-style one just seems easier to use. Additionally, bluetooth functionality appears to be improved.

One of the additional useful features is the thumbwheel on the RH spoke of the steering wheel. This enables quick answering of the phone, as well as scroll functionality when using the centre screen display.

If you sit in pre-Sensus and post-Sensus versions then you'll see the difference. I actually chose the latter because the dash is far better looking, and only realised the other benefits post-purchase, and after my son bought a pre-Sensus 2011 XC70 and we compared notes.

One of the good things about Volvos is that they wear high mileage extremely well. This has suited me in the past since up until the end of last year I was averaging 25,000 miles annually.

A few years earlier I'd been looking at Skoda Octavias and found that as soon as they had any mileage on them the driver's seat side bolster would start to sag. The mechanicals were fine, which is why Skodas are often used as taxis, but the seats weren't very robust.

When I went looking for my current car early last year, the first example that I tried was a 2015 V70 with 146K on the clock, and it showed absolutely no signs of age or wear at all. It was immaculate, with rock solid build and very tidy handling. In fact, it was slightly tighter in feel than the 97K miles car that I ended up buying.

I chose a high mileage car because it meant that I could buy a newer car and incur less depreciation than otherwise, but 146K was just a bit too high. Given my 25K annual mileage, a car with just under 100K on the clock would give me two years more than one with 146K on the clock.

So I bought an already-depreciated 2014 64-reg D4 SE Lux with 97K on the clock and with lots of bells and whistles. To keep it in fine fettle, I've had the gearbox sump oil changed during both annual services. (A full oil change is apparently not possible with the 8-speed auto, but an annual sump oil change will stop the oil from getting too bad.)

Back to you, if high performance isn't your top priority it might also be worth checking out the 2012 D4 with the 163 BHP 2-litre 5-cylinder Volvo engine. Although it's a little slower than the D5, it's still well-powered and swift, but it's also more refined and more economical.

[ghsaunders40]

Thank you all,

I'm really appreciate the thoughts and advice!

Thanks again,

Gareth