XC70: LPG to buy or not to buy?

[WoodsGirl]

Hi All,

I'm not a Volvo owner yet, but I would like to be having heard of their reliability and performance.

I have seen XC70 Estate for sale at £2300. I do need a 4x4 as live in a rural area and my work has be driving through woods and farmland on a regular basis, as well as regular driving.

It's an 02 registration, and has been converted to LPG (and carries all the appropriate certificates.) It's look gorgeous, but my one reservation is it has done 196000 miles, and is due and MOT in June and Tax in July.

I would appreciate any advice from experienced Volvo owners on whether this would be a good buy.

many thanks

[capt jack]

Well, as with any car purchase, what you're buying is what it will do for you, not what it's done for the previous owner. If a car has got to 196,000 and is still in good order, chances are it's got plenty of life in it yet. As for the LPG conversion, well my V70 has done a total of 262,000 miles, 210,000 of those on LPG.

So, check out the following:

1. Is the interior and exterior of the car in good shape? Off-roaders tend to have a harder life, so can pick up more dings and dents.

2. Does everything work? V70 electrics and air-con etc are brilliant and long lived, but expensive to repair if they do go wrong.

3. Do ALL the dash lights come on at switch on, and go off when the engine starts? Especially the ABS light, the TRACS light, the oil light, the engine light (Lambda light), and the charging light? If possible, have the car's manual with you when you start the engine and see which lights should be on and when. If anything's odd then the chances are the seller is hiding something.

4. Does the engine switch smoothly over to LPG, and does the temp gauge stay steadily at the half-way position?

5. When was the conversion done and has it been serviced regularly since? Can you contact the convertors and ask them about the car? Is the conversion work neat and tidy or does it look as though someone's chucked a bowl of spaghetti over the engine bay? Check the car out on the LPGA register. It's free and you do it on-line: http://www.drivelpg.co.uk/

6. As for the 4WD bit, have a very close look at the tyres. Do they match and is the wear even all round? If not be suspicious that something ain't right or that the seller is hiding something. This is really important. Make sure that all 4 wheels are still driven! I think it's possible simply to detach the drive to the rear wheels by removing the propshaft, and some people do this when the car gets troublesome!

7. £2300 is a lot of cash for a mega-miler with virtually no MoT. so do all the usual second-hand car checks with regard to service history, previous owners, outstanding finance etc.

8. Bear in mind that the XC70 is not a true off-roader in the Land-Rover class, if you need a real mud-plugger then an XC70 might not be for you anyway. It has a bit more ground clearance than a standard car, but only a bit.

Finally, the short tax I wouldn't be concerned about, but a car of this age and mileage with only one month's MoT would make me think that perhaps the seller wants rid before the MoT runs out because he knows it's destined for an expensive fail. You wouldn't really want to be finding that out the hard way in a month's time. Therefore, I'd very strongly recommend that if you decide to buy, then consider making your purchase of the car absolutely conditional upon it passing an MoT. If it passes but with advisories get the likely repairs priced and adjust your offer accordingly. Just remind yourself that if it does fail big time then in a month it'll be worth £250 scrap value.

But if all's well then 196,000 is actually not that big a deal, and there are plenty of Volvologists on here (me included) who have cars with much bigger mileages than that.

Cheers

Jack