Anyone know this car...?

[domhart10]

2.0D is a great engine, lots of power with great mpg. I had a 2.0D S40 previously and it was a great car but ..... when it was running. I had loads of problems which I will list below with that engine.

- Listen to car on tick over and see if you can hear any metal tapping or faint noise of it. Previous owner when I had mine missed oil changes and used the wrong oil resulting in this meaning I needed a new engine, costed about £2.5 but I got the clutch done at the same time as that was probably going to go soon as well.

- Check the air condition system is working properly, these can be very expensive if there are any problems. Usually its just new condenser but the compressors go and they can be very expensive.

- Make sure that the car is not warmed up prior to you getting there. On cold the car has problems starting first time then second time then third time ... just gets worse but once warm it will start up fine. I dont know what caused this as I just got rid of it for my now T5.

- Check alternator right away and battery for that age, when these go ... they go out in a spectaculor display of flashing lights and if you are on the road it is incredibly dangerous.

- Do not wack a tuning box on these, under hard acceleration limp mode can come on and when I was entering a motorway it was like hitting a brick wall. You lose all your confidence in the car after that.

Appart from that, loved it while it ran but you really need to make sure you pick up a thorough example or you can run into a lot of problems.

[St Evelyn]

Originally Posted by Bungo

Note, deposit taken, is that you ?
These engines always split opinion. Like any, a lot depends on the maintenance done but for me they are as sound as any other.
At 102k it's getting to the point of things wearing out though, but only serviceable parts.
Seems a little pricey

Yes, Josh has placed a £100 fully refundable holding deposit on it; agreed, it's probably about £500 over-priced so would hope that there's some wiggle room if he does decide to go for it.

It's always tough with the engine choice - lots of anti-2.0D commentary above, which I understand, but I spoke with an ex-Volvo Service Manager and his opinion was that they're a good engine if fully serviced to schedule, but terrible if you miss the oil changes. We'll check the service book when we take a look and see what's happened post-January 2016 - if the answer is nothing, then we'll walk, if it's gone to an independent then it may still be a car for consideration.

I've taken a look on-line for a decent D3/4 or petrol and there's not much about without spending more and travelling further - I'll have a word with him to see what he thinks.

Thanks to all for your opinions so far, much appreciated.

[St Evelyn]

Originally Posted by domhart10

2.0D is a great engine, lots of power with great mpg. I had a 2.0D S40 previously and it was a great car but ..... when it was running. I had loads of problems which I will list below with that engine.

- Listen to car on tick over and see if you can hear any metal tapping or faint noise of it. Previous owner when I had mine missed oil changes and used the wrong oil resulting in this meaning I needed a new engine, costed about £2.5 but I got the clutch done at the same time as that was probably going to go soon as well.

- Check the air condition system is working properly, these can be very expensive if there are any problems. Usually its just new condenser but the compressors go and they can be very expensive.

- Make sure that the car is not warmed up prior to you getting there. On cold the car has problems starting first time then second time then third time ... just gets worse but once warm it will start up fine. I dont know what caused this as I just got rid of it for my now T5.

- Check alternator right away and battery for that age, when these go ... they go out in a spectaculor display of flashing lights and if you are on the road it is incredibly dangerous.

- Do not wack a tuning box on these, under hard acceleration limp mode can come on and when I was entering a motorway it was like hitting a brick wall. You lose all your confidence in the car after that.

Appart from that, loved it while it ran but you really need to make sure you pick up a thorough example or you can run into a lot of problems.

There's some super-useful info there, thanks - lots to look at when we get there on Saturday.

[T5R92011]

Absolutely make sure you test drive it and you NEED to boot it. Foot to the floor stuff.

102,000 miles is pretty much the point where the DPF needs completely replacing, so I suspect the previous owner traded it at that point.

When I got mine (at 108,000 miles), it was limping home almost every time I booted it.

Don't get me wrong, it never "broke down" as such, but I just got sick of pulling out to overtake something and the engine would just cut all power.

Neither before nor since have I experienced that with any other car, and most of the cars I've ever owned have all been over 100,000 miles at purchase point.

It put me off modern diesels for life. If I absolutely had to, I'd try a D3/D4/D5 from Volvo, but only because Volvo are competent at making solidily engineered drivetrains.

I would extend that comment to include the newer 2.0 VEA "D2" engine in the V40 onwards etc. It sounds like a canal boat, which makes me think it should be reliable.

[Tannaton]

Just to add my two penneth....

My experience of the 2.0D engine from both maintaining it and buying one for my wife which we have owned for 3 years (in a V50) is I do like them. I know some people have had issues but we've done 70k in ours with only a single issue which was the inevitable alternator failure at 160k (crappy Ford part).

I think that engine suits the platform well - it's nice and torquey, easy to work on, fairly economical and reasonable power.

The D5 is a much better drive but I've always felt it's a big donkey shoehorned into a platform that was never designed for it so some maintenance jobs (i.e. belts) can be un-enjoyable and in the C30 I think the car feels front heavy when pushed hard.

As has been said though - good history with frequent oil changes is a pre-requisite.

[St Evelyn]

Thanks everyone - that's plenty of balanced feedback you've provided.

Shall be interesting to see what she's like tomorrow and I've plenty of things to check in addition to the things I already had on my list. Shall let you know the outcome once we're back home.

[steadvex]

Those engines are fine as long as they are serviced properly, pretty sure dpf should be replaced every 80k or so but you can't force people to replace the dpf on a service even though it will pay for itself in repair costs further down the line when it fails and costs double the price whne you need to put it right!

But, I shall just post this shameless ad for a 2.0 petrol... https://www.motors.co.uk/car-52038466/?i=3&m=ds

Personally I would floor it a bit when trying the diesel, as long as no warning lights come and you like the car no reason not to go for it!

As others have said, important it has had oil changes on time!

Hope tomorrow goes well for you 😉

[StatusRed]

Originally Posted by steadvex

But, I shall just post this shameless ad for a 2.0 petrol... https://www.motors.co.uk/car-52038466/?i=3&m=ds

Seems very expensive to me.

[St Evelyn]

Well, that was an experience!

As soon as we got there and said what we were there to view the salesman got all defensive about "it's got 10 Volvo stamps but it's not FSH"...that started the alarm bells ringing!
Turns out that:

• Car hasn't been serviced for 3 years
• Cambelt hasn't been changed
• DPF hasn't been changed
• According to the MOT done a couple of days ago, both front and rear brake pads need replacing
• Clutch is sticking
• Interior is filthy

We only had the keys for about a minute before realising that we'd had a wasted journey and, upon heading back to the salesman got asked "no good?". I advised "not for us, sorry mate" and got met with a tirade of swearing and abuse about how I'd assumed FSH when they hadn't stated it in the advert. Tried to have a sensible conversation with him but he was so obnoxious we walked away as soon as Josh got his refund.

On the plus side, at least we know that buying a car from this clown isn't something that we'll ever be doing.

[St Evelyn]

Originally Posted by steadvex

But, I shall just post this shameless ad for a 2.0 petrol... https://www.motors.co.uk/car-52038466/?i=3&m=ds

Nice looking car, but at ~3x the price, it's well out of budget I'm afraid.