Considering buying a high mileage XC90 T8 - pitfalls?

[Loofer]

I’ve seen (online, not in the flesh) an XC90. It’s late 2015, R Design, in Bursting Blue. Looks real nice and has some nice kit.

There’s a reason it’s cheap though, it’s covered nearly 170k miles. Being sold by an independent garage.
It’s had one owner and FSH but I’ve yet to request some more info.

One the one hand, I’m thinking it’s cheap if can get it for just under £20k. But then it’s out of warranty and after spending that much I wold be pretty miffed if I had large repair bills the coming years.

Given the high mileage (avg 42k miles/yr), I suspect the battery wasn’t used much - so somebody had a high fuel bill!!
Therefore there will have been a lot of use on the ICE. A lot depends on story behind previous owner and the TLC/maintenance under his/her ownership.

Our own use case will be mostly sub 20 miles so should get by on battery only. If a turbo or supercharger or any other untold number of ICE problems occurred then hopefully it’s still driveable until I’m ready to repair it.

Obviously the chassis, suspension, wheels, brakes etc will still need attention. The previous MOT advisories, confirm that too!

Would like to keep the car for 5-6 years

What are common problems with earlier version of the T8? Is there a way to check battery health?

[Loofer]

erm... I'm beginning to think I've joined/posted in the wrong forum?!

[Haldex]

You are best of researching the american forum (swedespeed) as there's significantly more T8 owners on it than here, + a lot more high mileage cars as well..

Btw, for each post on ICE issues I've seen 10 on ERAD dying and needing a full replacement - so I'd say ICE is the last thing I'd worry about..

Good luck!

[Moonlanders]

Originally Posted by Haldex

You are best of researching the american forum (swedespeed) as there's significantly more T8 owners on it than here, + a lot more high mileage cars as well..

Btw, for each post on ICE issues I've seen 10 on ERAD dying and needing a full replacement - so I'd say ICE is the last thing I'd worry about..

Good luck!

Only managed 100 miles in mine since collecting from new, so no advice I can provide to this query yet.

[Loofer]

Originally Posted by Haldex

You are best of researching the american forum (swedespeed) as there's significantly more T8 owners on it than here, + a lot more high mileage cars as well..

Btw, for each post on ICE issues I've seen 10 on ERAD dying and needing a full replacement - so I'd say ICE is the last thing I'd worry about..

Good luck!

Thanks, don't know what ERAD is but I've just read @Philip Fisher's post and it has put me off/helped me decide.

Warranty. Definitely. Buy one. These are complicated cars. Mine has a problem with the ERAD at the moment. A new one is 9k. Mine just needs a new ERAD clutch pack which is (only!) 1.7k of parts and 12 hours workshop labour. Volvo are offering some contribution up to 5 years but mine is only eligible for 50% contribution. Luckily I have an aftermarket warranty. On other items a new battery pack is, I am told, 22k. There are also about 150 individual ECUs around the car. So if you want one of these cars you either need a real appetite for risk or very deep pockets or a water tight warranty.

[Philip Fisher]

My gut feeling is 20k is too much.

It is doable. And might not be a money pit. If you are handy with a spanner then brakes, trim items, suspension are normal enough.

Worries are ERAD, battery and general electronic complexity.

That said, electronic complexity will be the same at 70k or 170k miles. It is kind of just the luck of the game.

So if the car is nice, and you can get a good warranty, and you are not scared of risk, and you can get a bit of discount then maybe go for it.

Oh and one final point. This was a circa 70k car from new. So the bills will reflect the 70k purchase price. Just because you pay 20k doesn't reduce the bills, the bills will still reflect the 70k original price....

[Philip Fisher]

ERAD is electronic rear axle drive. Essentially the motor, clutch pack and diff which sits inbetween the rear wheels. If it fails the car will still drive but will be very difficult to get going smoothly as the car always initially takes off on electric, even for just a second before the ICE kicks in.

Mine is currently happily moving me about 10m (usually into a junction or roundabout) then I lose electric drive. At which point I panic and mash the throttle, then about 1 second later the engine starts and the car takes off......

[Loofer]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

My gut feeling is 20k is too much.

It is doable. And might not be a money pit. If you are handy with a spanner then brakes, trim items, suspension are normal enough.

Worries are ERAD, battery and general electronic complexity.

That said, electronic complexity will be the same at 70k or 170k miles. It is kind of just the luck of the game.

So if the car is nice, and you can get a good warranty, and you are not scared of risk, and you can get a bit of discount then maybe go for it.

Oh and one final point. This was a circa 70k car from new. So the bills will reflect the 70k purchase price. Just because you pay 20k doesn't reduce the bills, the bills will still reflect the 70k original price....

Thanks, repair costs for suspension, brakes etc I can live with (to an extent, he says!). That would be the case with any car of that mileage.

This ERAD ones scare me. Was it something that was faulty by design that was rectified in later designs, including for repairs & replacements?

I’m going to give the garage a call this week, see what I can find out about the car’s documented history and anything he knows about previous owner. I hope he had some major work done.

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by Loofer

Thanks, repair costs for suspension, brakes etc I can live with (to an extent, he says!). That would be the case with any car of that mileage.

This ERAD ones scare me. Was it something that was faulty by design that was rectified in later designs, including for repairs & replacements?

I’m going to give the garage a call this week, see what I can find out about the car’s documented history and anything he knows about previous owner. I hope he had some major work done.

ERADs have been failing, sometimes the whole unit has been replaced and sometimes the clutch/gear pack has been replaced. The repair kit for the clutch pack is an entire redesign with a different housing too. It is a 12 hour rebuild. So yes, for the clutch pack the failing part is now redesigned.

I think also that many cases of ERAD failure in the early days would have just been the clutches, but it was either misdiagnosed, or it was before the repair kit was available, or both.

Volvo recognise the issue and have extended the warranty for this part. Up to 48 months old they pay 100% of the repair cost. Up to 60 months old they pay 50%. There are no mileage limits.

The above is strict. I first got symptoms at 48 months and 8 days. I rang the garage at about 48 months plus 15 days. I was booked in for 48 months and 31 days then the whole system shut down for Coronavirus. I eventually got back to the dealer at about 50.5 months. Volvo will not entertain anything other than 50% and the dealer has tried for more on my behalf. So we are now exploring the aftermarket warranty claim option.

I think I have seen the car you mention on Autotrader months back so looks like it might have been on sale for a while. 170k will scare most buyers.

Oh on my aftermarket warranty there is a 100k miles limit at outset so not sure how easy it would be to get a warranty.....

[Loofer]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

ERADs have been failing, sometimes the whole unit has been replaced and sometimes the clutch/gear pack has been replaced. The repair kit for the clutch pack is an entire redesign with a different housing too. It is a 12 hour rebuild. So yes, for the clutch pack the failing part is now redesigned.

I think also that many cases of ERAD failure in the early days would have just been the clutches, but it was either misdiagnosed, or it was before the repair kit was available, or both.

Volvo recognise the issue and have extended the warranty for this part. Up to 48 months old they pay 100% of the repair cost. Up to 60 months old they pay 50%. There are no mileage limits.

The above is strict. I first got symptoms at 48 months and 8 days. I rang the garage at about 48 months plus 15 days. I was booked in for 48 months and 31 days then the whole system shut down for Coronavirus. I eventually got back to the dealer at about 50.5 months. Volvo will not entertain anything other than 50% and the dealer has tried for more on my behalf. So we are now exploring the aftermarket warranty claim option.

I think I have seen the car you mention on Autotrader months back so looks like it might have been on sale for a while. 170k will scare most buyers.

Oh on my aftermarket warranty there is a 100k miles limit at outset so not sure how easy it would be to get a warranty.....

Yes, any 3rd party warranty is highly unlikely. Even then they usually are quite poor so would only cover something extreme like engine seizure rather than any any peripheral parts like turbo or supercharger.

Here's the car in question. Would be interested in your thoughts