XC90 second hand purchase advice

[soupytwister]

Originally Posted by Ian0803

Crikey, all too much for me. There I was cracking my head on petrol, diesel, hybrid or Electric in the next 3-4 years!

Quite!
Here's a simpler answer. It's just the level of bad

Petrol : bad, uses too much
Diesel : bad, uses less, but out of favour
Hybrid : bad, harms people
Electric : bad, harms more people

[lordofthejungle]

I think we have put the OP off Volvo ownership??!!

[CanaryYellow]

Originally Posted by soupytwister

Quite!
Here's a simpler answer. It's just the level of bad

Petrol : bad, uses too much
Diesel : bad, uses less, but out of favour
Hybrid : bad, harms people
Electric : bad, harms more people

I agree with your summary!

I’m certainly not put off XC90 ownership, but it’s important to go into it with my eyes open; there isn’t really any cheap way or environmentally friendly way to run a car of that size compared to, say, a smallish petrol engined people carrier.

I’m sure the Diesel engine suits the car better than the petrol engine, but for my usage, I don’t think I can justify diesel anymore. I mostly use my 330d around town with a longer run every couple of weeks. The T5 might well be thirstier and emit more co2, but my concern with diesel is the impact on air quality. I know dpfs / adblue do a lot, but i think petrol is still a cleaner fuel.

If I was buying new and keeping for 5 ish years, I’d go for a hybrid and keep it in warranty for the duration, but as I’m looking at 3/4 years old, I’m not keen on buying a hybrid and running until it’s 10 years old at this stage.

My plan is to test drive a T5 when one I like comes up somewhere not too far from me, see how I find it, it’s going to be quite a big change from a 330d (I doubt there is a better Diesel engine than that, it’s simply brilliant), and go from there. If I don’t like it, I’ll try a D5 / T6 depending on what I don’t like about it. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

[Discoman]

Originally Posted by CanaryYellow

I agree with your summary!

I’m certainly not put off XC90 ownership, but it’s important to go into it with my eyes open; there isn’t really any cheap way or environmentally friendly way to run a car of that size compared to, say, a smallish petrol engined people carrier.

I’m sure the Diesel engine suits the car better than the petrol engine, but for my usage, I don’t think I can justify diesel anymore. I mostly use my 330d around town with a longer run every couple of weeks. The T5 might well be thirstier and emit more co2, but my concern with diesel is the impact on air quality. I know dpfs / adblue do a lot, but i think petrol is still a cleaner fuel.

If I was buying new and keeping for 5 ish years, I’d go for a hybrid and keep it in warranty for the duration, but as I’m looking at 3/4 years old, I’m not keen on buying a hybrid and running until it’s 10 years old at this stage.

My plan is to test drive a T5 when one I like comes up somewhere not too far from me, see how I find it, it’s going to be quite a big change from a 330d (I doubt there is a better Diesel engine than that, it’s simply brilliant), and go from there. If I don’t like it, I’ll try a D5 / T6 depending on what I don’t like about it. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

Yep, it will require quite some recalibration coming from a low slung, relatively light, six cylinder engined car. I had a 535d saloon about 15 years ago and it was epic. I am sure that a more modern 330d is similar.

I would not attempt to drive my Volvo in the same way but they are bought for a different purpose. Best of luck finding a T5 to test.

[CanaryYellow]

Yes exactly, it’ll be very different. But, I’m keen on making the change to something a bit more grown up and focusing more on enjoying cruising around rather than feeling at the moment that if I’m not zipping about I’m not using my car to the best of its abilities.

I think it’s helpful that they are so different as they just aren’t comparable. I’ll let you all know how I go! I’m not in a rush, trying to find the right one 😊

[Ian0803]

Originally Posted by CanaryYellow

Yes exactly, it’ll be very different. But, I’m keen on making the change to something a bit more grown up and focusing more on enjoying cruising around rather than feeling at the moment that if I’m not zipping about I’m not using my car to the best of its abilities.

I think it’s helpful that they are so different as they just aren’t comparable. I’ll let you all know how I go! I’m not in a rush, trying to find the right one 😊

I went from a BMW 540i Touring to a BMW X3M40i and now to a XC90 B5D and whilst I miss the sheer performance that's on tap with the 6 cylinder petrol engine, as you say, its all about enjoyment and I am enjoying the drive far more in the XC90.
It was not possible to (legally) use the performance available in either of these BMWs on UK roads. In the Volvo I just waft along, in refinement and comfort, no stress and take the same time to get from A to B.
If I was doing lots of short in town trips I would without doubt have bought a P, but I have a Honda e for that and the XC90 is used for longer trips where the D just made more sense with the cost of fuel.
XC90, P, D or plug in, what ever suits your driving needs, no bad choice.

[SnineT]

Some more things of interest I've stumbled upon and Disco you might find this quite interesting,


It seems a diesel Volvo is still available in Poland and I'd bet markets like good value seeking India haven't gone on this eco crusade either,

S90's you can still get what was a D5 AWD here with a diesel engine, I'd imagine Germany & France like the UK are paid up members of the LGRoDE movement {see if you can work out what that means, no prizes ;-) } I think this is more to do with someone wanting to become the next level fuel supplier rather than anything to do with Polar Bears & Penguins myself,


So with that for all the western promotion of electric cars I'd say Volvo aren't quite as done with the ice as the presenters of Top Cobalt are making it seem.

[Haldex]

XC60 and XC90 are still offered in diesel guise in France.

[CanaryYellow]

Harwoods in Crawley have a few XC90s at the moment that are along the lines of what I'm looking for.

I'm struggling a bit to understand the pricing.... take these two as examples:

https://selekt.volvocars.co.uk/en/ve...-blis-qbctr8ra

and

https://selekt.volvocars.co.uk/en/ve...inter-s1ctgv6q

I would have expected the T6 to be more than £2k cheaper than the T5 given it's a year older.

Looking at Autotrader, they reckon the T5 is a "fair" price, while the T6 is a "good" price.

Does the T6 command that much of a premium?

They also have a pair of D5s (one 2017 and one 2018) with what looks to me to be similarly strange pricing...

https://selekt.volvocars.co.uk/en/ve...amily-s1ctcsvc

and

https://selekt.volvocars.co.uk/en/ve...enium-nqcqxd4q

Any thoughts or help would be welcome. Unfortunate that I've got so many family commitments this weekend which might make getting down there tricky. Hopefully I can wrangle a Sunday visit.

[Baconbaronen]

Originally Posted by CanaryYellow

Do the alcantara parts of the R-Design seats last well? I've always assumed they are more delicate than a regular leather equivalent?

They'll do just fine - I have 3 kids, 11, 8 and 4, and the seats are easy to clean, and the durability is good.