General: Help! Dilemma - Keep old XC90 or buy a newer one?

[Emeye]

How well do the newer 185-200bhp D5 engines cope with short journeys?

We love our 2003 XC90 that I bought off my brother 20 months ago, but with almost 154k miles on the clock we have had some issues recently so I have thought about buying a newer one with a budget of about £10-11k

What is worrying me is that my wife spends most of the week doing very short local school and shopping runs, with the some longer family weekend journeys and the odd long trip dawn sawf and into France.

I am looking at cars from 2009 to 2011 in budget, as I can't bring myself to pay an extra £250 a year road tax, but all the emissions systems on the newer engines scare the cr@p out of me with all these short runs.

The old one still runs but I am getting nervous about taking it to France in a couple of days.

[oragex]

I think they don't cope well. Diesel is not meant for short journeys overall - gasoline neither, just less worse than diesel. A hybrid would be a great option, and a rechargeable hybrid the top option.

At 150k a Volvo starts needing more or less constant attention... you may hear of users saying otherwise, but most of these need constant attention at these miles. I feel that some owners are comfortable with this, while other aren't. You seem to be of the later group, so I would rather move on and get another car at this point. Those who keep these cars longer either had the chance to buy one that was already thoroughly repaired by it's PO, or just source themselves quality parts off online sites and have a trustful mechanic or even do their own repairs. There's also those for who the budget in not an issue and can afford to keep bringing these to the main dealer ($$$)

For the road trip, I'd rather remove the serpentine belt and inspect all pulleys if it hasn't been done yet - it's one of the weak points on these D5. And maybe have the battery tested. Another sensitive area is the DEM on the AWD if equipped, worth a look under the car to check for any corrosion on the module. But generally I wouldn't be worried to have it dying on the side of the road - I would rather be worried about this with a later years XC90 model.

[gmonag]

Personally I'd stick with your 163hp 2003 model. I have a similar 2005, it has done nearly 170k and I still use it regularly to tow a large caravan all over UK and Europe. As long as you service the car properly it should not let you down.

As for the short trips - as has been said, a diesel is not ideal but the 163hp engine does not have a DPF and that is where most issues occur.

You don't say what issues you are having to make you nervous.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Emeye

How well do the newer 185-200bhp D5 engines cope with short journeys?

We love our 2003 XC90 that I bought off my brother 20 months ago, but with almost 154k miles on the clock we have had some issues recently so I have thought about buying a newer one with a budget of about £10-11k

What is worrying me is that my wife spends most of the week doing very short local school and shopping runs, with the some longer family weekend journeys and the odd long trip dawn sawf and into France.

I am looking at cars from 2009 to 2011 in budget, as I can't bring myself to pay an extra £250 a year road tax, but all the emissions systems on the newer engines scare the cr@p out of me with all these short runs.

The old one still runs but I am getting nervous about taking it to France in a couple of days.

the newer ones do cope with town use , but if you stay in towns for weeks it can play up , not common but it can do if you never leave the town .

XC90s have not changed much , I would certainly hang on to yours , Much less to go wrong and more economical , remember it is always much cheaper to fix what you have rather than pay out £11000 for something almost identical but questionably less reliable due to extra equipment and weaker turbo hoses etc .!

[Emeye]

Thanks for the replies - I have a trusted mechanic and I was all set to take it to France until the electrics went nuts last week - the symptoms looked like a CEM issue - most electrical things not working, but it would start up fine - I disconnected the battery and left it which solved all the issues apart from an SRS error - my mate read the car, which had loads of low voltage errors across all-sorts, but resetting them meant all errors cleared and it has been fine ever since.

The battery is a Volvo supplied battery from 3 years ago and i seems to be charging fine when I tested it with my multi-meter.

Other issues are that the engine mounts are leaking and bypassed at the moment, the engine occasionally goes into limp mode in winter, but a long blast usually sorts that. Other than that it is mechanically sorted - brakes all recently replaced, new key switch fitted plus some other jobs - oh, I had the aircon fixed, but it still has this strange fault where occasionally when hot it stops blowing cold air for a while, but comes back later.

If it was just the local journeys I wouldn't be worried. I have a last chance to buy a local 2011 R-design with 98k miles on the clock today, otherwise I have run out of time and will have to buy the best European breakdown and hope for the best.

[Moose Test]

If my primary concern were reliability during an imminent long road trip, the very last thing I'd do is consider making that journey in a car that I'd just bought the day before.

As you have said, ensure you've European breakdown cover in place and think again when you get back.

My gut feeling is that you're still likely to be seeing issues with vehicles in the 2009-2011 age group, that is the nature of XC90 ownership. At least with the one you have, you're not £11k down to start with and you've already addressed many mechanical issues.

[aland]

I have a 2008 D5 (with the Euro 4 / 185 bhp engine) on 165k miles, which i've owned for over 5 years.
Mine does a lot of short trips but enough longer ones that i've not had any DPF issues so far.
I was in France with it last week towing a caravan.
Mine generally averages around 26MPG - which isn't great.

I also have extensive experience of the 163 Euro 3 engine fitted to yours - which I consider to be a FAR better engine. It's more reliable, returns better MPG and doesn't have any DPF stuff to go wrong.

Personally i'd suggest that you're better with the devil you know. Keep on top of maintenance, check fluid levels regularly etc and you'll be fine.

Volvos are a bit scarce in France, so if you break down there is the risk that you'll struggle to find a local garage interested in repairing it. Make sure you have European breakdown cover which includes recovery to the UK, just in case. My cover was cheapest with the RAC's 'Arrival' arranged through the Camping & Caravan Club. Generally a yearly policy is similar cost to a short cover one.

[Emeye]

I've decided to stick with our beast - I bought the top RAC European cover and I'm having some new tyres fitted tomorrow morning.

I still fancy a never one, but may find the cleanest, well looked after 163bhp when I get back - and keep this one.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Clan

the newer ones do cope with town use , but if you stay in towns for weeks it can play up , not common but it can do if you never leave the town .

XC90s have not changed much , I would certainly hang on to yours , Much less to go wrong and more economical , remember it is always much cheaper to fix what you have rather than pay out £11000 for something almost identical but questionably less reliable due to extra equipment and weaker turbo hoses etc .!

If you pay £11k the year 1 depreciation on the newer car will pay for a LOT of repairs and preventative maintenance to your current car.

I've got a 2003 car with 172k on it now and it is the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned, I would get in it tomorrow and go to the moon and back without bothering to check anything... Yes it gets some preventative maintenance and I've replaced wheel bearings, bushes, strut tops, etc. but it's never left me stranded.

[Emeye]

Other than just the financial concerns, there is the inconvenience of having the car off the road each time it needs work.

I also have a 2001 Honda Accord as our backup car, but it hasn't quite got enough as we have 4 kids.....

Maybe a newer XC90 and keeping the old one is the way forward?