2008 lemon
 

I should be celebrating the 12-month anniversary of owning a gorgeous C70. Instead, I am wishing I had never bought it. Problems from day one include:

1. sponge poking up between body panels (now fixed)
2. aircon didn't work - 5 attempts and finally fixed
3. computer imobilzed car while I was in it (now fixed)
4. rear sway bars had to be replaced, left one twice (heavy clunk in boot area on turning into driveway)
5. turning circle huge (bad) and really straining at the extreme - had to have stops replaced
6. computer had to be upgraded twice - first time didn't fix all the electronic faults they found. Not sure if fixed or not as didn't get oil warning (see below)
6. cruise control doesn't hold speed on downhill - duh! I have received a speeding ticket for doing 110km while driving on cruise, with cruise set at 100km. Driving a rental Ford XRS at present and it doesn't go more than 1 km over set speed and you can feel the car applying brake. Volvo C70 holds speed only on flat. Pathetic. I am told this is "normal".
7. very noticeable problem with steering - especially low speed turning right around a circle/roundabout. It feels really lose - like I am going to lose steering control. Worse if the car has been driven over a period of time, worse if aircon is on. Not fixed. Dealer says nothing wrong.
8. massive concern with brakes. Have to depress half-way or more and when going around a roundabout there is a sound/vibration/feeling through the brake pedal that gives the impression of straining or some other problem. Not fixed. Dealer says nothing wrong.
9. driving in the country Saturday night two weeks ago, alone. Car pulled in behind me and in its headlights I saw blue smoke pouring out the back of mine. I had recently come out of roadworks, and heard a dull bang - it didn't sound like a rock so much as metal stress. I assumed rock, or something else clipped underside of car as I ascended the lip of bitumen from dirt at the end of the roadworks. Not so loud or terrifying as to suggest I should pull over immediately (and why would I in the middle of nowhere, with no light?). Kept driving until I saw the smoke. Pulled over and the car looked like it would blow up. Firebrigade called, along with RACQ and tow truck. Car was undrivable with all oil gone from sump, with body surface and under car soaked in oil. Oil was clean, good condition. At no time was there any light on dash or message to warn that the car was losing oil pressure. I would think this mandatory but Volvo insists there is no such warning - that I would only get a warning when the sump was emptied to tell me car out of oil. Surely, that would be too late??! Volvo insist it is my problem - that I hit a rock - and this is an insurance issue, not a car quality issue.

With all the other things that were wrong with my car, together with my ongoing concerns about the safety of my car (steering/brakes), I no longer trust my life with this car. In fact, I don't want it back from the reparier.

I have repeatedly brought the brake and steering issues up with the dealership to be told there is nothing wrong with either. My car has never been recalled for any problems, but I keep reading that there are known issues with steering and brakes and cars have been recalled in the US. Dealer says not relevant to my car.

So, with all of the above, I need some advice.
1. has anyone else had a problem with the sump cracking, or punching a hole etc on a relatively new volvo (any model)
2. or any ideas what the problem would be, whether or not a rock was involved? I have driven through lots of roadworks and over rocks in the many years of driving with dozens of different cars and never, ever had a rock punch a hole through the sump. This just screams bad build to me, but maybe this is a common experience for others?
3. Re the cruise control not holding speed on down (or up) hill, is this your experience of volvo cruise contro too?
4. is this all normal for new volvos? If not - at what point, and what can I do to get volvo to accept this car is an absolute lemon and replace it?

I would upload photos but don't know how.

1-2:sump could just be a freak accident, hard to say really.

3. only used cruise in volvos but all i would say is, cruise control is not the green light to switch off behind the wheel, it is an aid only and you are still responsible at the end of the day.

4. electrical problems and glitches seem to be common on a few new cars, does appear that build quaulity has taken a turn for the worse

I must admit noosachic, you've got a lot of patience matey!

Cruise control should hold the car back slightly on a decline , the cruise on my V70 D5 has been used a lot over the 133k miles I have driven the car with no problems also have a 2001 V70 T5 and cruise works fine on this . The brakes are not applied by cruise control , it just uses engine braking to slow the car , on most hills I have not found the car to run away although I know some hills were I doubt cruise would hold the car on a steep decline . The air con fixing problem is down to the skill and knowledge of the mechanic , taking five attempts to fix it is the sort of thing I would do before I managed to correctly guess whats wrong but if you are paying for this I would have changed to another garage after the second attempt . The sump on a V70 ( probably same as a C70 ) is cast aluminium and very fragile and light weight , the front lower sub frame cross member should take most of the impact of anything lying in the road and then the engine plastic undercover should help protect it but the car could have bounced up and then the sump landed on a concrete block or something similar in the road and this would just go straight through the cover and the sump , could happen on any car as I think the pressed steel type sumps are not used on many modern cars , I think you have been just very unlucky for this to happen but the oil light should have come on as soon as oil pressure was lost and that would normally give you enough time to stop and check , you say this did not happen ? Normally with cars I just plod on with them no matter whats wrong and try to fix everything myself eventually and if I cant fix it then it stays broke because I have just had so many bad experiences with garages but this is not to everyones taste and reading your story it sounds like you have reached the stage where you are totally ****ed off with it so maybe it is time to get rid of it but I do think the dealer has got a lot to answer for in your case and if they had been professional and got the repairs done right at first attempt then maybe you wouldnt feel so badly about the car .

Hi, it might be worth taking professional advice on this one as by the sounds of things you have bought a vehicle that is unfit for the purpose for which it was bought.
Take a look here it may or may not help,
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...t-purpose.html

Sorry to hear about your problems - cant comment with much experience as I have only had my v70 about 4 months (its 18 months old)
Brakes are excellent - really firm with plent of bite - have you checked on a dealer demonstrator - thats what I do if they say they are all the same
Steering can groan a bit at low speeds but is not too bad and far from dangerous or worrying
Cruise does not apply brakes to my knowledge but I only use it on motorways and have not found it to go out on on down grade such as the M6 in Cumbria
Seems like a lemon - but if you check other forums for other manufacturers they all seem to have them unfortunately - don't know if Volvo are any worse than average
Good luck

cruise control will not hold a cars speed down when its running away with itself going downhill.

In reply to number 4

VOLVO ACCEPT THEYVE BUILT A LEMON!!! NEVER HAPPEN!!!

c70 lemon
 

Thanks all for your replies. The garage fixing it each time is the Volvo dealership from which I bought it. They have had it plugged into the computer with techs supposedly from Sweden working on the aircon.

tt82 - I don't switch off behind the wheel. I simply do a lot of driving. In Australia, where I am located, it is hard not to. A rountrip to my nearest client is 320km. The reality is it is hard to manually maintain a constant speed over 2 hours of highway driving (which is what it takes each way). Cruise control on other vehicles I have owned and driven keeps the speed within a range - granted it can pick up on a downhill, but you can also feel the car pulling itself back to maintain speed. The point is, mine doesn't do that at all. You might as well not have cruise control.

Bernard333, best explanation for what might have happened re the sump. While I accept I might have hit something, doesn't excuse Volvo from the lack of quality and concern with regard to the manufacture of this vehicle.

No warning light came on re oil pressure. I raised this with the dealership and was told the light would only come on when the car was out of oil. That kind of defeats the point of having warnings doesn't it? I mean, if I'm out of oil the engine is going to seize. How soon before that happens are you supposed to be warned for goodness sakes? I have owned 20 year old cars that had gauges that showed oil pressure and you could see immediately if you had a problem, before it became a catastrophe.

Likewise, the car has just now done 18,000 km - no warning light to say it needed a service at 15,000 km. Having done one at 5,000 km I remembered it needed to be done every 15,000 km, and didn't check the service book. But again, wrongly assumed the car would give me a message to say it needed a service. My Volvo manual says it will. It didn't.

I am still waiting for the dealership to send me photos of the damage to the underside of the car (to show others and ask - what happened here?). While this has been palmed to insurance to cover, Volvo dealer is fixing it under the insurance claim. This surprised me as dealers don't usually do insurance repairs. Initially the assessor rejected their quote, but they came back with revised quote to ensure they kept the car there to fix. This doesn't make me feel better - it makes me suspicious!! What didn't they want anyone else to see or find out about the car? And, if there is something wrong with it, they just got paid to fix their own problem.

The insurance company guarantees repairs for life of the car. So they stand behind the repairs - whomever fixes it. Volvo doesn't even stand behind its own manufacturing team. But now I know why.

I was such a fan of the brand. Had never owned one, but this was the ultimate car for me. Disappointment doesn't come close to describing the way I feel. I feel absolutely betrayed and frankly, conned.

Mine does, set my 854 at 70mph and with in a couple mph that's where is will stay, Ive never used it long term up or down hills so can not comment about self braking, it might i dont know never taken any notice really , all i know is i set it and that's where it stays, i use it really for road works and the likes, inc both up and down inclines but to my knowledge its very good, my old mondeo ghia x and BMW was the same :thumbs_up: