[AlainBrighton]

Hi all,

due to the extremely valuable forum I have finally made the switch from a 55 plate XC70 to a 12 plate XC90 (won it on eBay of all places, bought from trader in Essex who specialises in 4x4s)
The XC70 was due a new 4C and rear pads/discs and with a mileage of 175K sadly only worth the value of a good Mac although much more valuable to me.

I am now the proud owner of a Caspian Blue (black interior) D5 200 SE G/T, ideally would have liked at least the SE Lux since missing Xenon but you have to start somewhere.

4th owner, in the first year (registered march 2012) it was a Volvo Rental which sounds ominous. Then a 2nd owner in the first year and he must have passed it on to his dad as their address and surnames were similar other than their first names and this chap owned it from December 2012 until last wednesday) Ideally it would have had less owners but the last one running it for 7 years must be good. Came with semi-full history (nothing before 2015 and 42K) since 42K it has been serviced through Marshalls in Bishops Stortford. Have requested Volvo UK if there is prior history available and since there is no service book (but all original invoices since 2015 including cam belt in January 2018 at 84K) I hope Marshalls is willing to stamp a replacement service book based on their own history.

Omissions from my perspective:
- no Bi-Xenon or Adaptive Xenon: could a Xenon conversion kit or buying complete Xenon headlight units solve this or would it require more than just that ? Driving a lot in rural West Sussex and on the continent in the forest and Alps so it is quite essential to me and miss it already
- no front parking sensors: is the XC90 SE pre wired already ?
- Can the RTI be connected to front and rear parking camera's ? Living in downtown Brighton where parking is at a premium
- Are there iPad holders/tablet holders available for the headrests ? I have 5 family members coming over from SE Asia and like all orientals they are hooked on all things electronic :-)
- Should I or should I not have the transmission flushed ? Seems to work excellent yet not sure with contradicting views here what I should do ?
- Castrol Edge Titanium 0W-30 the oil to keep in the boot ?
- What tyres do you all use ? Currently it has Continental Eco Contacts yet thinking about Michelin Cross Climate SUV, Goodyear All Seasons or Continental All Seasons as I regularly do some gallivanting to Germany and Switzerland and winter tyres being mandatory .....

I have ordered side steps, tracked a load cover, spare seat covers around the driver memory seat as broken (was the same with my XC70)

Was thinking about doing some research about VIDA (and what software I have to download to my lappie) assuming I can program a few functions on the car itself ?

Finally want to bring the car to either Dinnages in Worthing or Doves Horsham or Gatwick to keep it main dealer serviced during my keep (except for engine oil changes/transmission oil changes) to offset the 3 previous owner car.

Thank you in advance and a thank you to Odysseus and Tannaton for their valuable advice during the pre-purchase period !

ps Pictures from my iphone will probably be too large to upload ?