V50 General : A bit Rubbish really

[Philip Fisher]

Now, before I start, lets get this straight. I am a Volvo kinda guy. My last car was a 97 V70 T5. My brother had a 340 GLE, a XC70 Classic and has an XC90 on order. My other brother had an 850 and then an XC70. My Mum has, had from new, a mint 1988 740 GL. I travelled all around Europe as a child in the rear facing seats of an A and then a B reg 240 DL. You get my drift......

So, I currently run a (leased) V50 2.0D and am pained to admit that it is a bit rubbish really.

OK, so it handles well, has good pull from the engine, is relatively quiet and looks OK inside and out, but the reliability is absolutely shocking. It is less than 12 months old and so far (and I am sure to have missed a few probs here), has had the following problems:

- Glovebox broken, unable to access until main dealer crowbared open.
- Water sprayed out of A piller when washing rear window
- Radio keeps going off tune and skips CD tracks - fixed at 3 months old, now doing it again.
- Central screen displaying just blocks of yellow
- Broken catches on rear load blind
- Broken lashing eyes
- Lumpy and bunny hopping running (rectified with the oh so easy to lie about "software download")
- Car completely fails to unlock or lock or do anything - had to "break in" with emergency key

Not really great for a 20K car which, as it is a Volvo, should be more reliable than the crowd. All my colleagues take the mickey as my car is always back at the dealers.

So then, would I spend £20K on another V50 if it was my own money? No, I would spend £10K on a very very nearly new Mondeo Estate TDCI and save the 10K. I am sure I would spend as much time at the dealers, but hey I would be 10K richer.

If Volvo wants to continue being classed as a Premium Manufacturer then it needs to start building with premium quality, not just charging premium prices.....