D4 - late V/XC 70

[Sotosound]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

I think the issue with the new shape XC90 is it's popularity and therefore cost - early (2015) examples in good order with sensible mileage are commanding north of £25k still, with the last of the old shape models with similar provenance selling for £10k less.

Back to your question though, in the run-out years for the XC/V70 (2015MY & 2016 MY) the cars had two engine/gearbox combination.

AWD cars - 5 cylinder Volvo engine and 6-speed auto (D3 & D4 = 2.0, D5 is 2.4) harks back to the D5 intorduced in 2002.

2WD/FWD cars - 4 cylinder 2.0 Volvo VEA diesel engine and 8 speed auto (D3 & D4).

All are very good and reliable, but as you would expect the later 4 cylinder engine and 8-speed gearbox gives more refinement. The 4 cylinder D4 engine is also ultre reliable but make sure its had the EGR recall work. The P3 platform is fairly solid, no major issues, not quite as robust as the P2 but nothing else is....

The VEA D3 has a 6-speed auto. Not sure why. Cost, perhaps. It's still a good box, however, at least in my wife's V60 D3.

It's probably better to get as late an example of the VEA engine as possible so as to ensure that there is no risk of high oil consumption due to blocked drain holes in oil control rings. Not all early ones suffer from this, but my wife's V60 D3 does and my own V70 D4 has started to show signs, although it seems to have backed away from it after asking for two half-litre top-ups in quick succession a couple of months ago. Volvo redesigned the oil control rings with larger drain holes so as to fix this.