Which To Buy

[Clive12]

Hi Guys

I’m a newbie to the forum,

I’m sorry if I’ve posted this thread in the wrong section, but I do need some help.

I don’t as yet own a Volvo, neither have I ever had one before.

At the moment I’m running around in an old Vauxhall Omega Estate 2.5TD and I’m looking for something of similar size, again as an estate.

I’ve been looking at the Volvo V70 and the CX70 but thought it might an idea to come onto the Volvo Forum to see if anyone can give me any pointers of anything to watch out for or avoid.

By that I mean some car models can be renown for having certain issues (expensive ones) so I’m trying to do my homework to begin with.

Can anyone out there suggest an estate which is fairly reliable, well at least does not seem to have a common renown fault.

It doesn’t have to be the V70 or CX70, I was looking at those because I liked the style of them and they are a similar size to the Omega.

The max I want to go up to price wise is £4000.

My thanks to anyone who can help

Clive

[stuart bowes]

you'll get a nice car for that sort of money

3 questions off the top of my head,

Do you prefer lots of power or just a comfy cruiser?
is MPG a concern?
are you concerned by ULEZ and/or tax costs?

only reason i mention tax is I think there was some issue with certain years onwards being a higher bracket, sure others can confirm the actual details on that

I've had mine since July last year, I paid just under 4k and got a 2001 V70 with about 50k on the clock in mint condition. it's been pretty easy to work on (or at least no more difficult than BMW or fords or others I've had) and if you get a copy of VIDA you can save yourself the garage costs on reading faults etc

Im now up to just under £7k total (including purchase) for maintenance, upgrades including a grands worth of audio, various little refinements etc, and im pretty much done

some might say mine was expensive but it's practically perfect, and to me things are worth whatever you're willing to pay I avoided diesels because of future issues, and I didn't want a turbo because I like my driving license and I've got a heavy right foot

also from what I've read the turbo ones are getting harder to find at sensible prices

[stuart bowes]

this one seems very similar to mine in mileage and condition

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...tion=on&page=1

but's 3 years younger than mine and the 170bhp version where mine is 140bhp (not a lot of difference from what I've read, maybe a tad more up the top end)

you can get kits to tear out the standard head unit and put in a touchscreen double din for bluetooth / satnav and so on, that's what I did. or you can get cheaper bluetooth devices to plug in the back of that unit and i think you run it as though it's a CD changer or something

[eternal optimist]

Why are you wanting rid of the Omega?

If you don’t need 4x4, forget the XC70.

If you want the most economical and reliable, then look for a well cared for E3 engined manual diesel V70 that’s been really well looked after. Don’t worry about mileage providing it’s been properly maintained with evidence of preventative maintenance rather than someone fitting the cheapest pattern parts from ECP when it fails an MoT. Pick of the bunch for me would be a late pre facelift or maybe an early facelift, but it would have to have the E3 engine.

£4k would easily get you an excellent E3 V70; but you’ll have to be patient, there are fewer around as time goes on, and those who have them tend to want to keep them.

[Clive12]

Stuart and Eternal Optimist

The reason for changing the Omega is its starting to show a fair bit of rust now and it’s not worth the expense of taking it to a body shop for repair and I’m not into doing bodywork myself plus having somewhere to do it.
As already said the Omega is a 2000 reg 2.5 Turbo Diesel and I get 46 mpg on a run out of it.

I don’t know how that compares with the Volvo Petrol or Diesel, I know I could look it up on the manufacture’s information, having said that I prefer an honest opinion not figures which have been generated on a test circuit.

I do have a part, time 4 x 4 which I use for towing namely a 3.0L Turbo Diesel Isuzu Trooper which I get 31 mpg on a run but not when I’m towing, so I’d be happy to get something around the 46 mpg same as the Omega if that’s possible as that’s the car I mainly use but not for towing.
The Trooper is also 2000 reg with 87000 miles on the clock.

In answer to Stuart yes, I do like a bit of comfort and as far as UELZ is concerned, it won’t be long before both petrol and diesel are band, but at the price tag for the all-electric cars I just can’t afford to save the planet.

So, to sum up yes, I’d like something that’s comfy but does have bit under the bonnet when I need it, I don’t mean something that leaves everything else standing at take off from a set of traffic lights, but not something you need to hold your breath in when comes to overtaking, having said that I do understand all cars have their limitations, also I'm not adverse to petrol or diesel.

[eternal optimist]

My XC70 is an E3 Auto. It does a pretty consistent 37mpg. My local taxi firm switched from Omegas to V70’s in about 2005. Their first V70’s were manual E3’s which did a regular 50mpg. The E4’s were about 10mpg worse.

If I were you, I’d be looking for a really nice E3 D5 SE Lux manual.

[Clive12]

Stuart

Can you send me some of your luck, 50k on the clock would be just up my street for a 2001 yep, I wouldn’t mind some of that?

You mentioned VIDA are they easy enough to get hold of and what sort of price are they?

[stuart bowes]

tbh it sounds like a turbo diesel is the one for you then.. I see people talking about the power and the mpg and it seems like a decent trade off. you'll have to look to others for the 'usual issues'

I don't really like diesels myself to be honest every time I hear one clattering past i think eurgh so unrefined lol but I'm sure that's just unfair prejudice

what I can say first hand is you'd be lucky to go above 30mpg with the petrols. worse with the turbos I assume (in the unlikely event of finding one for sale) you might have seen from another recent thread about carbon cleaning I'm trying to work out how to get mine up to 20mpg urban

all that considered though, and having 2 kids, needing the boot space and liking the comfort, it's still 100% worth it, even mine with the smallest engine I think (140bhp 2.4 5cyl auto) goes very well for a big barge

VIDA + hardware was about £130 or £140 i think last time I saw someone talking about it. ask around on here and ye shall receive. you install on laptop and use a hardware tool (Dice or VCX) to connect to ODB port.
it seems pricey at first but when the garage wants £60 just to tell you faults it wont take long to pay for itself

[Clive12]

External Optimist

Thanks for the lowdown on the fuel consumption figures, 50 mpg, I have to admit I’ve never owned a car which gave that return .

I do believe some of the Volvos are automatic and manual, I don’t know what they are like for reliability, having said that I’ve only ever had manual transmission.

[stuart bowes]

far as I could make out the auto is more common? I've heard them described as a bit of an achilles heel

mine was flaring and lurching a bit but I did fluid drain and fill on mine 3 times, plus additive, it was very easy and seems to have resolved issues.

I will do it every year or so going forwards, it literally takes less than an hour even if you really take your time over it