Volvo XC90 - Why you love yours!

[BlackBart]

Nice wheels.

[abscate]

Treated NewGena to a shiny new Volvo grill(e) logo in my favo(u)rite colo(u)r and a car wash/wax

[bucketofguts]

Because my 2003 XC90 T6 was on of the first to arrive. She needs me. She has had everything that can go wrong, go wrong.... almost. It was all fixed at the Volvo Dealer. Until 2019 when the third tranny failed. Service manager offered my sister $500.00 USD for her. He had worked on her since new. I sent a roll-back and she was mine. Out with the tranny to Triple Edge Performance. My relationship had just begun. Six years later we are a team.

[scot850]

I keep considering a Gen 1 XC90. I have been looking on and off for a while for something with reasonable mileage on it, ideally in good condition, but mostly NOT black. The first 2 are fairly easy to do, but nearly everything that comes up currently in any Volvo form in my area (Alberta) and B.C is black. Next least favorite color is silver. There is a platinum silver/gray though I really like. My one concern is the seat comfort. The standard XC90 seat looks poorly designed with the seat supporting the back of the knees but not much else.

A silver one came up for a sale a few weeks back locally, but strangely did not sell. As usual pictures tell a thousand lies.

After contacting the seller, it turned out the reason the car is not selling is it has a rebuilt title. They have all the paperwork, to prove it has been repaired and inspected as roadworthy by the authorities, but to me that is not always a good measure. I'm less than impressed by the inspections they do here compared to an MOT inspection in the UK.

Anyway, car is like all cheaper Volvos here are bought up, repaired and flipped by all the Ukrainian Refugees we have in Alberta. They are lovely people, and out government kind of just dumped them to get on by themselves when they arrived with nothing. To scrape a living they buy any cheaper Volvo, put some effort into fixing some stuff or bodywork repair and then flipping them.

The father of the owner has a detailing business and got this for his son to drive. He has now left Alberta so they are selling the car. The dad is a lovely man and they agreed he would bring the car to me so I could get it up on the hoist. I took the car for a run and it was mostly ok, but like all 3.2 6 cylinder engines they are a bit of a slug. It ran pretty well but I think the 2013 tires were hiding a wheel bearing going bad, and there was a further issue which I believe is the front bearing on the pro-shaft failing.

Some work has been done on the car, but that is where issues grew. Rear shocks are past the best, they used a quick strut of a no name brand at the front, the steering needs aligned, the front muffler is not long for the world. There was also a fairly significant leak on the LH end of the engine running down over the transmission area. Car also needed an alignment.

The car with 135k ish miles on it was cheap enough to fix most of the stuff and not get in over my head. However the 2 issues that turned me away were: 1) Yes the front seats are as bad as I recalled (need to find one with R-design seats - hard to find), and 2) there was a repair sone on the LH rear door area. Color match was good, but there was clearly a lot of filler in the area of the damaged door repair for which the car was written off for. Shame.

All is not lost, at least I have now confirmed I need a XC90-R-design , not a standard model.

Neil.

[abscate]

If you come down to nyc again you can try my platinum model seat and see if it fits your needs.

We had a 15 inch dump of snow here on Long Island and I struggled to get the FWD cars out of the plow ridge, the xc90 just mashed right through it like a champ. Second generation Haldex is awesome

S70 awd still stuck

[Krons]

Second generation Haldex is awesome

Have you changed the Haldex fluid and filter yet on yours? I bought the kit from FCPeuro and after laying under my 2005 XC90 a bit I decided I would have my Indy shop do it while I was getting the timing belt done. I think the later versions made changing the filter and fluid much easier.

[MoVolvos]

Because my 2003 XC90 T6 was on of the first to arrive. She needs me. She has had everything that can go wrong, go wrong.... almost. It was all fixed at the Volvo Dealer. Until 2019 when the third tranny failed. Service manager offered my sister $500.00 USD for her. He had worked on her since new. I sent a roll-back and she was mine. Out with the tranny to Triple Edge Performance. My relationship had just begun. Six years later we are a team.

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Triple Edge Performance's web provided me with info on the Transgo Shift Kit which I installed on our 03 S80 T6. I think if it was installed on all the GM trans the rate of failure would be considerably less. Unfortunately when my Son told me he was experiencing issues after the Transgo install I failed to look into it promptly as he was no longer living at home. Failure to followup with a pan bolt re-torquing cause the fluid to get real low and it finally failed. Best engine and transmission combo out of all the Volvo's owned thus far (88 240DL, 98 S70 T5, 00 S70 SE NA, 02 S60 2.4 NA, 02 V70 XC, 03 S80 T6, 07 S60 2.5T, 08 C30 T5 2.0 M66, 09 S60 2.5T AWD, 09 S80 3.2, 12 XC90 3.2, 14 XC90 3.2). Instant shifts with the Transgo besides excellent acceleration with greast mileage.
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[MoVolvos]

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After driving it a bit the 2012 XC90 Project was put on non-op early 2025 and stored at friend's property after my health wouldn't allow most car work. Purchased the 2014 XC90 July 2, 2025 and have only driven it in the court in circles to keep the fluid going every other week or so. This one doesn't seem to need much work but health again won't allow it. Thus far needs an interior cleaning, front bumper reattachment and paint correction. The 0420 is off for now but may return as it does have a minor exhaust leak. From the exhaust shield looks like someone has worked on it previously.

These tanks are luxurious and pretty quick even with the 3.2. This one is going to be for my Son as his 08 C30 T5 2.0 M66 has been decommissioned due to a failing clutch, going to the floor intermittently though still driveable. He's currently in a FWD SUV and would prefer a 4WD for VA winters.
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