about to pull the trigger on a 2009 V70

Post by **Clemens** » 13 Mar 2026, 16:53

After 15 years in Volvo 850ies I am about to buy a 2009 V70 D4 as a daily with 300.000 miles for 2500 euro that looks and feels decent, my indie suggested this car to me.
Only known issues so far are that the heated seats seem to be not properly working and that there seems to be a problem with a rear seat belt that throws a message in the instrument cluster.

Any general problems known to this platform?

Vova585 · Post by **Vova585** » 13 Mar 2026, 20:29

Rear springs-they last ok in v70, junk in xc60.
Tailgate springs- failing around 100k or so.
Rear suspension trailing arm bushing is known issue.
With diesel engine the engine heater(if equiped webasto or similar) known to have respurce "clock" after which they stop working. You either replace the unit or erase the "hours" which is done at your own risk.
Heater blower motor- (thank you ford for trash) is lasting 50-80k and needs to be replaced. Luckily in v70/xc70 it is a breath in comparison to xc60.

Post by **Clemens** » Yesterday, 01:28

The P3 is more stable in electrical terms than the 2001-2003 P26, right?

Is the AC system, especially the evaporator, good or is this on the liste of things to need replacement soon?

Also, can the heated seats easily be fixed like on the p80 platform or will working on the seats cause Sips issues?

And then, Vida: Coming from OBD1 cars, I never had to deal with Vida. Is it a hassle to work with, and are there cheap solution to aquire or download it?

Vova585 · Post by **Vova585** » Yesterday, 19:58

With every newer car you will have more modules( computers) that are prone to fail. Unfortunately, there is no way to keep old cars running forever, so sooner or later we all will have to "leap" into more advanced mode. P3 cars are now looking totally archaic in comparison to newer cars with multiple modules for every item. Vida/dice is an essential tool for any volvo owner prior to 2016(i am talking about affordable chineese clone of Volvo dealer diag tool. Can be bought on ebay for $100 or so and will save you ton of money). My p3(5 cars in the family) is thus far very good. I am over the top with preventative maintenance (it is cheap to service items that to try to buy new parts). No issues with ac system yet. One ac compressor shows signs of leaking(3.0 e gine), but still holds charge for 3 last years. Some rust on ac lines(lanolin based rust protection hopefully will slow it down). No other big issies...yet(outside of scrappy rear springs on P3 cars, but they take 2 hours to replace for a person with beer in one hand)