What is your next car?

[matthew1]

I was kinda/sorta going to get an EX30. I'm still on the list ($500 deposit months ago).

It was as much an effort to see what the buying funnel was like as it was to actually buy a new Volvo. Think: I run this Volvo website and it would be good to know about the buying experience, at least all the way up to the signature on the dotted line.

You can read my thoughts on it here https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/categ ... cars/ex30/ and here viewtopic.php?t=102499.

It's at the same time Volvo's fastest car ever (0-60 mph) and its cheapest (base) currently for sale. Pretty interesting combo, unheralded even.

[BlackBart]

With the early demand built up, could you get some good impressions and writing out of it and get back out without losing anything?

[matthew1]

Good thought. It's difficult to make a dent in online daily users here. It would have to go semi-viral to dent it, and it would last just a day or two. So in that respect not worth it. MVS is monetizable because of the immense long-tail (surface area) of content here.

If it went outright viral, it would be worth it, but I can't see that happening as a regular guy getting a car shortly after they're released to the public. All that viral stuff is happening now, where Car & Driver (etc.) review pre-release cars.

[BlackBart]

Ah, I understand.

[Blacklab467]

I am always on the lookout for a very low mileage '01 to '05 XC70 or a P3 XC70 in the right colour and 5 cyl engine. I do really like the looks of the newer V-90's but haven't really researched them too much. I'm not crazy about the V-60XC we bought for my wife but its a good enough car and she really likes it. Ultimately for an active lifestyle and with large breed dogs, I cannot think of a more versatile and practical vehicle than an XC70. I live in constant fear of what would happen if something failed in my XC or someone smashed into it and it got totalled! I am in rental cars all the time with my work and absolutely despise these new cars with screens in the dashboard.

[Richard99]

Admittedly, the P2 S60/V70 series cars are very good. As long as I buy it at low mileage such as 100K,
and drive to it ~ 200K, I am happy.

The cost of maintenance is low bc I virtually do everything myself using parts from Autohausaz,
Rmeuropean, FCPEuro etc.

This leads to the next question...eventually, the P2 will wear out and we need a "newer" vehicle that is:
- Aesthetically nice.
- Has reliable engine/trans combo that can take us to ~ 200K miles.
- Relatively inexpensive to maintain for DIYers.

So, what is your next vehicle that meets these requirements?

Good question. I believe that FWD, 3.2 L, NA P3s are a good option. Should be very reliable with low maintenance costs, as you describe. The bonus is that they are in so many vehicles, so used parts should be extremely easy to find. You can buy many ~2014 cars at <$10k with <100k miles.

[BlackBart]

The more I think about it, my Next Car will probably be THIS car, our '04 P2 BlackBetty, with a bunch of maintenance on my part and money thrown at it.

[Richard99]

I was told by a Volvo repair manager (and former Master mechanic) to avoid the P3 at all costs. He basically said they are junk.

Now, having said that, there was a late version I believe that was sold with the 5 cylinder engine............

Neil.

Do remember any specific things they said?

[scot850]

Engines, suspension issues, cheap plastics (I have a friend who has a P3 and every time he or the dealer works on it more plastic parts break off), tail-gate and door latches (mostly electrical). Generally, the impression he gave is they were very much built down to Ford quality and use a lot of Ford 'quality' parts. Given the choice, I would look out for a well preserved P2 over a P3. I'm sure there will be others that will claim they have had impeccable reliability, but I can say up here I don't see many, if any, with higher mileages for sale. In fact other than the XC70 versions I seldom see any FWD versions.

The main advantage of a P3 is they are newer and made up until 2016? in XC70 form (not sure of any others). If you do want to still go for one, then look post 2010 on i6 engines as they were improved that year.

I drove one as a service loner (2012 XC70 T6) when it was new. Their seats leave the P2 version in our 06 XC70 in the dust. They were a lot more comfortable and with proper leg support bolsters. The car was swift I recall. Trunk seemed smaller.

I was hankering after maybe a newer i5 version in I believe 2015-16?, but I heard they were also problematic, but this was lacking on detail. Also they very seldom come up and people up here are asking stupid money for them. Having said that, there was one for sale for around $18-19k US. Not particularly low miles, but it appears to have been sold! Wow, clearly I am out of touch on prices!

What ever you do, I hope you go in with your eyes open, look for service document history and have great luck!

Neil.

[vtl]

I was told by a Volvo repair manager (and former Master mechanic) to avoid the P3 at all costs. He basically said they are junk.

Now, having said that, there was a late version I believe that was sold with the 5 cylinder engine............

Neil.

Do remember any specific things they said?

I can tell. 2016 XC60 T5 Platinum, with inline 5 engine. Bought new.

The first thing I did is took the trunk side panel out, heated the locking tab with heat gun and bent it further, so the panel in that luxury vehicle would still rattle, but at least stay in place.

Had engine-transmission mating problem resulting in a very jerky ride. Volvo detuned the engine later, so it was more refined, however when I drained ATF the first time at like 20k miles I found chunks of friction plates in it. It was jerking that bad.

For some reason serpentine belt tensioner kept quitting every year or so. The bearing was drying up and squeal all the time. I replaced 4 of them in 5 years, with INA and blue box - doesn't matter. Also the Torx bolt that holds it in place is very hard to access, I stripped it, drilled out and replaced with an old school hex head bolt.

Side mirrors were getting loose every couple of years. Have to disassemble them and readjust a tin can shim that holds it all together. Extremely cheap design. First time the dealer did it, then their tech showed me how to DIY and save a trip to them.

Cogwheel in the rear wiper mechanism snapped, the whole assembly was replaced.

Steering pump pressure hose started to leak and had to be replaced.

Master brake cylinder degraded/died after 6 months of use. The car was rejecting to brake once every so often. It became progressively unsafe in 6 more months, like 1 in 10 times, so we took it to a dealer, who was not able to replicate a problem. We took it to another dealer, they admitted something is wrong, but they don't know what. I opened a case with HQ, they sent a field technician, who asked me what I think is broken - "Apparently the master cylinder", I said. He replied they don't usually go off, but they will go ahead and replace it just in case. Sure thing, the problem went away.

Alternator bearing started to squeal loud just before the warranty has expired. Dealer rejected a warranty repair, because alternator was still functioning. I rebuilt alternator myself. It is a newer cheaper Bosch alternator, that is maybe 40% smaller than our alternator in P2. Yet it is rated for more Amps.

While removing the intake to get to the alternator (whaaaat? In P2 you just slide it under intake to the other side), I found out that throttle body is attached to plastic intake with screws. Compare to aluminum intake in P2.

Just one month past the warranty the exhaust VVT hub decided to quit, I replaced it myself. When I opened the old unit I found out it is designed in such a way that oil pressure twists it and eventually damages the blades.

What else? Ah, yes. I got a 3 days VIDA subscription for P2 and decided to apply an update listed available for this XC60. VIDA hung half the way. I was able to rewrite CEM, so the car was alive, however dealer has to replace KVM that became dead. VIDA support engineer said I'm not supposed to apply updates unless I'm chasing a specific problem. Okay.

Carpets are cheap, impossible to clean up. Even Tornador struggles to get all the sand out. Unlike P2, which is a piece of cake to keep clean.

Just when we decided to sell the car, at the peak of the used car prices, the cabin blower finally died. It was squealing for about a year before that. I spent one full month replacing it, because the blower is a pivotal point, the anchor for the whole car. Everything else is built in layers around the blower. So in order to replace it you have to remove all those layers first. I saw a youtube video where a guy cuts a firewall in order to access a blower's clip keeping it locked to the housing. I first thought he was crazy, but in 4 weeks I'm sure he is a genius! As for me, I welded not one, but 3 special tools to replace the blower and its resistor.

Whatever I did to prevent rust, the subframes were peeling and literally leaving rust flakes on the floor in garage. Wire brushing it clean, applying various Noxudols - nothing helped. It seems Volvo used a wrong filler material for the welds, so it was corroding from within the welded seams. The body of the car also started to rust in wheel wells. I swear I was washing all the salt off of this pity rig. I intended to keep it forever.

A very heavy steering wheel which you have to fight with was a minor nuisance. It felt like PS pump was not working properly.

I sold it before it hit 50k miles mark and didn't have problems with made in India SKF bearings in differential, AOC and angle gear, but this is a known weak point in P3 cars. Have you heard about bad rear differential bearings in P2? Any mileage, even 300-400k or more, the bearings are silent. Because they were made in Sweden.

VIDA Offline (2014D) does not work with MY2015.5+. You can type in a forged, pretend-to-be-MY2015 VIN, and 90% of everything can be read, but not 100% of everything. As usually, a generic OBD scanner gives you about 10-15% of insights into what this pity piece of engineering broke.

Every frosty morning started with a glass of boiling water. The doors weatherstrips froze to the cabin every single time the temperature at night was dropping below freezing and it was raining through the day.

I'm sure I forgot a lot of other smaller problems, but I keep now any Ford-era or newer Volvo at least P2 wagon and Toyota Tundra away from me.