What is your next car?

[cn90]

Some ppl tell me to stay about from Ford 3.2L engine.

For the 2013 S60 T5...is it a good car?

[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?

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.

Wow. Sounds like a nightmare.

[scot850]

That pretty much sums up the issues I have heard on P3 cars. Yikes!

Neil.

[matthew1]

Brutal. I'm sorry you had to go through that VTI.

[cn90]

I just quickly browse through P3 forum, not much traffic there, I wonder why?

[BlackBart]

Are they not old enough and they’re still in the cushy care of dealer service, and they don’t need us??

[dikidera]

While I do like the 5 cylinder noise, I guess I want my next car to be non-Volvo. My first ever car was a Volvo, it had issues. My second car is a Volvo, it has issues.

I want to try something new, like an Audi but something with more cylinders e.g V6 or more.

[matthew1]

My 2017 Alltrack 6MT has been good. I've owned it since new, 65k miles now. Every time I drive it it's fun. But 4cyl, so not for you .

$24k brand new out the door, a turbo, manual, AWD wagon that looks good and handles even better. Unreal.

$24k wasn't going to get me into any new Volvo, not even close.

If you do get one don't tell me because I'll feel responsible if something goes wrong.

[dikidera]

What do you mean by something goes wrong?

In any case, I am even $2k short of buying any car right now let alone $24k xD. I simply have nothing saved up. It will take a while especially with other things I have in mind and current continuing repairs of my Volvo and other life-related things I need to do.

[vtl]

I just quickly browse through P3 forum, not much traffic there, I wonder why?

Epoch of DIY car repairs is largely gone. Young(er) people don't want to mess with cars anymore. Not even driving them. Cars are also much more complex, both in what they come equipped with, and how you access this or that.