2010-12 xc90 Diesel or Petrol 3.2 for short trips?

Philia_Bear

volvonewbie75010;92531 wroteI tried reading up but could only find general references to problems with accessory functions being driven off the drive (timing?) shaft. But no details about what parts and costs and whether it was a $500 fix or a new vehicle. My partner says that if the petrol vehicle is $2k cheaper than a diesel, then we have $2k more to spend on repairs which is quite a lot of repair.. (he's more comfortable about this car than I am). And he's very uncomfortable to buy interstate. If it all goes wrong we are struck.

I tried looking up the Bruce threads but no idea where to them??

Give me 6 hours and ill post back with some details
Roughly
50% major failure over 3 years with average of 3k->8k depending on what failed

Ex850R

There are plenty at Manheim auctions, usually.

volvonewbie75010

thanks to you all for your advice! I think we're leaning more towards not going through with the deal (we have til Wed to decide) and moving more towards that direction the more info we get.

With the major failure - once it's fixed does it stay fixed, or does it fail again? 50% major failure sounds pretty bad <errk!>.

Can someone tell at an inspection if it's failing (or on its way to failing), or is there no way of knowing?

Ex850R

I think (not expert) 3000 to 8000 dollars is way too much when one of the other models won't cost that almost guaranteed.

Mike will reply later as he said and expand on what has been said already.

Philia_Bear

volvonewbie75010;92546 wrotethanks to you all for your advice! I think we're leaning more towards not going through with the deal (we have til Wed to decide) and moving more towards that direction the more info we get.

With the major failure - once it's fixed does it stay fixed, or does it fail again? 50% major failure sounds pretty bad <errk!>.

Can someone tell at an inspection if it's failing (or on its way to failing), or is there no way of knowing?

Some of them are just a time based thing like the alt where your not likely to get unlucky twice while owning the car
There are pretty much no signs that the brushes are wearing out until they wear out and you go ****....
The other failures are do to overheats and being run with water instead of coolant

The chain drive for the accessories gears is the effing worst... all you hear is a bit of a quiet whine for about 3 weeks as it eats its way through the case and then its over... time for new bock even though the engine will still run... just no accessories. This is a one in 50 sort of thing and is made worse by people using crap oil and changing it infrequently
I've seen this happen to fully dealer serviced cars because the dealer used symi-syn oil and the owner did 15k of all city KM at an average of 10km an hour between every change.

I've seen piles of them (1 out of every 4) that consumed 1L per 3000km or more of oil and needed regular oil top ups unless you overfilled the crap out of them when servicing them

One of the big issues with the motor is that everything on it is burried such that replacing anything near instantly involves 10-15 hours of labour
so even though parts are not that exxy... doing anything costs $$$$$$$$$ unless your doing it yourself

There are seriously good reasons why there are way more 3.2's for sale than D5's or V8's even though the D5 and 3.2 were sold in near even numbers

Philia_Bear

Ex850R;92540 wroteThere are plenty at Manheim auctions, usually.

Mehh on an auction car... not worth the risk... ever...

for cars listed in NSW
Have inspection done by Joe at Lupica Motors in Morebank
He is utterly amazing and has to be the best active Volvo mechanic in Sydney
(I've switched industries for $$$$ reasons)

For QLD cars
@Rob

@OldnDecrepit
are my 2 recommendations for contacts of good inspectors in the south QLD region

volvonewbie75010

Thanks everyone for your comments, and especially Bear for the info above. I finally got my partner to sit and read this thread and the other really long thread from earlier this year buying an xc90. So now he's taking the potential problems in the 3.2 seriously. phew!

Anyway we have to have a few deep conversations, but likely to cancel the contract. And on top of all of this car stress, I have a job interview this morning, so better get back to me last minute swat!

Thanks all. Keep you posted on where we land...

Ex850R

Good luck with the interview!
You can point the potential employer here, we give great references!

lasercowboy

Demonstrated capabilities in research, purchasing, engaging key stakeholders and high level negotiations.

I think you're the ideal candidate!

volvonewbie75010

OK so we've officially decided to not go through with the purchase and to look for a V8 instead. So thanks to you all for saving us from ourselves!! I guess our Toyota Corolla hatch will have to keep us going for a little while longer!

Normally, pulling out during the cooling off period has a penalty of $100 or 1% of the purchase fee (which for us would have been $245). But when we informed the dealer (Bruno at Ocimad Prestige), he offered to refund the full deposit rather than keeping the $245 which is his right. Just thought I'd post it on the forum as good service like that deserves to be publicly recognised!

Other than that, the interview went ok. I managed to switch my head away from car buying for a few hours ..

And my partner is now open to the idea of buying an interstate car and getting it shipped down here, although he still has a strong preference to getting one in Vic.

So now we have some questions for you educated people:

- Have the car seats changed in the Exec series between 2007-2012? I tried a 2012 Exec and the drivers' seat worked for my back, but the R-design and LE didn't. Unfortunately I doubt I could drive either of those two longer than 30 mins without my back starting to hurt (I only manage 15min in our Corolla). So if we purchase interstate, I need to be sure about the seat!

- How can you tell (visually) if an XC90 is an Executive model? We spoke to Mark at Berry today who found an Exec on carsales that wasn't listed as an Exec, and now we're wondering how to tell/be sure from the photos.

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