The reason my daily driver is a Volvo and not MB

[trapperjohn]

Certainly a personal best for me and not really intended.

 

[grober]

Their previous all alloy B8444S transverse V8 engine was I believe made by the Yamaha marine division that makes their outboard engines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_B8444S_engine

 

[flango]

Their previous all alloy B8444S transverse V8 engine was I believe made by the Yamaha marine division that makes their outboard engines. Volvo B8444S engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Looks like that may be the one as it mentions a 5.0 litre motorsport version which is what I was told. Not the first time Yamaha have done engines for Ford they did the 1.7 in the Puma which is a cracking engine

 

[jamesfuller]

Looks like that may be the one as it mentions a 5.0 litre motorsport version which is what I was told. Not the first time Yamaha have done engines for Ford they did the 1.7 in the Puma which is a cracking engine

Ford Taurus SHO was a Yamaha engine!

 

[nick mercedes]

Next year they will launch an AMG and M5 beater Not sure about that though as they aren't known for their 500+ bhp engines but we'll see, I'm not sure whose V8 it is either whether its their own redeveloped, a total new design or a borrowed one but sounds interesting

Exclusive: Geely, Volvo differ over future China look | Reuters

 

[Teflonso]

Son-in-law decided to grow up, become a family man and buy an immaculate 37k 4 year old miles S40. Less than 80 miles later it was billowing black smoke on start up with no response to the throttle.

Back to the supplying dealer for a quick look, then to local Volvo main dealer. It was FIVE weeks later before he got it back, of which 4.5 weeks was diagnosis and the rest was the wait for a £50 sensor. Volvo technical UK and the mob back in Sweden were hopeless.

All they could say was, "Nothing ever goes wrong with these except the throttle body". Which, by the way, wasn't the problem, costs a load more than other makes and there are so many variants that they don't keep them on shelf stock so had to rob one off another car to check it out.

Two months later, he gets an "ABS Service required" light up. Common fault, it's the ABS control module at about £800-900 dealer prices. Volvo fully fund up to 4 years, but were only willing to give him 50% and only then if done at main dealer rates. In the end, Halfords sorted it.

That's Volvo service. They do have excellent seats though.

.

 

[flango]

Son-in-law decided to grow up, become a family man and buy an immaculate 37k 4 year old miles S40. Less than 80 miles later it was billowing black smoke on start up with no response to the throttle.

Back to the supplying dealer for a quick look, then to local Volvo main dealer. It was FIVE weeks later before he got it back, of which 4.5 weeks was diagnosis and the rest was the wait for a £50 sensor. Volvo technical UK and the mob back in Sweden were hopeless.

All they could say was, "Nothing ever goes wrong with these except the throttle body". Which, by the way, wasn't the problem, costs a load more than other makes and there are so many variants that they don't keep them on shelf stock so had to rob one off another car to check it out.

Two months later, he gets an "ABS Service required" light up. Common fault, it's the ABS control module at about £800-900 dealer prices. Volvo fully fund up to 4 years, but were only willing to give him 50% and only then if done at main dealer rates. In the end, Halfords sorted it.

That's Volvo service. They do have excellent seats though.

.

That's why forums like this are invaluable, check out the Volvo forum and the common theme is don't buy an S40 diesel The Volvo Indies know all the fixes ABS module fix is about £250 on an S40. I'm assuming it wasn't bought from a Volvo dealer as you say supplying dealer returned to main dealer, there you have your answer it goes to the back of the queue and retail customer work takes always precedence.

 

[Sp!ke]

In the end, Halfords sorted it.


.

Now I know your post must be fabrication.

 

[C240Sport97]

every single Volvo I have ever driven has been disappointing .. the ride is slightly brittle, the handling inert and the engines pretty average.

they have well designed interiors though

a not quite premium car attempting to play in the premium market and failing

 

[John Jones Jr]

Never got the Volvo thing, from 240GLT's (a dog even back then), S70's, S40's and the best looker the S60 just didn't win me over at all. Yes, some interiors are rather nice and as mentioned the seats always seem to better than most.

I think the old image still haunts the brand, they still don't seem to have a true sporting model and they seem pricey new. I've never aspired to owning one and never considered one as an alternative set of wheels but, speak to my buddy and he thinks they can't be beaten overall...

 

[flango]

every single Volvo I have ever driven has been disappointing .. the ride is slightly brittle, the handling inert and the engines pretty average.

they have well designed interiors though

a not quite premium car attempting to play in the premium market and failing

They don't profess to be a premium car that is their aspiration. The main difference for me came down to price. The equivalent spec E class compared to my Volvo V70 was £10,000 more expensive, less powerful and lower mpg to me covering 20,000+ miles per year it was a no brainer.

This is about my umpteenth Volvo and theres nothing flash about them, they don't have the prestige of an MB or BMW thats for sure but they do what they say on the tin and do it day in day out munching up the motorway miles. This has been my only major failure of a Volvo and it will be interesting to see what the cause is.

 

[isleaiw]

They don't profess to be a premium car that is their aspiration. The main difference for me came down to price. The equivalent spec E class compared to my Volvo V70 was £10,000 more expensive, less powerful and lower mpg to me covering 20,000+ miles per year it was a no brainer.

This is about my umpteenth Volvo and theres nothing flash about them, they don't have the prestige of an MB or BMW thats for sure but they do what they say on the tin and do it day in day out munching up the motorway miles. This has been my only major failure of a Volvo and it will be interesting to see what the cause is.

My last car was an S60. Bought at 30k miles, rant it round to 155k in 3.5 years with next to no issues apart from a common alarm siren issue and a small water leak that was fixed for £100 without keeping me off road. Before that I ran another S60 that I did 60k miles in over a 24 month period, with no issues.

When it came to swap, I fancied a change - and ended up with my current chariot. I do 35 to 40k miles a year so it had to be something that could take big mileages and as I have dogs and a son at uni, this time it needed to be an estate. I ended up with the E class as Mercs can take mileage (so they say) and if you want an estate why not get the biggest.

It definitely rides better than the S60. It goes round corners better than the S60. Its marginally more economical. However, the seats are nowhere near as comfortable, the engine is rough and a 4 pot can never compare to a 5 cyl for character.

If I were to go back and make the decision again with what I know now, I'd probably get a nice V70. If they could replace the old school geartronic with a slicker auto, I'd definitely choose V70.

But I bet the Merc will be worth more with 150k miles on the clock than the Volvo ever would. Hopefully that will cover the costs of the back specialist I will need by then!

KR
Ian

 

[flango]

If I were to go back and make the decision again with what I know now, I'd probably get a nice V70. If they could replace the old school geartronic with a slicker auto, I'd definitely choose V70.
KR
Ian

The new DSG auto box they have in now is really good far better than the geartronic and that coming from me is a compliment as anyone on here will tell you I hate auto's with a passion.

They way I looked at it was the massive discount I got off the Volvo countered the loss in depreciation if it had been an MB + I get a decent mileage allowance so at the end of 3 or 4 years when I decide to change the car its not a big issue if it has a load of miles on and has suffered quite heavy depreciation.

 

[isleaiw]

They way I looked at it was the massive discount I got off the Volvo countered the loss in depreciation if it had been an MB

I thought the same - but i couldnt find a nearly new V70 with the right spec at the right price and I dont buy new - bought my E at 6 months old and 3000 miles for alot less than the dealer wanted for a new V70 with similar spec - despite all my haggling!

Think I effectively paid £26.5k - couldnt get a Volvo for lesss than £29.5k.

Ian

 

[flango]

I thought the same - but i couldnt find a nearly new V70 with the right spec at the right price and I dont buy new - bought my E at 6 months old and 3000 miles for alot less than the dealer wanted for a new V70 with similar spec - despite all my haggling!

Think I effectively paid £26.5k - couldnt get a Volvo for lesss than £29.5k.

Ian

2 years ago I paid £27k on a list price of over £34k for my V70 SE Lux which was new.

1 year ago I paid £16.5k for SWMBO C30 which had a list price of over £23k again new.

It worked out around 22% discount on mine and nearly 30% on SWMBO C30 as it was coming to the end of its life and they wanted to move them

Best deal I could get on a E220 loaded to the same spec as the V70 was £37k as I said it really was a no brainer

Next change will be a little different though on the negotiation as next time I don't need to buy new

 

[blue gnome123]

I'm not sure whether I'd post something like the OP.

His car almost stops during an overtake (kinda dangerous?) and Volvo don't take long to come out to fix it. Is this something to tell us as a benefit? Not had one of my Mercs or our Honda break down in 5years.

I have test driven V70's before I bought both my Eclasses and the best part both times was the seats. Volvos are comfy places to seat and the steering wheel is absolutely central. The geartronic gearboxes thought were horribly laggy and they torque steered which bugged me.

In terms of pricing my 6month well specced E350 was the same as a nearly new V70 D5. I did have to find a E with memory seats to get comfortable though.

 

[mymini007]

one of the best cars I have ever owned was a Volvo V70R AWD 234k on the clock when i sold it, on the flip side I replaced it with one of the worst cars I have ever owned, a Volvo V40 T4 - this car was one of the most unreliable cars i have ever driven. after new coil packs, new head gasket, the "misfire" was put down to a cracked block, so after a new engine, we decided that enough was enough, the AC was either hot or cold, as and when it felt like. Gave up and sold it on. Must have been built on a friday by the YTS asbo.

 

[flango]

His car almost stops during an overtake (kinda dangerous?)

No danger whatsoever, If you plan an overtake correctly you should always have an escape route just in case the unexpected happened, which in this case it did. There was no car behind me and I easily dropped back into the gap I came out of. If there had been a car behind me I would have probably not done the overtake as I had no way out if it went wrong and the car had closed the gap.

Dealer just confirmed turbo failure but they don't know the root cause yet as there are a myriad of other electronic faults on the car Immobiliser, MAF, over voltage codes and under and overboost turbo pressures that don't make any sense at all so they not sure yet where the first problem developed.

The whole point of my post was to highlight the excellent customer service from Volvo compared to the sh*te you get from MB. This is my umpteenth Volvo with over 1 million miles covered and its the first major failure I've had and as yet I don't know why.

 

[John Jones Jr]

2 years ago I paid £27k on a list price of over £34k for my V70 SE Lux which was new.

So how much will the 27k V70 be worth compared to the 37K E220 at three years old? I think it would fair to expect your Volvo to be retailed at a main dealer today for 17K?

 

[blue gnome123]

I'd agree that you got fabulous customer service. All I was saying was that is was a pity you needed it in the first place.

I put my comment in "?" since I didn't know the circumstances. It sounds like your aborted overtake was safe although it's never good to lose power especially in circumstances like an overtake.