What is the Borgs view on 3rd gen Volvo XC70's (08-16) ?

So Peeps, you may, or may not have seen various Q's from me about SUV's, Volvo XC70's and XC90's plus Q's on towing.  Currently, my personal preference pendulum (P3®) is swinging heavily towards second gen XC70's, about which there appears to be a fair amount of knowledge here in the GRM Borgasphere.  The problem is they are old.  Old as in 12-19 years old, and finding one with less than 100K miles is like finding a hoard of rocking horse E36 M3.  

In reply to Adrian_Thompson :

Because I disappointed you in the other thread, here you go (everyone's favorite Borg):

In reply to Indy-Guy :

Jeri is easy on the eyes, but favorite?

The suspension is more Ford-ey, meaning stamped steel instead of aluminum castings.  There is a trailing arm bushing that wears out and squeaks, and needs an expensive British tool to replace.  Engines have a different source of pcv failure that applies full vacuum to the crankcase.  It doesn't suck all the oil out of the crankcase like BMW, though.  Wires into the doors will crack sometimes, which was a thing that didn't happen with the older ones.  Blower motors are buried in the dash, and need special tools to remove.  The Haldex pump is bigger and doesn't seem to fail nearly as often.  Wheel bearings might be a bit sturdier, but thats not a large sample size for me yet

I don't like them as much as the P2, but I think the P2 was one of the best all around cars ever built.  As with all cars, they had their issues, but they can be kept alive for many long years because they generally still have fenders on them.

These are XC90s not 70s obviously, but this was my parents' driveway this past Friday.  A pair of '05 2.5l turbos, and a '13 3.2l N/A.  Dad likes the 3.2l better.

In reply to bigdaddylee82 :

Wow dude, looks like a gathering of the XC90 owners club.  What gives?

I have a 2.0L turbo 4 2016 car. Not AWD. I'm not certain, but I think the AWD cars all came with the 2.5L 5 cylinder.

I don't tow with it, but it has been a great car so far. About 40k miles on it without any issues. We bought it new and I've never even jacked it up or crawled under it thanks to the included oil changes from the dealer.

Streetwiseguy said:

The suspension is more Ford-ey, meaning stamped steel instead of aluminum castings.  There is a trailing arm bushing that wears out and squeaks, and needs an expensive British tool to replace.  Engines have a different source of pcv failure that applies full vacuum to the crankcase.  It doesn't suck all the oil out of the crankcase like BMW, though.  Wires into the doors will crack sometimes, which was a thing that didn't happen with the older ones.  Blower motors are buried in the dash, and need special tools to remove.  The Haldex pump is bigger and doesn't seem to fail nearly as often.  Wheel bearings might be a bit sturdier, but thats not a large sample size for me yet

I don't like them as much as the P2, but I think the P2 was one of the best all around cars ever built.  As with all cars, they had their issues, but they can be kept alive for many long years because they generally still have fenders on them.

 

Outstanding, just what I was looking for.  What are the frequency of the issues you mention? Not exact, but along the lines of 'It can happen, but rarely', 'It happens', or 'It's gonna happen to you' type thing.  Blower motor sounds a real bitch though.

I can believe the P2 cars are solid.  There are so so many of them with 150-250k miles out there.  To me they just look perfect.  Volvo Design just nailed it from the late 90's through the mid late 00's.  I still love my C30 I"ve had since new, and I'm loving the 07 S60 I bought for my daughter.  She's still in Australia so I've been commuting in it, hence my interest in the XC70's.

Can you expand your thoughts and issues on the P2 cars please?  I know about the rear drive take off can wear, but I understand that's a couple of hour job with an upgraded part with better hardness.  Any easy mods to increase the stock lower power?  Most companies list the flash tune as NLA for these cars.  Any simple tricks for a bit more power, or probably torque?  I'm not talking about a mod monster.  It will never see any kind of track use obviously, but it will probably get to play in the sand and mild off road use at some point, but the big thing is towing across country and up mountains.

Cheers

Adrian_Thompson said:

In reply to bigdaddylee82 :

Wow dude, looks like a gathering of the XC90 owners club.  What gives?

Basically it is the "owners club," they just happen to all be family too.  Not pictured is the 242, 760 wagon, and 850 sedan, that are also parked near by.

The XC90 on the right replaced my step mom's V70 daily several years ago.  When that XC90 was getting pretty long in the tooth, it was kept as a farm runabout, but relieved from daily duty by the white '13 in the middle. 

I've got a brother in Alaska, my parents bought a vacation rental in the same town in AK as him, to be able to see the grand kids whenever they want.  When my floks were entertaining the idea of buying a place in AK, SWMBO and I told them we'd buy them a Subaru to keep up there.  Well, after a lot of research, and knowing my family's affinity for Swedish vehicles, we decided Subaru wasn't as good of an idea as another XC90.  The XC90 has 3rd row, so all the family can ride in it, they're pretty reliable, and my folks are very familiar and comfortable with them.  That other silver '05 on the far left is going to road trip to AK, and live out the rest of its life up there as the vacation house ride. 

The AK bound XC90 is fairly low miles, 112K, and I bought it cheap from a local buy-here-pay hear lot that had bought it at auction, when I pointed out that the AWD didn't work.  Their mechanic did a little bit of research, and they decided they just wanted their money back from it.  It needs a new spline collar on the transfer case, and it'll be good as new.

In reply to bigdaddylee82 :

Awesome.  Thx.  Would you care to expand your thoughts on XC90's in general?  Known issues, plus and minus points.  A V8 still hits my want buttons despite it's appetite for go-go-juice, but then an LR4 is one of my other considerations.  

Mods, can we change the title too 'Volvo XC info (P2/P3 XC70 and XC90)'