I have been told the turbo part of the 2.5l motor is an issue that will cost me down the road. First time buyer for a Volvo so concerned about expensive parts and maintenance schedule that Carfax will not give me a baseline sense. I'm buying from dealer. $10,400 For this car and seems to be in excellent condition. Any advice for a new comer to Volvo land?

 

Have a trusted mechanic check it over. This may cost $100 or so, but it is money well spent. Did the previous owner replace the tires with substandard equipment? I am not fond of the Pirellis which were original equipment, as they seemed to wear too quickly and are very expensive. The Continentals that are currently furnished seem to wear well and handle beautifully. However, they are also expensive. Check motor mounts. Mine required replacement, and were not cheap. Heater core went, and leaked fluid all over passenger foot well. Not an expensive part, but they had to disassemble half of the interior to get at it. Labor was not cheap. Otherwise, I have been very happy with my 2004 with 120,000 miles.

 

Thanks for the reply. I bought the car Saturday morning so it's mine now along with all that comes with it. They put new tie rods on the front, inner and outer and a new sway bar as it was a little loose around the turns which has been corrected. Also alignment was done. The front tires passed inspection but they advised me to put new tires on the front before winter which is 1-2 months away as I live in buffalo, ny. After the front end parts and alignment was done it seems like I fell everything in the steering wheel now. The salesman is my nephew and he said the new adjustments are probably contrary to the old and the tires on front will not be true as per round or as in the previous wear and fit to the road. I've experienced what new tires can do for the ride of a car so I'm not doubting the condition yet. The tires on front and back are Hercules MRX plus V. Backs seem good, front need replacing. Should I stick with a match to the back at this point ? Thanks for the response!
Dave

 

Best wishes for many happy miles with your Volvo.
Regarding tires, based on everything I have read I would match front and back. There is a lot of good information on this site on that issue. Don't know anything about Hercules tires, so I cannot say. My favorite Volvo mechanic recommends Nexen tires all around. They do not spend a lot of money on advertising, but he thinks the product is superior and very reasonably priced.

 

Best wishes, keep us posted !

I have a 2007 XC-70 like yours.

I, too, hated the Pirelli tires. I bought a new set at 40,000 and replace them with Yokohama's at 50,000.

The only failure on my car, other than replacing a battery this year, was the ignition lock broke. It's a $650 repair, plus towing to a dealer that can repair it for you. This is not a normal thing, but in the big picture, it's not all that expensive, just inconvenient and requires a tow truck !

Yes, the Turbo charger can be an expensive repair, but it's called a low-speed turbo, which may mean that it last longer. I think it's driven by a gear off the engine instead of from an exhaust pipe blower, like traditional turbos. I haven't found any premature failures listed here. The engine is made by BMW and they have a good history on repairs. I guess the bad news is that this turbo runs almost all the time and it's impossible to improve your gas milage, even with a very light foot.

On the other hand, my brother has a 2000 V70 and he is very hard on the car - heavy acceleration and he has teenage drivers. His Turbo is different - it's the high speed version and it has a noticeable lag before it kicks in. It failed at 70,000 miles.

 

I bought a 07 XC70 with 177K miles few months ago, done routine maintenance and it ran excellence, so far so good, no issue.