Greetings, all! I'm new to this forum, so please let me know if I should be posting this in another area.

I have a 2004 XC90 (5-cyl) with 175,000 miles on it. I live near Mpls/St. Paul, MN. My XC90 has been in two fairly major collisions in its lifetime - one with another car and one with a deer. I've had everything from those incidents repaired completely, and I've kept up with my vehicle maintenance religiously. Nevertheless, it's cost me over $7,000.00 in the last two years. Challenging for my finances.

I'm looking at a 2007 XC90 (V-8) with 125,000 miles on it. It's in good to excellent condition, and it will cost me $11,000.00 (if I trade in my 5-cyl for $4,500.00).

I don't know if those fewer miles and a different engine is worth $11,000.00. Is the V-8 much more (or less) reliable than the 5-cylinder engine?

Here are the pros and cons of switching vehicles as I see them:

Pros

• newer car with fewer miles
• V-8 seems perfectly suited to the XC90
• somewhat nicer interior
• super quiet ride
• towing package (I don't have that now)

Cons

• I have to spend $5K for a car with a lot of miles already on it - and who knows how much more in repairs in the coming years!
• fuel MPG is 4+ mpg worse on the V-8 (and fuel costs are rising again)
• traction on snow and ice seems slightly worse than my 5-cyl

My kids will start driving in two years and I want them to be driving the safest car out there. The 5-cyl is a beautiful slow tank that is slow off the line. They make take advantage of the V-8's zippiness and get into a dangerous situation.

What to do?! I appreciate any and all advice you can give. I'm also going to post this at Swedespeed in hopes of getting a lot of feedback. I have the V-8 until Monday morning as a test - I'll need to make a decision by then if I'm changing vehicles.

Thank you all!!