Hello everyone,

At the moment I'm selling my daily driver (2002 Ford Focus, 5-door hatchback, TDCi 85 kW, 5-speed manual) and I'll be looking to buy S40 or V50 of the second generation (probably the pre-facelift model, because I'm not sure if I'll have enough funds to buy the facelifted one).

My father has bought himself, almost three years ago, a 2006 V50 (2.0D 100kW, 6-speed manual, Momentum) and so far he's been very pleased with the car.

I've also used it quite a bit and I really like the car, so I would like to buy a saloon/sedan version of it, as I really don't have the need for the station wagon/estate at the moment, but if the right V50 would come up for sale, I wouldn't miss the chance to buy it, even though as I said, I would prefer the S40.

Not that we didn't know that the Volvo is the real deal, but we never had one, so this V50 ownership has confirmed us that the Volvo is in a class of its own.

I've researched a lot about the already mentioned cars and in the end I've decided that I want either the 2.4i (125 kW) one or the 2.0i (107 kW) one.

But, this is where I need your help.

Quite a few people told me that the S40 and V50 have some potential electrical problems/issues/gremlins in 2004 and 2005 models. That the 2006 and onwards models don't have those problems, because Volvo solved them.

I've also read about some of those problems on the internet and people said that those problems can be very expensive.

So, my question is, is it really true? What kind of electrical problems they are? Are they really that expensive? What are the chances of those problems occuring? Are they apllied to the models with 2.4i and 2.0i engines?

I would most probably go to Switzerland or Germany to buy the car, but if I exclude 2004 and 2005 models, that only leaves me with 2006 and very early 2007 models (before the facelift came out). That really naroows my posiblitiy of finding a good car, especially given the fact that 2.4i's are rare and 2.0i was very rare in pre-facelift models.

I would really appreciate any kind of help, because the last thing I want, is for me to buy relatively expensive car from my point of view and then to have some expensive problems.

I would also like to note that, thankfully, my father never had any kind of electrical problems with the car so far.

Thank you in advance!