2008-2010 Volvo S80 reliability?
 

I'm looking at buying an S80 in the next few weeks. I've been looking at year groups 2008-2010 with less than 80K miles. Just need some feedback on those years.

My reply to this thread is based upon a 2008 S80 T6 with about 120,000 one owner miles that has been almost exclusively dealer maintained. While I have only known this car and its owner for a little more than three years, I have some prior Volvo experience that includes a 1971 164 and a 1987 740 Turbo Wagon. I am a long time DIY guy and have at LEAST average mechanical and troubleshooting abilities.

As a starting point, this S80 is a comfortable freeway cruiser that mostly does daily driver (commute) duty. As the car has aged, the cost/value matrix for dealer service sometimes is painful so I have volunteered to turn wrenches from time to time. Two critical comments include:

A component failure that in my experience has never happened before on any car I have owned. It is such a PITA to even access, it is a $1000 trip to the dealer (steering column lock sensor sending false message to control module preventing the starter button from operating. Note the column was not locked or jammed, the lock sensor failed rendering the ignition circuit dead,

My latest adventure on this S80 involves a check engine light that came on yesterday and appears to have been triggered by one or more of the O2 sensors. (Complete diagnosis pending) A quick google search seems to indicate the exhaust system must be lowered enough to access the sensors that are mounted on the top side of the exhaust pipes. Really, Couldn't Volvo have installed the sensors on the sides of the pipes to facilitate ease of servicing like every other manufacturer? My point is that the Marquis de Sade designer seems to gone out of his way to make these cars so user unfriendly that one is actively discouraged from turning their own wrenches So as not to imply anti Volvo bias here, I will concede that the early Infiniti Q45 was also extremely user unfriendly. For example replacing the valve cover gaskets on the Q45 had a book time of 8 hours. The Q45 was sent to the crusher courtesy of a buyback program by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Note the engine was well within acceptable emissions standards but average repairs were so difficult, I punted. MY ex-wife's BMW 5 series started consuming numerous parts (drivewhaft, radiator, window regulators and others) by the time the odometer hit 50,000 miles. Every time she took it in for service it cost $2000 to buy it back. She traded it in on a Lexus and never looked back.

My point is that these finely "engineered" cars do not appear to be designed to last much beyond warranty expiration. If one is to drive one regularly beyond that, one must be mindful that the annual maintenance will be frustrating for the DIY owner and dealer/independent costs will gradually exceed three thousand dollars. As long as one is good with that cost/value matrix, enjoy the ride.