I am buying a 2008 XC-90 with 67,000 miles. Are there any common problems with these models that I should look out, or try to prevent.

I had a 2000 Volvo S70 I loved it, but I sold it 2 years ago, but now I need another car and I want another Volvo because my S70 was so great to me.

 

It seems that you have chosen the most reliable XC90 model year (2008 3.2 6 cylinder normally aspirated engine). Reference to U.S news rankings and reviews, it scored 8.4 points out of 10 compared to 7.7 for the current model year. My personal experience with my 2008 and after 3 years of ownership and 30,000Km. proved the same.
Expect few occasional squeaks and rattles and high fuel consumption. Other than that, engine and transmission relibility is rock solid.
My second car is a 1998 S70 which I also love, 80,000Km. drives like new, planning to keep both for a very long time.
Make sure to have yours fully inspected before you buy, you will never know.
Good Luck

 

Thank you for the advice, so its not that great on gas, what type of gas should I use the engine is Gas I6 3.2L/195 and it's City MPG14 and Hwy MPG20.

 

93-98 octane, does not matter, the car does not need premium gas. I personally use 95 octane. What options do you have on it? ie:
AWD,7 leather seats, wood steering wheel, self adjusting rear suspension, rear parking sensors, and most important is the premium sound system with the 12 Dynaudio speakers literary amazing. Mind you these extras costs lots of money.
Again have it inspected by a private party first.
Great choice. Good luck

 

regular gas is fine. higher octane on cars that don't require it to prevent predetonation (e.g., cars with higher compression ratio, forced induction) is a waste of money.

 

That is a little below average. Unless you are being particularly heavy on the throttle, you may want to take her in for a tune up.

Despite what others have claimed, the fuel you choose will make a difference. While the engine can run safely on 87 RON rated fuel, your timing will be retarded to prevent knocking and your performance and fuel economy will suffer as a result. While you may hardly notice the performance difference in a car like this, you very well may notice a difference in gas mileage depending on how you drive. Basically, you should try both grades and if the difference in fuel economy is grater than the difference in price, use the 91 RON. As the engine timing is optimized for 91 RON rated fuel, there will be no benefit to using "premium" 93 or greater RON rated fuel.

On 91 RON we average 18.5 - 19.5mpg over full tanks with mostly city driving, on the highway we average 22.5 - 23mpg. And almost all that driving is done with 5-6 passengers and ACs blasting. We find that there's about a 10% drop in efficiency on 87 RON, so at current prices in our area, it's cheaper to buy the mid-grade 91 RON fuel.

 

Read reviews on www.Cars.com. That appears to be where people go to complain so you'll read the worse of it there.

 

your statement about reduced fuel mileage (due to retarded timing) is true in cars that require and recommend higher octane (like most Euro brands other than Volvo) but not in cars that don't. the xc90 won't knock or retard timing with 87 octane. it is designed to run with it. but you can run 100 octane racing fuel in your car if you like.

 

Volvo manual states that Volvo engines are designed for optimal performance on 91 AKI fuel, but can accept as low as 87 AKI fuel. The engine has a knock sensor and this must be constanly checking for knocking. This implies that the timing will be retarded until knocking ceases.

The naturally aspirated 3.2L I6 has a compression ratio of 10.8:1. I don't think 87 AKI fuel would work unless timing was being retarded.

 

Thank you guys for all the great answer, but I have have some sad news: I had to take the car back, because I was financing the car but my interest rate was just entirely too high. I will just save up more money for a bigger down payment and work on repairing my credit so I can get a better rate. But, while I had the car I must say I fall in love with it, its a really really nice car, and I will get another one soon.

Thank you again

 

How does one take the car back? Do you just drive it over to the used car dealer and sign papers which transfer ownership back to the dealer? Does the dealer then legally release you from the obligation to make the payments? Who held the note you signed, i.e. who was the lender?

Volvos are OK cars, but expensive to buy and to repair. If I were you, I'd look at a cheaper brand the next time around.

The main Volvo selling point for my wife has been safety, and that is a vital point. But I think that the manufacturers of less expensive cars have largely caught up with Volvo on safety.

 

Yes if you must ask, that's literally exactly what I did, its was less then 24/hours when I took the car back. The Finance process always take time to get into the system legally, so I was able to take it back before that process took place. The dealership showed great customer service and understanding by allowing me to do so, because this was totally up to them. Its not that I can't afford the car, I make enough money, I am just trying to be responsible now because I am in a great position to fix my credit score to get a much better interest rate, buy a house soon and etc.... Sure I don't have the car now, but I will get another one, a newer model about 6 months from now, and I will go back to the same dealership next time also. This was just a personal decision, that all. I love Volvo cars, they are safe, luxury, built well, and not as expensive as some on the other luxury cars. I think I may be a Volvo man for life.

 

You made the right choice. If you can't pay cash, you can't afford the car. That's the "smart money" rule.

 

Financing a car does greatly increase the cost, but if one "needs" the car, then financing is not necessarily reckless and wasteful spending. Oftentimes people do not have enough savings to pay for a car, but do have a reliable income stream. Having a car makes the income stream possible or makes their life so much more enjoyable that prudent people would say the financing charge was worth it. Of course, we all know that many people buy more car than they need and can really afford so financing a car can put one into a financial hole.

Same with paying cash for a house vs borrowing and paying for it over 30 years. Years ago some people I knew were making double payments on their home mortgages. Each month they were paying the principal and interest due that month plus the principal for the next month. They touted it as a miraculous method for saving an amazing amount on their total payout.

Not exactly miraculous. They were simply buying a house which cost a lot less than the maximum they could pay. For that 15 years that they lived in the house making the double payments, they could have lived in a nicer house.

 

Does anybody know the root cause of an intermittent beeping/error message in a 2008 XC90?
Originally thought it was just headlight out, but after all bulbs replaced, still beeping......
any help would be appreciated!

 

The only beep warnings I know of are for the seat belt warning and the parking brake. Maybe the warning system of one of these is bad.

 

Thanks for your reply.
This is a totally unique chime-- not the seatbelt or e-brake warning-- it's the beep associated with error codes that pop up on the dash data-window. initially, I thought it was because of the error code 057 came on (lowbeam out), but even after replacing the bulbs the beeping continues, but intermittently and at random times (sometimes when first started, sometimes after 15 minutes; sometimes just once, sometimes a 2-3 within a minute).

 

When you put the bulbs in did you coat the base of the bulbs with a small amount of SILICONE grease? You can get a small foil pouch of the this at the auto parts store. Use only a small amount on each bulb and save the remainder for future use. This is recommended because it excludes oxygen from the contact and seems to promote good electrical contact. A number of bulbs on my wife's 2007 XC90 were making poor contact and giving bulb out warnings until I did this.