Volvo V70XC 2002

[grabby]

I am heartbroken. I bought this Volvo based on a friends recommendation of how he drove his volvo all throughout college and beyond, no problem. I live in nyc and just bought a house in hudson. Plan to use the car 1 a week to drive 2 or so hours out. I didn't realize that there was such a thing as a bad year. 2 weeks in and car is in shop having gasket replaced. I bought it with about 100,000 miles. My question is: Does anyone know of a great volvo mechanic in the tristate area who is honest, dependable and knows what he is doing?

[Antherzoll]

Yeah, it's called DIY... just kidding, I don't know any, but seriously read up on how to properly maintain it now, and how to DIY the simple things to save some serious $$$. One this these vehicles really don't like is differed maintenance.

http://www.freewebs.com/howardsvolvos/

Another suggestion, take it to a dealer to get it scanned for codes and to make sure all the modules are up to date.

[tmcmilli]

Let me just say that from my experience, my 2002 V70 XC has not been as cheap to operate in terms of repair costs as either of my previous 2 vehicles, one a 97 Volvo 850 non turbo and the other a 94 Honda Accord that I owned before that, myself putting 285K on the Honda over 8 years and then 278K on the 850 over 8 years. I also wouldn't call my XC a lemon by any stretch of the imagination. I still love it as a solid car with excellent safety features and amenities and very good fuel economy (average 25-26 MPG overall much of it highway miles).

It had 156K miles when I bought it and now almost a year and a half later it is getting ready this week to turn over 200K. I still have the original transmission and it still shifts really well in spite of the fact that the first time I took it in to have the transmission fluid flushed, the old fluid looked like really old and dirty motor oil! I was devastated thinking oh no now that I've read what I've read about transmissions on 01's and 02's, but so far I still have no problems with shifting. I had it flushed thoroughly initially and have had it flushed a second time thirty-some thousand miles later. I took care of some of the other repairs over time where some things like the PCV system had been neglected in terms of routine maintenance for these particular cars, and it continues to serve me well and runs fantastic.

You're on the right track trying to find a good Volvo mechanic. If you're like me and just don't have the time or resources to DIY your car much, you'll need a good experienced mechanic, preferably experienced with XC's. How much service history do you have on your car? That to me is key. If you don't know when the last time was that any of the service was done that you will learn is routine on these cars, then it will cost you especially to pay someone else to keep up with and in some cases perhaps to catch up on the maintenance for you.

I love my car and I wouldn't want to scare you off from owning one. You do have to accept that it is not as cheap to run as some other cars but from what I gather is not more expensive than say other modern European cars. I would say if you don't need AWD, and if you don't need the performance of a turbo, and if you didn't pay too much for your car, you WILL find it cheaper and simpler to own a Volvo 240 instead, if you can find a good one which has been well cared for regardless of mileage. That's probably the kind of Volvo if not the exact model you're referring to when you mentioned your friend who drove a Volvo through college and beyond with no problem. Two families who are friends of mine have four 240's between them and none of them has less than 200K miles. Two of the cars have over 300K miles and the drive trains on all four of them run great. They are like tanks. One friend has had both of hers for years and has had to do little 'corrective' as opposed to preventive maintenance on them overall. I just replaced the rear brakes and rotors on one of her 240s this afternoon. Seems I work on other people's cars more than my own just to help them out.

I just wanted something newer, even newer than the 850 I retired at 401K miles. (blown head gasket after coolant leak and serpentine belt jumping off of pulleys, long story). I'm the kind of person who rather than buying a new car or almost new car buys a car with over 100K miles and puts another 250-300K miles on it until it no longer makes sense to keep it on the road. I'm realizing I may not be able to put another 150-200K on my XC which has now approached 200K, but that's what I was intending to do when I bought it. We'll see how it goes over time, but if I have too many of the problems over time that can potentially go wrong, due to the complexity and age of my car, I may have to bail out when the odometer reaches 300K instead of 350 or 400K. We'll see. I'd like to be one of the folks to reach 400K. At the current rate it will take me another 6 years approximately. If it keeps running well over time, I will keep it that long.

Hope this helps.
Tom