Volvo S80 2.0 Flexifuel

Barr

Hi All



I was just thinking of changing the car to the above. Looking at the 2008/2009 model.

Are there any known issues I should be looking for ?

I never had a Volvo so not sure about their reliability.

I'd also be interested in knowing what they are like on petrol.

Thanks in advance

Barr

Bigus

Flexifuel engines seem to drink petrol whether volvo or ford, compared to equivalent normal petrol versions, do a bit of googling but they are alcoholics.

Barr

Bigus wrote: »

Flexifuel engines seem to drink petrol whether volvo or ford, compared to equivalent normal petrol versions, do a bit of googling but they are alcoholics.

Eeks maybe its across the board …a girl at work has a SAAB 9-5 flexifuel and she says its really hard on fuel as well.

bazz26

They are hard on fuel. The attractive concept of them at the time was that they could run on both unleaded or bioethanol fuel. Bioethanol when available here was really cheap compared to unleaded so the cheap fuel cancelled out the poor fuel consumption. However now that bioethanol is no longer available in the Republic you need to be buying the car very cheap to absorb the higher mpg consumption.

Also these engines need servicing every 10k miles afaik.

Barr

Apart from the poor fuel economy what are they like reliability wise?

Would they share the engine with a Mondeo of the same vintage.

ShaunieVW

bazz26 wrote: »

Also these engines need servicing every 10k miles afaik.

Every engine should be serviced every 10k miles!

fakedel

I drove one for a while and it was very comfortable. Great for long distance driving. In terms of reliability it didn't miss a beat.

The fuel economy issue can't be overstated though. It's a complete guzzler. Don't underestimate its ability to drain a tank and your wallet.

R.O.R

bazz26 wrote: »

They are hard on fuel. The attractive concept of them at the time was that they could run on both unleaded or bioethanol fuel. Bioethanol when available here was really cheap compared to unleaded so the cheap fuel cancelled out the poor fuel consumption. However now that bioethanol is no longer available in the Republic you need to be buying the car very cheap to absorb the higher mpg consumption VRT Rebate

FYP Was a 50% VRT rebate on flexi fuels in 07, but only €1,500 up to July 08. Was a way of buying the same as the petrol only version, for less.

bazz26 wrote: »

Also these engines need servicing every 10k miles afaik.

10k KM in fact.

Barr wrote: »

Would they share the engine with a Mondeo of the same vintage.

Yes - I believe it's the same 2.0i unit that the Mondeo had, that then became the FlexiFuel version to get the VRT rebate.

Not really enough of the FlexiFuel models around to really tell if it's reliable or not. Don't think the non FlexiFuel was known for being unreliable.

ShaunieVW wrote: »

Every engine should be serviced every 10k miles!

No, no they shouldn't.

unkel

R.O.R wrote: »

No, no they shouldn't.

That discussion deserves its own thread

I'm in the American camp on this one. An oil + filter change is very cheap and it won't do an engine any harm to change it often. I fail to be convinced it's a good idea to only service an engine every 30k km / every other year

Maybe I'm imagining it, but every time I have changed oil in any of my cars, the engine seems to run smoother and I change oil every 6k miles / 1 year, whichever comes first

bazz26

R.O.R wrote: »

FYP Was a 50% VRT rebate on flexi fuels in 07, but only €1,500 up to July 08. Was a way of buying the same as the petrol only version, for less.

Agreed but the incentive of cheaper fuel at the time was also a big selling point with any they sold. Same with the Ford Focus and Mondeo FFV.