Volvo S60

aidanki

I am looking to buy at the min and looking to get a comfy reliable car.

something that caught my eye in the carpark yesterday was a Volvo S60

volvos are comfy per youtube reviews, but Im going to ask boards.ie what is reliability like ? Ill be buying at 70k and keeping it until there is 250-300k on the clock

bazz26

What model and year as there were two generations of S60 - 2001 to 2008 or 2011 to present? Also what engine variant?

aidanki

bazz26 wrote: »

What model and year as there were two generations of S60 - 2001 to 2008 or 2011 to present? Also what engine variant?

2008 plus model, if buying right now woudl be going 2012-2013,

engine the most reliable one fitted

bazz26

The new model only came out in 2011. It's a bit smaller than the older model but is much more advanced. 2.0 litre or 2.4 litre diesels would be the more reliable units, I don't think they ever sold petrol versions here.

R.O.R

They sold the odd one or two petrols but very few.

Try to find a 5 cylinder D3 163ps model from 11 or 12. Emissions and tax are a bit higher than later models, but there's less trickery to lower emissions and they tend to be more reliable than later models.

aidanki

whats the rest of them like other than the engine for reliability

R.O.R

I think they are a great and very underrated car. Look for as high a spec as you can find - some may have the likes of Adaptive Cruise Control which is just brilliant. Leather is must and unless you really want the sporty looks, avoid the R-Design models as it really just traded equipment for looks.

Handles well and the 5 cylinder diesel has a huge amount of torque. Just need to remember to change gear at 3,000 rpm as it doesn't really do anything after that.

The one downside of the S60 is the boot - it is very small for a car in that class.

aidanki

Gearboxes or dpf don't tend to give trouble?

biko

I really like Volvos and they do have a good rep for being comfy

Have a look at these
www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100
www.carsurvey.org/reviews/volvo/
www.truedelta.com/Volvo-S60/reliability-288

run_Forrest_run

probably the best of the Chinese cars out there

bazz26

S60 was developed well before the Chinese owners came on the scene. And their new models since changing over to Chinese owners are top class too.

run_Forrest_run

bazz26 wrote: »

S60 was developed well before the Chinese owners came on the scene. And their new models since changing over to Chinese owners are top class too.

ah yeah, I'm only having a wee laugh.

christy02

run_Forrest_run wrote:

ah yeah, I'm only having a wee laugh.

Fairly sure that at least some of the civic engines are made in Wuhan, China. Stones and greenhouses and stuff lol

run_Forrest_run

christy02 wrote: »

Fairly sure that at least some of the civic engines are made in Wuhan, China. Stones and greenhouses and stuff lol

paulisagayboy

Looking at an s60 myself.... Any more research on this OP. I just had an insignia engine fail so reliability is high on my list. I think the D3 163 looks pretty good

aidanki

paulisagayboy wrote: »

Looking at an s60 myself.... Any more research on this OP. I just had an insignia engine fail so reliability is high on my list. I think the D3 163 looks pretty good

I cant find any horror stories which is good I guess

From what I read will have enough to do to get the 50mpg.

They also have a timing belt rather than a chain, nothing wrong with that just I prefer chains, at 200k miles and the car needs 500 for a timing belt is it worth it pops into my head.

I can't find any known bad points, maybe someone here can tell us.

micks_address

Neighbor had a 161 s60 that gave him all sorts of trouble with the engine. Don't know exact details but he ended up doing a deal with Volvo for an xc60 instead..said he would never take another s60

bazz26

Mechanically what's much different between a S60 and xc60?

micks_address

bazz26 wrote: »

Mechanically what's much different between a S60 and xc60?

I actually don't know. Maybe he just got a lemon s60 but he said he'd never take one again..I would have thought Volvo would be pretty much bullet proof

oldsmokey

We,ve a v70 2012, got the 5pot 2.0 diesel engine, love it, good to go, decent economy. Watch out for timing and auxilary belt changes, ours has170k miles, no probs, going to get a lot more from her i hope.if its auto, change the box oil at 80k miles.

PurvesGrundy

micks_address wrote: »

Neighbor had a 161 s60 that gave him all sorts of trouble with the engine. Don't know exact details but he ended up doing a deal with Volvo for an xc60 instead..said he would never take another s60

That would be typical with any post 2014 S60 with the new 4 cylinder engines. The EGR valve gives trouble on nearly all of them and a lot of cars have been back a number of times for fixes at this stage.

A major downside to the S60 for many owners is the basic lack of a spare wheel. There is no space for one under the boot floor and the only answer is either an accessory wheel in a bag or to have a new floor insert fitted which contains space for the wheel and all associated tools. This floor takes away 30 per cent of your boot space, so is not ideal and therefore not a popular solution for many owners (that said, there is not this sacrifice with the V60 estate).

Regarding the R-Design, I would agree that it is a trade off of equipment in favour of looks. They are very basic, but look the part and feel slightly sharper to drive. Overall the S60 is a solid enough car on the road and leaps and bounds better than the previous model for handling. It is very comfortable too as you would expect, but does have some of that Ford era 'hollowness' in its build and quality.

A D3 5 cylinder 163bhp would be my choice for what you're after and I would stay away from the underpowered D2.