2011 Volvo S60 or 2013 VW Passat?

Norinoco · 03-07-2018 10:33am #1

Torn between buying a 2011 Volvo S60 in perfect condition or a 2013 VW Passat (30,000 miles more that Volvo ) in great (not perfect!) condition.
Same price.

Help! Any advice welcome to help me make up my mind. Any pros or cons to either of these cars?

Nuw · 03-07-2018 11:12am

Which engines? Which one is cheaper to insure? I'd go for the volvo myself, but that's solely based on the fact that I like them and I'm not a fan of any VAG products... so there isn't much rational thinking here...

Norinoco · 03-07-2018 11:17am

Thanks nuw. Both 2ltr, same to insure.
The Volvo is high spec, the VW mid range spec.

NomadicGray · 03-07-2018 11:27am

Volvo for me but Im not much of a fan of VW either

Nuw · 03-07-2018 11:29am

I'd always go for the highest specs possible, but again just me... would need a bit more details on the engines to give an opinion (for instance the volvo comes with 2L petrol in 3 different forms, and also 3 different diesel D2, D3, D4...). In general though, Volvo engines are sweet and reliable little things to run and work really well, I wouldn't be the one to talk to about the VAG unit though, my knowledge of them being very limited.

Let me put this way, in your shoes I'd take the volvo anyday. But there is probably a good case for the VW as well which would need to be argued by someone who likes them

. From there you can further your thought process.

Or you jump in both for a good spin and take home the one that you actually like most?

R.O.R · 03-07-2018 12:09pm

If it's the current model S60, a 2011 would be one of the first ones, and would be the 5 cylinder 163ps D3 model. Great engine and reliable as well - that's before they started messing with the emissions stuff so may cost more to tax.

Nuw · 03-07-2018 12:31pm

I thought the D3 was 130hp and the D4 160... ah well, in any case, both are 5 pot sweet things

D2 and later models (from 2014 if I'm not mistaken) are 4 cyl. which, while having less 'character' are still fine piece of engineering.

R.O.R · 03-07-2018 4:21pm

Nuw wrote: »

I thought the D3 was 130hp and the D4 160... ah well, in any case, both are 5 pot sweet things D2 and later models (from 2014 if I'm not mistaken) are 4 cyl. which, while having less 'character' are still fine piece of engineering.

S60 was launched with a 163ps D3. At some point they introduced a 150ps D3, so the 163ps was then designated D4, with the 1.6d introduced as the D2.

When the 5 cylinder engines were replaced with the 4 cylinder units, they kept the D2/D3/D4 designation - D2 became a 120ps 2 Litre, D3 stayed at 150ps and the D4 went to initially 181ps before shortly going to 190ps.

There was also the option of the mighty D5, but I doubt very many were sold in either 5 or 4 cylinder guise.

There were some petrol options too, and I saw one once!

2011 Volvo S60 or 2013 VW Passat?

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