I am looking at buying my wife a XC90. We went and test drove a couple and they drive well. She (we) like the safety and looks.

My real concern is that I have not owned a Volvo and I have seen a lot of issues with transmissions. What are the problems? What causes them? Is it the same transmission behind the T5,T6, and the V8?

Are the transmission problems related to the maintenance or design? Are they common or rare?

When do the problems happen (50K, 100k, 150K)? I am fimiliar with the old (pre ford) volvo that lasted 200K. How long should I expect a XC90 to last?

Thanks

I can't answer your questions about the transmission or reliability. But I can tell you that I recently purchased my first Volvo - an XC 90 3.2 Special Edition. I love it. It rides well, gets decent fuel economy, is very comfortable, and has a lot of neet features, like the BLISS system. Plus it is regarded as one of the safeat cars on the road (and I was rewarded for that with a pretty low insurance premium - only $20 more/year than I was paying for my last vehicle - a 2004 Pacifica).

Good Luck!
Jim

We are looking at a budget number and I don't think we are looking at the Yamaha V8. That is why I am trying to figure out if we should get the T6 or T5?

Thansk

brother in law has the twin turbo six. loves it and he drives the crap out of it. no problems with anything, other than the fact that he has a habit of keeping his cell phone (three of them) on his belt and has scarred the seats. but my sister has fixed that by making him carry them in a man-purse. hahahahahaahahahaha, serves him right. :grin: