Hi All,

Due to the bith of my two daughters I am looking for a new car. Due to my lenth (1,90 meter) and my wifes lenth (1,80 meter) and of course the fact that we now need to take a lot of stuff with us we are looking for a car with enough room for a comfortable ride. While looking around and making testdrives in several differnt brands and models we more or less fell in love with the Volvo XC90. Untill now this is the only car that has enough (leg)room for the whole familly. And due to the prices of gas where I live (the Netherlands) the D5 seems to be the best and most economic option.

While reading through the topics on this forum I noticed that there is a lot of information about the gase models but not so much information about the diesel model the D5. I have also read al lot of information about transmission and tyre wear problems that scared me a littlebit. Reason being is that this is not a cheap car and although I know the car needs to be maintained I would like to keep the prices for this maintenance reasonable instead of getting bankrupt due to the extreme maintenence costs.

My idea about Volvo is that is is a safe and reliabale car brand similar to the Audi I currently own. However reading all the information on the forum I doubt whether that is indead true and whether the XC90 is the car to go. Of course I know that a forum is always the place where people share their bad experiences or ask help to fix something that is broken. If everything works fine people usually do not search for these kind of forums and if they do they most likely are not going to tell you that everything is perfect and there is no better car than this. They are probably guys like me looking for as much usefull information as possible to make the right decision and try to prevent myself for disaster (meaning spending all my money on keeping the car roling)

By the way I am currently looking at a D5 Momentum Mobility 7 seater, blue metalic, 18inch wheels and beige leather interior with aluminium inlays from beginning 2005. It is a 163 hp model so not the later 185 hp model and the meter is on 108000 km so not to bad for a diesel I think.

My question to you all is whether you can supply me with more information about the D5 model. For instance is the tire wear problem also an issue on the D5 model, is it based on the model or on the year the car is build? Is it true that the D5 has less defects than the other models or is the D5 model simply not that common in the countries where the members of the forum come from?

I would like to have an idea about the average realistic maintenance this car needs. I have spoken to the dealer and he supplied me with a list of the costs involved in the regular 30K checkups the car need. However these are just the costs of the actual checkups and not for the material/parts needed. So what I would like to know is how often do you need to change brakes, tires etc. What are the most common parts to break after a certain amount of time. What about the reliabillity of the D5 engine. With other words what should I be prpared of when buying this type of car.

Any help or thougts are appreciated so hope you can help me out here!

You are correct in your observation that nearly all posters are ones that have had problems or are the ones that enjoy troubleshooting/fixing them. I am a relatively new member here, but have been active for years in the VW TDI & Jeep forums & have found the same thing.

Unfortunately, thus far, the US has not allowed the import of the D5...I have been a VERY happy VW TDI owner (I've had 3 Jettas (Boras)) & would LOVE to have the D5 as opposed to the T5. We have owned our XC90 (our first) for approx 7 months after buying it with ~38k miles on the clock. We are now up to ~46k & have had absolutely NO problems.

As far as the fit, I am ~1,88 meter & fit comfortably...as a matter of fact over the past week, I drove it 680 miles (1094km) very happily.

We were rather surprised, at the 45k service performed approx. 2 weeks ago; when the dealer wanted nearly $800US for the "normal" maintenance items for this service...a little excessive to my thinking, but I'm not used to hearing that brake fluid should be changed every 36k??? Also, I assume (from reading posts) that the Pirelli tires are not original AND they WILL need replaced prior to snow this fall.

Anyway, I guess that all I'm really saying is that we purchased ours after reading all of the "horror stories" & have been VERY happy thus far. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif) BUT DID go into the purchase knowing that it would be more expensive to maintain. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

Good Luck!

Hi There
I am in Australia and have owned various Volvo's since 1979. Currently we have a 2006 XC90 2.5T and a 2008 S40 2.4.
During the years of ownership I have found that a Volvo dealer charges more than a local mechanic for services and tend to do things that "are in the book" or "recommended" rather than was are essential and necessary. A simple example recently with my latst XC90 service was they replaced the wiper blades at a cost of nearly A$100. I questioned this indicating thaty the ones on the car were performing perfectly - their response - it is recommended for this service.
Once my vehicles have been out of warrantly I have taken them to a "private" mechanic - who just happens to be a former service manager at the local Vovlo dealer. His charges are most reasonable and he only replaces or does work that is essential to good maintenance of the vehicles.
In conclusion - properly maintained I have found all of my Volvos to be no more expensive to maintain that more common brands in Australia - however this has been due to not using the Volvo dealer for service work. If you can find a good reliable and experienced mechanic in your area you may be able to do the same as I have done - a good start to finding one is to ask around with other owners.
Hope this helps.

Hi here in england we have the volvo owners club which has a very informative forum and most xc90s here are d5's . As already mentioned most people post on a forum with problems but there are many who will tell you how good the cars are and what mileages without problems they have done . I too was a bit worried about reliability and costs but having read the forums and seen what problems to expect I have now ordered myself an se lux geartronic . Basically read the forums but don't be put off . Over 500,000 xc90's have been produced they can't be that bad .