Volvo V50 and similar size estates

thepeteh

thepeteh

thepeteh

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North Yorkshire
Looking to get a new car, small estates such as V50 2.0d in R-Design trim and the e90 320d in sport trim are the main contenders at the moment, I know neither cars are sporty but they look much better than their SE counterparts.

Anyone on here own or driven either of the above cars? ~£10-11K budget, really like the styling of the Volvo which is basically a Ford Focus estate isn't it? So nothing major to go wrong with it then?

Thanks.
 
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Just personally bought myself a 08 (Although it is August 08!) V50 D5 SE Lux back in May as a 'stop-gap' car for a year or two before I buy something newer, higher specced and with a T5 engine. I bought it from auction for £6.5k, FVSH provided from a lease company (they all tend to be from lease companies there). It has done 110k and just had its 108k service + cam belt change which isn't a cheap job! Took it to Volvo, and it has a clean bill of health!

I also wanted an R-Design, but actually, having looked at both the Se Lux and R-Design models, they look just as good as each other. So if a Se Lux comes up within budget with a good spec, snap it up IMO.

If your going to get the R-Design, get the SE version. I wanted the R-Design too, but after looking at the specs the non-SE is missing some small little annoying bits and pieces, such as trip computer (This is based on MY2009, which lower milage versions of the V50 are in your budget region).

Personally I'd get the D4 or D5 engines (The D4 (2L) are short-stroke versions of the D5 (2.5L)). Having driven the 2.0D and the D5, the latter pulls a lot better. If you go for something newer with either a D3 or D4 engine, I'd pick the D4. They are exactly the same lump and do exactly the same MPG but they are tuned differently. The D4 has 177BHP (My D5 has 180) and the D3 is 140ish IIRC.

Other things to note: Make sure it has Xenons!!!!!!! The standard lights are poor, whilst improved by using Nightbreakers, they aren't a patch on my dads same-age V70s Xenons.

Whilst it is true the V50 is basically a Ford Focus (P1 platform IIRC), there is a 'Volvo tax' on anything electrical as they are 'coded' differently, even though they are the same part electrically and physically *sigh*. Suspension parts are the same (intact I'm fitting Ford Focus RS polybushes to mine).


Within your budget from a dealer your looking at 3/4 years old with 60+k on the clock.

A black 2009 2.0D R-Design SE with 70k on the clock went at auction for £9k (In-fact I bid on it!) Also, Volvo UK was there with year old cars. A 2011 V50 Se Lux D4 went for £16k! (It was a £28k car)


My overall impressions of the car is very comfortable. The D5 wasn't my ideal engine (wanted a T5 but insurance said no - for now), but I had a budget and I had to stick to it. However, it pulls like a train and returns high-50s/low-60s on long motorway trips at 70 with Cruise Control, so not bad on the old pocket in that department (not that I really care, but it is a back of the mind nag to not see 20 or 30 MPG!).
 
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That's great, xeons, cruise control and heated seats are the most important at the moment as there's a good chance I'm moving to Aberdeen. I was considering the D5 originally and I'm pleased to hear the economy you report.

Thanks for the help. Imo for the big drop in economy the t5 isn't worth it when the d5 gives very reasonable performance.
 
Pulls like a train? What use is that unless you want to take several minutes to get to 100mph but wish to do so whilst hauling thousands of tonnes?

The last thing you want in a car is for it to pull like a train, of course in reality its one of those meaninglesssphrases like nippy :p
 
[TW]Fox;22327859 said:
Pulls like a train? What use is that unless you want to take several minutes to get to 100mph but wish to do so whilst hauling thousands of tonnes?

The last thing you want in a car is for it to pull like a train, of course in reality its one of those meaninglesssphrases like nippy :p
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Quoted for truth. That phrase annoys me as much as "in-gear performance".
 
thepeteh said:
That's great, xeons, cruise control and heated seats are the most important at the moment as there's a good chance I'm moving to Aberdeen. I was considering the D5 originally and I'm pleased to hear the economy you report.

Thanks for the help. Imo for the big drop in economy the t5 isn't worth it when the d5 gives very reasonable performance.
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Heated seats are included in the SE Lux models as standard, I'll upload the V50 model info when I get back to my mac.

Cruise control is standard on all models.

I'm extremely impressed by the D5, the V50 isn't really a sports car so the engine is pretty suited to the driving style. The MPG is recorded by the trip computer, but it seems to under-estimate based on my full-tank fill-ups!

My inner petrol head wants a T5, but as the M4 is going to be a regular route for me over the next two years so it's turned out to be a pretty good choice.


[TW]Fox;22327859 said:
Pulls like a train? What use is that unless you want to take several minutes to get to 100mph but wish to do so whilst hauling thousands of tonnes?

The last thing you want in a car is for it to pull like a train, of course in reality its one of those meaninglesssphrases like nippy :p
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It's not a meaningless phrase at all. You put it in 4th and it pulls from 1500 to 4500 without letup. Constant pull = pulls like a train. :p

If I had said, 'goes like a train', then you'd have a point ;).

It's not a sports car so the engine suits the car extremely well IMO.
 
Concorde Rules said:
It's not a meaningless phrase at all. You put it in 4th and it pulls from 1500 to 4500 without letup. Constant pull = pulls like a train. :p
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His point is that it's usually used in reference to some sort of reasonable turn of speed. Trains don't tend to accelerate fast, do they?

Also, any car in the world will accelerate, or "pull" from 1500rpm to whatever the limiter is, in 4th gear. Or any of its gears. So it's just vague and meaningless :p
 
Howard said:
His point is that it's usually used in reference to some sort of reasonable turn of speed. Trains don't tend to accelerate fast, do they?

Also, any car in the world will accelerate, or "pull" from 1500rpm to whatever the limiter is, in 4th gear. Or any of its gears. So it's just vague and meaningless :p
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Well, we could discuss the meaning of such phrases till the cows come home so we'll leave it for now :p
 
Thanks for the info.

So, I went to view one locally today. 2009, 1 owner, Black, 2.0D, RDesign, 85K miles, Sunroof, winter pack, trip /info center above on top of the standard spec. Next service due in ~4000 miles, good tyres, long mot, no tax.

It's up for £8795 and I could only get him to move to £8600. Do you think there is room for further negotioation? There isn't much the car is missing other than parking sensors and xeons which seem hard to come by - I could help with the pap lights by upgrading to orsam nightbreakers etc?
 
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I've just upgraded to night breakers, not really tested them at night yet. Only problem with them is that Volvo have dipped beam running all the time as day running lights (DRL). I'm going to get them to disable it next time it is with Volvo to maximise the life of them.

Sounds reasonable, they are fairly sought after cars and on more than one occasion seen them go in less than 24 hours!!

Is it this one? http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...age/2/keywords/r_design/radius/1501?logcode=p

Says it has Xenons?
 
Concorde Rules said:
Is it this one? http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...age/2/keywords/r_design/radius/1501?logcode=p

Says it has Xenons?
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That's the one. It definitely hasn't got xeons though, let me know how you get on with the bulbs at night, to be honest they can't be that bad can they?? He was trying the sales talk saying he will sell it to me at 'what it owes them' or something which was £8600 apparently. I think they'll have got it directly from Volvo (probably at a substantially lower price than £8600) at an auction after it was a personal contract hire car. I'd like to get it for £8400.
 
thepeteh said:
That's the one. It definitely hasn't got xeons though, let me know how you get on with the bulbs at night, to be honest they can't be that bad can they?? He was trying the sales talk saying he will sell it to me at 'what it owes them' or something which was £8600 apparently. I think they'll have got it directly from Volvo (probably at a substantially lower price than £8600) at an auction after it was a personal contract hire car. I'd like to get it for £8400.
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If it has Xenons it won't have an adjustment wheel on the RH side of the steering wheel.

Manual quote: "Cars with Bi-Xenon headlamps* have automatic headlamp levelling, so there is no control (1)."

The bulbs aren't 'bad' but Xenons are much better.

As for the price, the £8600 seems very close to the price I saw similar cars go for at auction.

If he really won't budge and it is the perfect car for you then is £100 really much of an issue?
 
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Concorde Rules said:
If he really won't budge and it is the perfect car for you then is £100 really much of an issue?
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Nope, I just like to get the best price possible :) + it is well spec'd and very close to my home which is convenient too.
Yeah, it had headlamp control wheel so knew it wasn't xeons. Will report back with how I get on.
 
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