new member, maybe new V60 owner

[gianmarko]

good day everyone.
im new here as i am looking at a candidate to replace my 2.4 diesel Alfa 159.

i just test drove a 2018 V60 CC pro D4 AWD. car looks really nice, interiors are spotless and price is ok at 133 thousands km and a full volvo service history.

the only thing that left me a bit perplexed is how noisy the engine is. i am used to the extremely quiet Alfa 5 cyls and i found the Volvo engine quite rattly at low revs and with a quite loud clicking noise; ok engine was probably cold, but i expected a bit more from this fantastic car.

i had a look at the forum and it seems others had the same question; so is it this noise normal?

is there anything special you would recommend to look at? car is given with 12 months or 20k km guarantee.

thanks and have a good day
gm

[GrahamBrown1]

Which engine has the car got fitted? With it being an AWD there is a chance it could be one of the very last 5 cylinders but on a 2018 year I’d have thought it would have the 4 cylinder.

The 5 cylinders can sound a little agricultural when cold but sound nice when on song. They are good strong engines and I wouldn’t be to concerned if it’s got history and the warranty you mention.

[gianmarko]

Hi
yes is a 5 pots. so agricultural is confirmed

i really like this car and i think i will get it. stereo should be powerful enough to cover cold engine noise

thanks

Originally Posted by GrahamBrown1

Which engine has the car got fitted? With it being an AWD there is a chance it could be one of the very last 5 cylinders but on a 2018 year I’d have thought it would have the 4 cylinder.

The 5 cylinders can sound a little agricultural when cold but sound nice when on song. They are good strong engines and I wouldn’t be to concerned if it’s got history and the warranty you mention.

[Stu B]

Hi, I have a very similar car, but a 2017.

Mine is the 2.4L 5 cyl D4 Lux Nav AWD auto, it’s a euro 6 version of the 5 cyl which I bought a few months ago following many other 5 cylinder Volvo and VWs. They all sound a little agricultural but are generally very well regarded and Volvo fans seek out the 5 cyl rather than the 4 cyl D4 as I did for reliability.

It’ll be 190bhp/420Nm as standard but I had the dealer upgrade mine with Polestar before I collected it so it has 220bhp/440Nm now.

You’ll find lots of information on this forum about what to check for but if the car has a good service history and belts changed on schedule with genuine parts then it could be a good buy. I really like mine.

All the best,
Stu

[RDesign4Life]

They sound like tractors until you put your foot down. Under hard acceleration they sound better. Still not great but better. Although I'm probably comparing my XC60 5 cylinder diesel engine to some of the 6 cylinder petrol engines I've owned which isn't really fair.

It's a diesel engine and they are inherently ugly, smelly, dirty, noisy things. Or is that a description of the men that drive them?

[gianmarko]

i love diesel engines, they are efficient and last forever. only thing i dont like of diesel engines is the used oil; it will make a mess no matter what.

i have been told by the dealer that timing belt is due at 180k km, car has 133k.

it probably is an expensive job like it was in the 159 (very little space to work, looks better in the V60) but will take couple years before it will be due.

i have a well tooled workshop and a car lift so i try to do everything myself; for the Alfa i had all the required tools and the diagnostic.

i heard from the dealer that this car comes with included free maintenance (except spares) up to 150k km.

Originally Posted by RDesign4Life

They sound like tractors until you put your foot down. Under hard acceleration they sound better. Still not great but better. Although I'm probably comparing my XC60 5 cylinder diesel engine to some of the 6 cylinder petrol engines I've owned which isn't really fair.

It's a diesel engine and they are inherently ugly, smelly, dirty, noisy things. Or is that a description of the men that drive them?

[Simeon90]

Originally Posted by gianmarko

I have a well tooled workshop and a car lift so i try to do everything myself; for the Alfa i had all the required tools and the diagnostic.

You should probably stick with Alfas then.. much nicer cars, albeit likely less reliable, but it sounds like you have that covered

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by Simeon90

You should probably stick with Alfas then.. much nicer cars, albeit likely less reliable, but it sounds like you have that covered

Two completely different cars. Volvo is prestige brand, an Alfa isn't. Its like comparing a Mercedes to a Fiat. Not that I have anything against Alfa, but saying they're much nicer cars than a prestige brand... you have to be kidding, surely?

The OP is looking at a 5 cylinder engine, not a 4 cylinder VEA engine one like yours has.

Just because you had problems with your VEA doesn't mean you can paint all Volvo's with the same brush. You aren't happy with your car according to your recent post, but don't put someone off buying a Volvo by telling them to stick with what they have/know just because you had problems with yours, which has a completely different engine that's known to have issues compared to the one the OP is looking at.

No point crying over it. You had a bad experience, which is of course unfortunate. It doesn't mean everyone else has had bad experience with Volvo though. Do your research next time before you buy. Or, if you did and still bought the car, then that was your choice...

Originally Posted by gianmarko

good day everyone.
im new here as i am looking at a candidate to replace my 2.4 diesel Alfa 159.

i just test drove a 2018 V60 CC pro D4 AWD. car looks really nice, interiors are spotless and price is ok at 133 thousands km and a full volvo service history.

the only thing that left me a bit perplexed is how noisy the engine is. i am used to the extremely quiet Alfa 5 cyls and i found the Volvo engine quite rattly at low revs and with a quite loud clicking noise; ok engine was probably cold, but i expected a bit more from this fantastic car.

i had a look at the forum and it seems others had the same question; so is it this noise normal?

is there anything special you would recommend to look at? car is given with 12 months or 20k km guarantee.

thanks and have a good day
gm

That's normal. 5 cylinder Volvo's aren't quiet... they're quite noisy engines at slow speeds or idling. On the motorway, you wouldn't really notice.

Check that the gearbox changes nice and smooth. Transmission fluid does need replacing on these cars to prolong its life. If its never been done, its worth doing. Dealerships may tell you the transmission is "sealed for life" and you don't need to change the fluid. That's lies... the fluid should be changed and can be changed.

Make sure you buy the correct transmission fluid if you do decide to do a transmission service in future yourself, but you need diagnostic equipment for Volvo to do it properly or a decent scan tool. You may need to ask your dealer to do a transmission service if you haven't got the correct diagnostic equipment. If you have a decent scan tool that works with Volvo, then you need AW-1 spec transmission fluid for your car. Don't use anything else. Unfortunately, the fluid is expensive. The car isn't old, so you could get a few more km's out of it before doing a transmission service, but it does need changing at some point if it never has been done.

Cam belt isn't due yet. Remember, there's also two auxiliary belts (one is for the power steering, alternator etc) and the other belt is for the air conditioning. So even though the cam belt may not be due, is there any record of the auxiliary belt being changed (the one for the alternator etc)? The main auxiliary belt should be changed every 54,000 miles, but whilst you're at it, you may as well replace the air con belt too.

Also, listen for any squeaking coming from the alternator area on cold startup. That could be the alternator clutch pulley. If its squeaking or making noise, get the clutch pulley replaced. If it fails, it can destroy the engine because the aux belt can go out of alignment and get tangled with the cam belt... not good. Belt changes are vitally important on these engines. Use genuine parts,or as a minimum, quality aftermarket from reputable brands. Do not use cheap junk. These cars can't be run on a shoe string.

Oh, that's another thing... Volvo parts aren't cheap. I'm not sure of the pricing of Alfa parts, but I imagine parts are dearer for the Volvo.

[gianmarko]

Hi Kev, thanks for the informations.

a couple words about alfas...
alfas are fiat but they are not "fiat". fiats are the cheap line and alfa is the luxury line and alfas are built to a completely different standard.
i had 4 and they all had a fantastic reliability record. i scrapped the 156 at 360k km, my first 159 at 300k, my current 159 has 200k and still going strong, and my wife Giulietta is at 210k km and works like clockwork.of course they are older and cheaper cars than a 2018 V60 (my 159 is 2009) but build quality is excellent. all alfas i scrapped is because of a detonated alternator, replacing which would have costed thousands.
One of the reasons i dont get another Alfa is that they do not make a car that fits my needs and at this stage i need an autobox, decently powered diesel station wagon and market is quite narrow there.

now enough alfa on a volvo forum

the V60 i test drove had the smoothest autobox i have ever driven so it should be ok there. roger for the gearbox fluid. as changes are very few high price of fluid is not an issue. i plan getting vdash, i always prefer to take a look myself at diagnostics because often garages dont understand them correctly and start randomly replacing parts.

inspecting the car i looked at the belts and they look good. no oil leaks either (that would get the car bounced at the MOT and car will be delivered freshly MOTed, pretty standard practice here, and MOT is a serious business so a guarantee car is ok.

i suspected spares will be more expensive than for fiat, but i hope i will need few (needed very very few for my alfas, mostly brake parts and other consumables.)


i think i will get this car. it ticks all the boxes except perhaps price (at 21k euro is a bit pricier than similar ones on the market here) but other V60 on the market are at 2 or more hours drive.

i see this car is supposed to burn 5.7lt/100km which is surprisingly low, is that a realistic number? with my current ride i average 7lt and is a manual FWD

Originally Posted by Kev0607

Two completely different cars. Volvo is prestige brand, an Alfa isn't. Its like comparing a Mercedes to a Fiat. Not that I have anything against Alfa, but saying they're much nicer cars than a prestige brand... you have to be kidding, surely?

The OP is looking at a 5 cylinder engine, not a 4 cylinder VEA engine one like yours has.

Just because you had problems with your VEA doesn't mean you can paint all Volvo's with the same brush. You aren't happy with your car according to your recent post, but don't put someone off buying a Volvo by telling them to stick with what they have/know just because you had problems with yours, which has a completely different engine that's known to have issues compared to the one the OP is looking at.

No point crying over it. You had a bad experience, which is of course unfortunate. It doesn't mean everyone else has had bad experience with Volvo though. Do your research next time before you buy. Or, if you did and still bought the car, then that was your choice...



That's normal. 5 cylinder Volvo's aren't quiet... they're quite noisy engines at slow speeds or idling. On the motorway, you wouldn't really notice.

Check that the gearbox changes nice and smooth. Transmission fluid does need replacing on these cars to prolong its life. If its never been done, its worth doing. Dealerships may tell you the transmission is "sealed for life" and you don't need to change the fluid. That's lies... the fluid should be changed and can be changed.

Make sure you buy the correct transmission fluid if you do decide to do a transmission service in future yourself, but you need diagnostic equipment for Volvo to do it properly or a decent scan tool. You may need to ask your dealer to do a transmission service if you haven't got the correct diagnostic equipment. If you have a decent scan tool that works with Volvo, then you need AW-1 spec transmission fluid for your car. Don't use anything else. Unfortunately, the fluid is expensive. The car isn't old, so you could get a few more km's out of it before doing a transmission service, but it does need changing at some point if it never has been done.

Cam belt isn't due yet. Remember, there's also two auxiliary belts (one is for the power steering, alternator etc) and the other belt is for the air conditioning. So even though the cam belt may not be due, is there any record of the auxiliary belt being changed (the one for the alternator etc)? The main auxiliary belt should be changed every 54,000 miles, but whilst you're at it, you may as well replace the air con belt too.

Also, listen for any squeaking coming from the alternator area on cold startup. That could be the alternator clutch pulley. If its squeaking or making noise, get the clutch pulley replaced. If it fails, it can destroy the engine because the aux belt can go out of alignment and get tangled with the cam belt... not good. Belt changes are vitally important on these engines. Use genuine parts,or as a minimum, quality aftermarket from reputable brands. Do not use cheap junk. These cars can't be run on a shoe string.

Oh, that's another thing... Volvo parts aren't cheap. I'm not sure of the pricing of Alfa parts, but I imagine parts are dearer for the Volvo.

[Simeon90]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

Two completely different cars. Volvo is prestige brand, an Alfa isn't. Its like comparing a Mercedes to a Fiat

Er, no, Alfa is a luxury car brand, the only thing you could possibly liken to Fiat is reliability, and the OP clearly has the tools and knowledge for that, as I was pointing out.

Yes I've had problems, but they're fixed, and now I have the car as Volvo intended I think it's a bit crap frankly for what is a £35k ? car new, XC60s are pretty cramped inside and I unfortunately don't find it particularly comfortable on long journeys, maybe I would have been better off with R-design seats, but never drove one. However, car in question is a V60, possibly a lot nicer, but I never drove one because the boot is too small for an estate.