2007 Volvo S60 2.5 turbo

Summary:

A comfortable, powerful, but quirky and expensive swede

Faults:

Turbo failed at 78,000.

PCV system failure at 78,000 (related to turbo failure).

Driver's seat power module works intermittently.

One coil pack failure.

Front struts replaced before 48,000 miles by the previous owner.

Headlights heavily oxidized after 4 years.

A/C system smells moldy.

Ignition immobilizer antenna ring is faulty, resulting in non-starting during hot weather.

Remote key sometimes only opens the back doors.

Self-dimming rear view mirror leaked and is hard to see into.

General Comments:

Bought this car at about 4 years old with 48,000 miles on it. My wife liked the styling and the performance; I was skeptical, but it had a good rating so I agreed. The car was in very good condition and we purchased it from a dealership.

The first 4 years were relatively trouble-free. Enjoyed the powerful engine and responsive handling, as well as the comfortable seats. Back seat is cramped, but fine for people under 5'8". Trunk is cavernous for the car's size.

First regrets were with the general quality of the interior. Kind of just a step above American car interiors. Paint on door handles and console is easily scratched and the plastic is easily nicked. Have had economy Toyotas that were more durable in this department.

First summer, found the A/C system smelled moldy. Did lots of research, and apparently that's just how it is. Short of tearing the dash off to get to the condenser to clean it, you just have to live with it. Tried all sorts of remedies, but nothing ever worked. A/C has always been icy cold though.

Turning radius -- oh dear. Read about it before we bought it, but never really knew how bad it was. Every u-turn is a 3-point turn, guaranteed. It's kind of frustrating after a while.

Then there's the key fob remote. Sometimes it opens only the back doors. Have to cycle through 2-3 times to get the front door to open. Oh, and that key is only available through a dealer and costs about $500 to get a copy of.

And that brings me to a bigger gripe -- many parts on the car require software updates to repair. Want to swap out a broken power seat module or self-dimming rear view mirror with a spare part? Sorry, that takes a software upgrade that only is available at the dealer. It's hard to spend so much on a car and then be under an intellectual property monopoly. Our driver power seat stopped working properly one day, and it turned out it was a software issue. Had to pay $100 to have a technician re-load the software onto it. It's like owning a Windows computer and having to go to Microsoft to get MS Word reinstalled when it starts acting up -- and having to pay for it.

Headlights were BADLY oxidized before we bought it. Had them polished but it's not perfect. 4 years old and the headlights look like they've been in a junkyard for 30 years? No one can explain to me why these incredibly expensive headlights age so quickly.

But, as I said, the car was reliable and got us around. Then, one day, greyish-white smoke starts coming from the tailpipe and gets worse and worse. Take it in and are told by our trusted independent Volvo mechanic that the turbo has blown seals and was leaking oil into the exhaust. Additionally, the PCV system is prematurely clogged up. This is at 78,000 miles. We're shocked -- how could this happen? The mechanic is shocked too -- he replaces turbos so rarely that he can't believe it. We performed oil changes on-time. He surmises that either the previous owner REALLY abused the car by delaying oil changes and using inferior oil, or that the turbo simply is one of the 1 in 10,000 that has a manufacturer defect. The previous scenario is the more likely.

I won't tell you what it cost to replace the turbo and PCV system, but it was a big number. Now we've got it back and it runs great, but needs about $1,200 in work in the next 6 months. We're done with it, going to sell it and get something that is cheaper to maintain and more practical, and something that I don't have to have the dealer do a software reprogram so I can use the door locks or driver's seat. Sadly, the value is about half what we paid 4 years ago and what we get out of it will just barely be a down payment on a new car.

I don't hate the car, and if you want a sporty, inexpensive (used) sedan, take a look at them. But pay a Volvo expert to put it on a lift and do a diagnostic on it. Know that repairs are expensive, and that much of the time you're at the mercy of what Volvo charges.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 12th June, 2015

13th Jun 2015, 17:57

I would take my chances with a Ford Taurus or Chevy Impala. If you're scared of American cars, try a Toyota, but I would steer clear of European cars unless you like pointless and in most cases nonsense engineering that can be problematic.

14th Jun 2015, 19:48

I own a 2003 S60 with 120000 miles, so it's basically 4 years older than yours. I'd like to compare it.

The headlights are still crystal clear; seems Volvo put a cheaper parts in later cars. Sad.

The PCV, it's indeed perfectly normal to fail at 60000 miles, even before that. Sad but true on several other cars of the same year, such as BMW and Saab. It was a poor conception. It will fail sooner on a car that's driven for short distances.

For the A/C smelling moldy. Normally, the fan blower should be set to operate for a while after the car is shut off, so it dries the humidity off the A/C condenser. This is particularly important when using the A/C in the winter. Now that it smells moldy, it's too late. The only solution is a chemical spray sold at some car dealers even other than Volvo. Google about it on forums to see which one worked better, because not all of them get the same results (I believe the one from the Subaru dealer seemed better, but better check first).

It is extremely rare to hear about a failed turbo on these vehicles, but it is possible if it was really abused - hard accelerations on a cold engine. There is pretty common for some turbo hoses to go bad, though.

Be prepared to have to replace the front control arms soon, better buy a complete Lemfoerder arm from UK eBay ($300 for both sides) and have them installed by a local mechanic. Don't forget to replace the transmission fluid with the 3309 type, no matter what Volvo says. Keep the receipt for the oil change, this will help reselling the car.

2007 Volvo S60 2.5 turbo

Summary:

The car to be proud of owning

Faults:

Anything going wrong? I don't know what you are talking about!

General Comments:

Who has built a better sedan yet? I enjoy every single minute of driving this car. Reliable, comfortable and powerful. Well, my wife says it's somehow old fashioned, but who cares? I want to enjoy my drive, not to show my car's curves to people!

Coming from an "all-plastic" Camry, I am just realizing how a car should be built. The Camry did not have any mechanical issue, but comparing these two is just impossible. I will not trade my (almost) 2 year old S60 with three 2009 Camry :)

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 20th October, 2008

13th Jun 2017, 04:48

I am the original poster, and here I am almost exact 2 years ago to the day from my original post, and I'm happy to report that I finally have sold the Volvo, despite my resolutions of 2 years ago to rid myself of it immediately. For posterity, I figured I'd summarize my ownership since the massive turbo failure.

Two months after the turbo failure, we decided to keep the car for awhile longer for various reasons, so we replaced all 4 tires as they were quite bare and the rainy season was looming. Six months after that in Spring 2016, the front strut mounts failed so I personally rebuilt the struts with XC90 strut mounts and spring seats (the previous owner had inexplicably replaced the stock struts with aftermarket, but had not replaced the seats and mounts). For the record, in my 27 years of American and domestic car ownership I have never replaced a strut or any of its components -- well-done Volvo for installing struts that disintegrated before 75,000 miles!

One month later the front passenger wheel bearing started rumbling and needed to be replaced. Never replaced a bearing in any of my other cars either.

January 2017 I find drops of coolant on the garage floor every morning. After much searching, I am relieved to find that the relatively inexpensive coolant expansion tank has developed at crack on the outlet where the rubber hose connects. Replaced both tank and hose, only to have the new tank crack at the top within 1 month; returned tank and replaced again to lasting effect.

In Spring 2017 we found ourselves able to consider a new car purchase and in early May we purchased its replacement (not a Volvo!) but kept the S60 for an additional 2 weeks while our second car had some minor but time-intensive work done. Listed the car at the end of May and was delighted to find that our well-equipped 2007 Volvo S60 with 93,000 miles (about 27,000 miles below average) that we had paid $16,000 for in 2011 and spent over $6,000 in repairs over the ensuing 6 years was now worth about $4,000. Listed the car in 3 online venues, put signs on car, and waited... and waited... and waited. Every car I've ever sold private-party has sold within 5 days at list price with multiple phone calls. To be honest though, 2 different friends inquired about it, but I forbid them from buying it as I knew they didn't have the income to repair anything major. Took almost 3 weeks to get 1 party to finally come look at the car -- a kind Russian couple that had high regard for Volvo and purchased it happily. The transaction was finished painlessly about 1 hour ago and I'm hopeful that they are happy with it. I begged them to change the oil at 5k with full synthetic and put the fear of God into them if they didn't -- hopefully they will listen.

To sum up, it was neither a good car or a bad car. In fairness, it never left us stranded, always started, and had incredible handling, comfort and acceleration. We also felt very safe in it. Mechanically, it was tight with no major leaks and I felt that the 5 cylinder engine, if maintained well, was pretty much bulletproof due to its long service record. But goodness it was expensive to repair and the overall quality, particularly of the interior, was mediocre. My buddy bought a 2007 S60 2 years ago against my advice and last month his side mirror glass fell off as he was driving down the road (???). I've heard Volvo has improved a lot since they were bought by a Chinese company, and I hope so. My brother has a 2016 XC90 and it's amazing inside. But as for me, I just can't imagine ever buying one again, I value economy and reliability more than the excellent performance that the Volvo offered. But, having said that, I think they were be ideal cars for handy young people who want something fast and agile at a rock-bottom price.

So that's it, the end of my more bitter than sweet Volvo ownership experience. If you want "soul" and performance at a low price, buy a Volvo, but expect expensive and regular repairs. If you want reliability and economical repairs, go Japanese (Honda, Acura, Toyota, Lexus) and domestic (they are getting better every year).

Thanks for reading.

13th Jun 2017, 17:20

Sorry to hear about your expensive repairs. I live in the UK and the Volvos we have here have a good name in regards to reliability. I'm wondering if maybe the quality of some USA market cars is suffering due to being built elsewhere? Could be wrong, but I don't think all Volvos are built in Sweden...

Myself I've had a 760 Turbo from the 1990s, and a more modern S40 2005 model onwards with no serious issues (well maintained) cars over 10 years and 150,000 miles + of ownership... had my fair share of wear and tear, general running costs and so on, but no worse than any other car, and nothing ridiculously expensive.

13th Jul 2017, 15:41

My S60 was built in Belgium for what that's worth.