I am after a new car to replace my aging 2007 R56 S.
I love my MINI, but we will still have a 2008 R52 S, I want a comfortable criuser and I do not want to be like everyone else and buy a BMW, even though they are nice. Im thinking about a all wheel drive Volvo what is your guys think?
Anyone know about quality and RESALE?

 

Well, you know what Volvo stands for right? Vehicles Of Low Velocity Owners. You're not a Low Velocity individual are you?

Seriously, I've never heard anybody I know that owned a Volvo say anything negative about them. I know 2 people that have them. I would think that it'd be cheaper than a BMW. Of course, me, I'd tell you to get an Imprezza.

 

We just bought a 05 BMW 330ci covertible for the wife. We drove the new Volvo hardtop covertible, we also owned a older Volvo at one time, like Fatherdeth said, "Vehicles Of Low Velocity Owners", wow that car was so uninspiring to drive, I almost fell asleep, rock solid, but so is a old Buick. Hope they give this new one a soul. If I was in the market for a "comfortable criuser", Lexus would be at the top

 

"Anyone know about quality and RESALE?"

Its a Ford...so its about the same quality and resale.

And not to sound snobbish but comparing a BMW to a Volvo is comparing apple to oranges. You can complare Volvo to Nissan, Toyota SAAB's and so on but never BMW.

 

WOW, straight to the point !!!!

 

I have to agree with you on that. Speaking of that, to the OP, I'd say get a 4 door Honda. Is there a particular reason you need AWD?

 

I had a S60 "R" with manual and loved it. Leased for 3-years. No rattles, no cold start issues, no sunroof issues. It won't drive like a Mini or BMW but Volvo makes safe, dependable and reliable transportation. And lets not forget - comfortable.

 

Ha, I dont like front wheel drive. Ford owners Volvo? Uggggghhhhh Ill continue saving for the BMW.
Most definetly my biggest fear is buying a totally lame car, guess I should look into thos japanese cars too.
Thanks so Far for the help guys

 

I understand. Well, keep looking and shopping around. get what makes you happy. I'm not going to rag on you for having a Volvo. I never really listened to people's opinions on cars a whole lot anyway. I mean people dog suzukis as a whole, but I still have my 1996 Sidekick which has had zero problems since I purchased her. I think the Volvo would be okay, but i also believe that you'd have better enjoyment with something different.

 

When it comes to calculating resale values, I always head over to Edmunds.com Select the used cars link near the header, and when the new page loads, click on the link labeled "Research Prices and SPecs" in the secondary header below it.

Of course this only works for a car that is 2 or more years old, but once you've selected a car from the listings, select the trim level, and then on the left hand side you'd see a link for resale values. So for the S40 T5 AWD, you will end up at this page:
http://www.edmunds.com/used/2006/vol...alevalues.html

Of course it's a bit hard to track, because different years had different feature levels, even at their base model level (like adding a sunroof and leather as standard in a particular year) so it can make it look like there was a lot of depreciation from one year to the next, but it might just be that the base model in the prior year was a stripped down version of the following year. And of course, there are redesign years that cause there to be a big change in resale values - for fun check out the resale values of a pre and post 2005 mustang to see how much the new design increased the resale value.

Anyway, do your research on the cars you are interested in, do the same on the BMW you want to compare to, and you'll start to get a feel for what holds its value best.

In general - BMW, Mercedes, Lexus hold value best, with Hondas and Toyotas following closely behind. Although maybe with the change in the economy, those high-price-to-repair makes may not hold their value as well in the future as in the past.

 

How could an '07 R56 be aging? ... Just curious.

 

The only thing Ford has done since aquiring Volvo is learn from them. Quality has never gone down at Volvo, it's only gone up at Ford. I've owned 4 Volvos and have never ever been let down by them. I've been let down more by the Mini than my 4 Volvos put together.

My favorite was the 98 S70 T5 SE with the 5 speed. It was extremely comfortable and surprisingly fast. The turbo Volvos I've owned have all been torque monsters, for 2.3L motors. They're also reasonably easy to perform maintenance on, which is important to me. There is even a decent aftermarket considering the "Grandpa's car" reputation Volvo has.

 

I tend to get tired of my cars fast. I have owned about 34 cars in the last 14 years. Im not rich either, Im just a motorsports junkie.
My MINI only has a 2 year warranty here in Germany (american spec), I need to send her back to America for the remainder of warranty to kick in.
Side note, I am please to hear Volvo has not regressive to ford quality,
Beside that affiliation, I my greatest fear is a mind numbing drivers experience.

 

I did not know that about the warranty. even though it's American spec, it still only has a 2 year warranty? Crazy Europeans !!

 

Update, I messed around with a car configurator for Volvo my car with every option available, Minus nav is $38,871 I recieve some discounts so There is no bargining as I pay no mark up. (military pricing)

BMW discount= $1300-1500
MINI=$2100
And the winner is Volvo! $3,000-7000 Below Market stateside pricing!!!
They are currently offering the S40 T5 R design for $30,675 then the dealer takes another 1,000 off for this model year (09)
I think my Mind is clearly made, Volvo for sure.

 

You could look into the Over Seas Delivery Program too. You'll get another discount and all you have to do is fly over to Sweden, with the tickets that Volvos provides for free, sign for the car and drive it to a shipping port and they'll ship it back to the states for free. I believe you also get a free nights stay in Sweden.

I guess there's also a bunch of other deals. Two summers ago they had a deal where you could get a discounted trip to the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. I cant imagine too many people took up that offer, just because F1 isn't as popular in the US versus Europe. (I'd have been all over it!!! )

When we've done it in the past we'd stay for a couple weeks and then ship it back, but you could just go over sign and fly back and just save that money that was discounted.

Here's the link:
http://www.volvocars.com/us/salesand...s/default.aspx

Good luck!

 

I'm not sure how the pricing scales where you are, what else could you get for that money?

My mom has an S40 2.4i and I drove the C30 T5 extensively before I bought my MINI. Build quality is fine and interior materials are no worse than the R52. Seats are amazing and the Leather/T-tec combo in the R design looks great. The T5 has plenty of power although it won't feel very quick. It's not so much that it feels heavy; solid is a better description. Clutch is smooth but a bit springy; gearbox is not so crisp but very easy to use. It's not going to perform like a BMW but if you are looking for a smallish long distance car the S40 will work well.

 

Next time you buy something, try a JCW. You'll never get tired of that! After 7 years, I'm still looking forward to any excuse to drive mine. My wife caught the bug too. Hers is on order.

I too ran through several vehicles and soon tired of them: Mustangs, a Corvette, Sunbeam Tiger, MB SLs, Austin Healeys, even a 600 hp Roush Capri. I lost interest in all. In fact, I lost interest in my '02 MCS within 2 years and was about ready to sell when I added the 210hp JCW tune kit. No wandering eye since then.

I understand the warranty issue. My '02 is still fully covered under an extended warranty.

 

I am able to buy my 38,745 dollar volvo with (227hp) for $32,720!!!
The BMW equivalent is $51,000. Im sure I could spend half the difference and build a car that will run circles around the BMW. If I could find a slightly used AWD BMW for under 35, thatd be my choice, however I dont think Hell is freezing anytime soon

 

If you are looking at modding your Volvo. www.ipdusa.com and www.eurosporttuning.com are the two main Volvo tuner companies. There are also a few others.

Personally, I'm holding out till the 300hp AWD C30 comes out.
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/30/v...-c30-with-awd/

Based on the way the Focus RS is reported to handle, with that kind of power and AWD, it should be a laugh riot!

 

For the same price you could get a well optioned JCW MINI at 211hp weighing 600 lbs less, getting 50% better fuel economy and getting to 60 mph 1.5 seconds sooner.

 

Ya I know, but Im done with F wheel drive. Even less money I could get a Mazda Speed 3 with way more HP. no thanks. AWD is what I need. good ride, comfort, and smoothness. I still have a 08 R52 S. ohh, and the JCW I think is actually about 1000 less. The S40 T5 AWD is about..? (3700) pounds. She'll have exhaust full turboback and CAI with custom ecu tune waiting for her. She'll be around 250hp and 280TQ or so.

 

We had an S60 once. Never own another Volvo as long as I live. After 6 years, the car costs us over $30,000.00 in maintenance costs and all the three Volvo dealerships would simply say is, "It costs more to maintain a Volvo".

With a perfect body and interior, we finally had to settle on selling it for $2,500.00. Never again. Piece of junk. The cost of ownership ended up being over $10,000.00 a year for 6 years. And with all that spent they never fixed the transmission which would randomly jump out of gear. Almost got my Wife killed once and scared the crap out of her more often that I care to remember. Spent over $15,000.00 just so the dealerships could try different things to remedy the problem. Letters to Volvo went unanswered.

Got a Lexus IS250 (it is the Wife unit's car, no need for the 350) and have to say, it just blows the Volvo out of the water in every regard. It's not even a contest.

Everytime I think about how I allowed Volvo to take me to the cleaners, it pisses me off. I should have gotten rid of that piece of junk the first time something went wrong with it, two days after the warranty went out.

Why should they care? I am only one of a small percentage of people who had a horrible time with thier car. All the others will make my voice seem like a distant squeak. Just remember this. If it can happen to me, it can happen to you. When it does, there is nothing you can do about it. Passed warranty so lemon laws will not help. And who cares about lemon laws, when your loved one is shoved under an 18 wheeler, or they hit some pedestrian due to transmission failure.

All I can do is rant about the problems I had. If it keeps one person from buying a Volvo, then the experience with that death trap will be worth something.

 

Wow, I will definetly think about your post and could sway my decisions. Thats terrible you had such issues with your car.

 

It was not just the car. It was Volvo as well, from the dealership to HQ. No one would admit that particular car was a piece of junk and should have never been allowed on the road. I know not every car is like that. I just cannot imagine a car company that would blantantly allow such a dangerous car to be driven by anyone.

You see the random dropping out of gear, required the car to be stopped, put into Park, then shut the engine off and restart it to get it to go back into a forward gear. Try doing that in the middle of rush hour on a freeway overpass that has no shoulder to pull off on with an 18 wheeler on your butt.

Our experience with both Mini and Lexus has been so much better. I don't know if it was due to lower expectations from the Volvo incident, or they really are that much better, but whatever it is, it feels good.

Of all the new cars I have ever owned (Lexus, Mini, Infiniti, Nissan, Ford, Pontiac), the Volvo experience was the worst.