Volvo reviews or opinions

I drive a 2006 Volvo 610 as a company driver. It has the Volvo engine with the 10 speed auto ultra shift. The truck is a little smaller than the 670 and 780 (as far as interior space) but is pretty much the same animal you asked about.

The truck itself maneuvers great. The set back axle makes backing a dream. The only thing that maneuvers or turns tighter would be a cab over. The ride of a Volvo is kinda like an over size suv. With an air ride suspension all the way around (including the steer axle) and an air ride cab it does tend to "lean" in turns and high winds. This can be disconcerting at first as it does seem like you will roll the truck over at times. It is one of the quietest trucks I have ever driven.

As far as mechanical issues;
The EGR had to be replaced at 550,000 miles. The truck was down for 3 weeks in the company shop waiting on parts.
The engine brake ceased working on this unit about a year ago and the in house mechanics cannot seem to fix it (it never worked very good anyway).
I have had several leaks in the power steering pump including the lines. The air ride seems a bit glitchy at times. What I mean is the leveling control arm seems to mess up and you will have 1 set of airbags that inflates too much while the other will not inflate at all. I have had the air ride fail altogether and refuse to inflate as well.
Other issues are regular alerts on the dash for ecu maintenance required, check fuel filter, low fuel, etc. Fuel gauges tend to work on a part time basis (I always keep track of miles between fill ups because I cannot count on the gauge).

I have had the same truck for over 3 years now and I am familiar with the "glitches" so it doesn't really bug me. Of course "I" do not have to pay for the repairs either.

As for the ultra shift auto.... It has some problems;
slamming into gear after coasting in traffic jams,
try to shift from forward to reverse too quickly and the computer will beep at you,
It is rather difficult to dock or latch a trailer gently. Too much throttle and the truck will lurch severely, not enough throttle and the truck will stop moving before completely latching a trailer.
The computer likes to wind out the tach before up shifting to the next gear. Best fuel mileage I have gotten from this truck is about 5.00 mpg.

IMO you would be better off avoiding any auto shift and select a truck that has a better over all service network.

 

OMG!. How come I did not see this thread when I started looking for a truck?

 

No, we didn't have them in at the time, we were trying to fudge the weight as much as we could. But now we do carry them all the time and it hasn't been an issue.

Lot's of help thanks, and all from people who stayed on subject.

I think it's probably the sensor thing you're talking about. We've already had the air dryer replaced. So thanks, will take to the shop sometime this week, so at least now we have somewhere to start.

Thanks I was trying to say exactly that!

 

I can only add that I drive a volvo daycab as a compay driver,....

This truck spends way to much time down for repairs while waiting for parts,...

When it is running right it is a decent enough truck to drive,....BUT,...If I were spending money on a truck I would chose something with a better service network and better parts availability,...

 

This is the main reason I chose a Cummins engine - although everything is having trouble with EGR valves - better to buy a pre-emissions (03 or before) and avoid it altogether. Much better jakes, more pulling power, and a better service network - too bad it's heavier than Volvo power.

Question - are your company mechanics good at what they do? Just asking, I've worked around mechanics that could screw up anything but a light bulb.

That sounds like a grounding problem - those will cause random reports. You can usually verify them by shutting down and restarting the truck, I usually turn the key on and wait for 10 seconds before starting the truck. This lets the ECM read the sensors more accurately, and gives the fuel pump time to prime.

Question - when the fuel gauge fails to read, does it return to normal by shutting down and restarting the truck? You can also run a panel test from the diagnostics menu on the dash. I run mine once a week to make sure all the gauges scale - let me know if you need some help finding it. It would be interesting to know if the gauge tests out properly when it's not reading.

Right there with you on autos - great company trucks for companies in the city - not for the o/o one truck fleets. I've got some experience with autos, but I can't remember which one is the UltraShift and I'm just too tired to look LOL. If it's a 2 pedal (clutchless) just run the #### thing against the brakes some to latch trailers - this works great in yard manuevers and close quarters. Just be careful not to get carried away and tear up the brake shoes - oh wait - company truck - nevermind the last sentence!

 

disclousure; i am not a truck driver (yet) and have only driven two different types of trucks, and one 54pass bus...

with that being said, all i can say is that it's hit or miss.. if you really like a volvo, and it has everything you want, you have to ask yourself if it's worth it.. it seems like alot of the problems are simple mechanics and electrical.. i'd suggest getting a decent volt meter, light tester, and finding a good and i mean really good parts dealer that ships nation wide, that way when ever you go down you'll know you'll be able to get the part.

daddy and mama are have probs with their air ride steer axle.. that shouldn't be something that turns a person away from a truck they want.. chances are it is a level sensor that's gone bad.. everyone's truck is gonna have problems once they begin to get into the mileage.. you can't get turned away by it..

my dad got a 94 T600, for the first two months all he was doing was blowing tires.. he ended up blowing all eight within two months.. he could have wrote off KW's for the rest of his trucking career but he didn't.. found out that out of the 6 trucks the company got, his came with narrow drives, and because of the weight they drag around he ended up blowin them all. got eight new tires and kept rolling..

a little while after that the brace for the dash board broke (spend alot of time off road), with my little hands and some JB Weld we put it back together and kept rolling... about a year after that the all aluminum face of that Detroit engine ended up cracking, lost a bunch of water because of it.. part cost over $800,

the next season came around and i'm barreling through the grove and the driver behind me says i got a bunch of black stuff coming out of the exhaust, i replied with "smoke?" he say no, it's wet.. then the oil pressure dropped and buzzers started going off.. we pulled ova put a bunch of oil in it and kept booking with that load.. by the time we went two miles buzzers went off again and the truck shut down.. had to use overide to get it to the side of the road.. that's when i learned what a turbo is and that they go out.. my dad ran that truck for four years.. and the first two gave him hell!!! but he kept on running it, and it got better.. by the time he turned it back it it was over a million miles (he put 600 and some change on it). i was always told that things get better, and just cause they're bad now doesn't mean you should start hopping around..

if you're driving a high mileage truck and the engine blows, you should be kinda excited.. cause now that's one less thing you have to worry about.. but once again this is all just my opinon, i'm not a fan boy by no means, i just talk about the few things i know.. and i know that we could have wrote that T600 off in our books but we still ran it. You (daddymama) can write that volvo off in your book, but you'll never know if that suspension and govoner were the last problems you could have ever had with that truck.. Emerson you could choose not to buy a Volvo but then you may hop in a freightliner with a bad front end, and hasn't had an over head in who knows when, engine brake aint worth a nickle, and you just dont understand why they designed the inside the way they did..

 

The whole point of this website is to help each other, to socialize with each other, and to generally contribute to the betterment of the site as a whole.

I have not seen anybody in this thread pumping their chest about how "their" brand of truck is the one and only decent truck on the market. For the most part, you have gotten accurate and valuable info from many contributors. You really should knock it off with all the "fanboy" comments. Just because someone doesn't agree with your opinions and preconceived notions, does not make them a "fanboy", a hater, or anything else.

 

Company mechanics at NEMF have done a pretty good job over all with any of my complaints. Some things such as ECU problems they do not mess with at all. They send it to the dealer. They intend to send the truck to the dealer for the engine brake at some point in the future (when I take a vacation or get swapped out to a different truck).

After filling the fuel tanks I get a full reading. an hour later I will have empty tanks (according to the gauge anyway). An hour or 2 later the gauge will show half tanks. A few bumps later I will be back on empty. It very well may be a ground problem as you suggested. Shutting the truck off does not always reset the gauge to show the correct level either.

I know the oil pressure gauge was doing the same thing a while back. It would show a complete loss of oil pressure and then come back. Freaked me out the first couple of times. I hit the shoulder and shut the truck down immediately fearing an imminent blown engine. Checked for leaks and fluid levels only to find everything was fine. Wrote the problem up and the gauge was replaced. No more problems since with that gauge anyway (lol).

Yes the ultrashift I have is the 10 speed clutchless. My wife loves the truck especially the auto shift so I tolerate it.