What years and powertrain combos are the best buy for volvos?

Maybe 200k if you are lucky, but most likely it will start needing money right away

 

That xe package was nice new but some say they vibrate badly as the miles go up . I never drove one so can’t verify that .

 

Hard to say without maintenance history. But if it has idled a lot expect to do a head.

 

Well if long crank times before start injector cups, Volvo engine common issue, that many miles be sure transmission has been serviced, 500k is service interval, be sure doser has been changed, Def filter, dpf filter serviced, just about the miles the coolant pump pukes itself. Then check over the rest of it.
Rear upper timing covers also leak down rear of engine.

 

I’ve found 2 year old trucks that look like 15 years old. And 15 year old trucks that look like 2 year old. All depends on driver and maintenance. Not personally familiar with Volvo brand.

 

If you buy a used truck you are buying someone elses maintenance not the truck itself. If maintenance has not been done then you are spending money. And you can spend lots of it in the first year of owning it. Back when you could buy a used truck, have a mechanic look it over and be pretty sure of at least a year or two of no major repairs. Now computers and ecms etc are very expensive and very easy to damage. DPF repairs are very expensive and sometimes just do not work. To be honest your best bet would be to buy a new truck, sure it could be a lemon, but the warranty will cover parts and labor. Not downtime of course. 2nd would be to buy a very recent truck with low miles on it with some warranty left.The truck you were looking at is possibly not a good buy. But the miles on it could mean It is at the point where you could have some expensive DPF and transmission issues in the near future. The TECU harness usually starts to go at around 700000 and the engine wiring harness can start having problems. All depends. Good luck

 

Best would be something with waranty left....next would be something with all maintenance records that you could verify....then after that i would be looking for something low mileage and cheap with the expectation of having to put money into it.

No matter what you think of buying have it inspected by a mechanic you trust....then hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

 

I would not buy any truck that new of any brand without an APU. That truck probably has insane idle hours. The only way you can even hope an emissions truck hasn't been idled a ton is if it has an APU, or let dealer verify ECM history, which you would want to do anyway.

I bought my 2015 with 590k (with APU) and it still needed a lot of things around then. Radiator, coolant pump, flex hoses (exhaust), iShift fluid change, clutch, idlers, tensioners and belts.