buying volvo

My previous truck was a Century Class. It had over a million miles on it when traded. It was cheap to keep, mileage in the 6+ range and the Detroit was easy to work around. Probably not as quiet as a Volvo, or good looking as pretty much anything else out on the road, but from an owner's (guy that pays the bills) standpoint, it was a great truck.

 

The Volvo is more expensive to maintain then the Century. I'm talking about the chassis and not running gear.

We have 2 Century's in our fleet;

1) 98 Century
Detroit 500Hp 12.7Ltr
13 Spd
24.5 rubber
Condo sleeper
3:50 gears
She runs about 1400rpm @70mph this is before we were governed
Mileage is all over the place. Aything from 4.9 up to 8.9 However the
average is around 7.4 give or take .5 miles. She pulls hard every gear
however a bit sluggish up long steep hills.
My biggest problem was a blown clutch at the begining of the year.
She is a great truck to keep drivers awake at night while driving,
everything rattles.

2) 04 Volvo
ISX 450hp
13 speed
24.5 rubber
Condo Sleeper
3:73 gears
1500Rpm # 67mph
The best mileage achieved was by me 7.9Mpg however we average
around 6.4mpg. She pulls good however not as good as the 98
Century. Biggest problem we had with her was exhaust manifold bolts
broke in the head. $2000 to fix. Other then that little gremlins
however really I can't complain. The interior is not noisy at all, no
squeaks or rattles. However she is a heavy truck.

3) 05 Century
Detroit 515Hp 14ltr
13 Spd
22.5 low profile rubber
Condo sleeper
3:50 gears
She runs about 1500rpm @67mph this is before we were governed
Mileage is the worst in the fleet. Can't get any better than 5.9mpg.
Noisy just like the 98. For some reason this truck does not pull hard at
all. Our 98 FLD with 435hp Detroit pulls away with the same loads.

If you ask me which truck would I choose I prefer the Century because of it's light weight and cheaper to maintain. They are comfortable and plenty of room. However if you ask a driver he would tell you they prefer the Volvo.

Another thing to keep in mind Volvo has a hollow front beam while the century is solid. My Volvo will need to have the front beam replaced next tire/alignment which ever comes first.
If buying Volvo try not to buy the ones with front air bags. They ride like a Cadillac however tend to go through steer tires quickly.

 

NADA book shows value at $15450 wholesale, $13925 loan, and $20425 Retail plus a deduct of $3200 for 400 hp.

 

12.7 is a pre-egr motor. 14 has EGR and they do cause problems.

In my mind 12.7 is better. If anyone wants to jump in and make comment on this would be appriciated.

The mileage is nice and low. Offer them 30,000 and take it from there. Also if buying make sure in the contract that it stipulates "Depending on oil analaysis" I would take sample of oil and have it sent out, this should not take more then 2 to 3 days. If oil comes back with negative results walk away.

 

I would go with a Freightliner over a Volvo any day. I've been in 3 different Volvo's over the last 3 years. They tend to do all right until they get 400-500k miles and then look out the #### just starts falling apart and will cost you a fortune to maintain. The room in a volvo is crap compared to the freightliner also. I cannot get comfortable in that ####### sleeper no matter what I do to it. Some people love them some don't.

 

If you pay more than $15K for an 05 Century you need professional help...there are THOUSANDS out there for sale ... maybe with more miles but at half the price I'd but q cheap one.

I paid $12,850 for a 5 year old FLD 120 in '01... it had 805,000 on it and it's still running today 7 years after I sold it.

 

The hollow axle is made by hendrikson. It's not a robust high strength axle. It will ride good. If you hit something with it, it will bend.

Volvo wiring issues...Volvo worked very hard to make the best engineered truck out there. And depending on your definition of best it is. Or it's the most overly engineered truck. <That means way to complicated. So they can take some technical expertise to troubleshoot. Thats a fancy way to say you need to stick your head up your butt to understand why they did something in the way they did.

For instance, remove the steering wheel and upset the YAW sensor for the ESP system and you need the dealer and their spendy computer system to reset it.

 

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