Volvo Problems

This dashboard message refers to the level of security being offered by the car’s factory alarm system. Generally, you will see this message if you’ve somehow turned off the car’s interior motion sensors (that detects a break-in to the car). At this point, the car is set to Limited Guard mode. When you next start the car, the system should default back to the sensors turned on, and the car will offer the Full Guard message to let you know this has happened.

If the message was Full Alarm (rather than Full Guard) there’d probably be less confusion, but in this case the translation to English from Swedish seems a bit off.

The Volvo EX30 is built at the Volvo Group's Zhangjiakou plant in China, with final assembly taking place in Chengdu, China.

The cooling system on a modern engine like the one in your Volvo should be a sealed system, capable of catching and recycling any overflow from the radiator. It does this by using a catch tank or expansion tank which allows a small amount of coolant to leave the radiator when the engine is hot, which is then sucked back in to the radiator as the car cools down.

As such, there shouldn’t be any need to top up the coolant on a regular basis. You might lose a tiny amount from evaporation over time (or possibly not) but if you’re topping it up regularly, then you either have a leak or an engine problem. Common engine problems that would cause coolant loss include a blown head gasket or a leaking water pump. A failed transmission cooler could also allow coolant to escape, probably into the gearbox where it would destroy the transmission, so you’d likely know about that by now.

But the first thing to check for is a physical leak somewhere in any of the plumbing, the radiator or the expansion tank. Modern cars often have a lot of cooling joints and junctions, many of them are made from plastic and all of them are potential leak points. Also, take a big sniff of the car’s interior. Does it smell musty or damp? Are the carpets in the front damp? If so, you could have a failed heater core (which uses coolant from the engine to heat the cabin) that is allowing coolant to escape.

You can also park the car overnight over a large piece of cardboard and watch to see if any drops of coolant appear somewhere under the car., This will help you trace the source of the leak and will make diagnosis easier.

The first thing to figure out is what type of smoke it is; oil smoke or fuel smoke. If the smoke is black, then it’s probably excess fuel that is being injected into the engine. If the smoke is a bluish-grey, then it’s likely to be oil smoke. The major causes of oil smoke are worn piston rings or valve guides and their seals. If it’s either of those thing, it will be a fairly major repair bill.

But it would also be worth checking the crankcase ventilation system as this can cause an engine to smoke, too, and is a much simpler fix.

The smart money says go with a Toyota. The RAV4 is popular but within your budget, you'll be buying a 12- or 14-year-old car with at least 200,000km on its odometer. Which still means it's probably a pretty good thing in terms of reliability, provided it's been serviced correctly up to now, but you'd have to buy carefully. A second-hand Kluger can also be a good deal if you can afford the fuel, but comes with the same caveats.

A Honda CR-V won't be much different to the RAV4 in terms of its price versus model year, but you stand a slightly better chance of finding a CR-V with relatively low kilometres. Don't be afraid to get a bit alternative and look at things like the Kia Sportage. Your ten-grand gets you into a Sportage of around the same vintage as the RAV4, but is likely to have as many as 100,000 fewer kilometres on board. Again, check for a full service history.

And given your usage pattern, don't be temped to stump up more for a hybrid SUV; there's just not the pay-off at the pump for a car that does mainly highway and open-road work.

Although both these cars are similar in many ways, there’s one area where they take difference philosophies. And that’s in the way their hybrid systems are configured and prioritised.

While the Lexus is more of a conventional hybrid with the electric motor doing a lot of the heavy lifting, the Volvo is what’s called a mild hybrid., As the name suggests, that means the electric power is limited to a 10kW boost when taking off or when the driver requires maximum acceleration.

A mild hybrid layout does still operate the stop-start function and can harvest energy when slowing down, so it’s still a worthwhile slice of tech, but it won’t affect fuel consumption as much as the Lexus’ full hybrid system.

Reliability is a bit of an unknown with any new car, but it’s fair to say that the Lexus’ reputation will count for something come trade-in time. Not to mention that, as the more hybrid-focussed of the pair, the Lexus might also be a little more future-proof.

Australian delivered Volvo XC60s built between 2009 (when the vehicle was launched here) and 2017 were built at Volvo’s plant in Ghent, Belgium. For the current-model XC60 (launched in 2017) production moved to the Gothenburg plant in Sweden.

This is a really interesting question, because most car-makers tend to quote their products’ luggage capacity in litres, rather than a set of dimensions in each direction. Even then, it’s not that simple as there are different methods fort calculating the cubic capacity of a load space, and the two methods are not readily comparable. It’s also a bit of a con-job, because a figure in litres mean very little to most people, while actual measurements in centimetres would be much more relatable.

In any case, since you obviously have two kids with cellos and school-bags, it’s clear that you’ll also need the rear seat for at least one passenger, so you need to find a vehicle that either has enough space in the rear with the first two rows of seats in place, or a car that has a split-fold rear seat to allow longer loads (like a cello or two) to pass from the luggage area into the rear seat space. The good news there is that many (if not all) SUVs do, in fact, have this split-fold seat, and that will surely accommodate even a full-sized cello which, after a bit of scratching around, I discovered is about 121cm long.

If, however, you need to occupy the whole rear seat with passengers, then you need to find an SUV that is wide enough to accept the cellos loaded across (or diagonally across) the car. That won’t be easy, because most vehicles just aren’t that wide inside. Even a conventional full-sized car-based Holden or Ford utility (which aren’t being made any longer) is only about 1400mm wide. And if you check out something like a Hyundai Santa Fe, it’s load area with the third row is feats down is just 1080mm at its narrowest point. Even the huge Hyundai Palisade is just 1111mm across the narrowest point of its load area. There will be areas where the space is wider, but that narrowest point is usually between the rear wheel-arches.

I’ll also take a punt and suggest that the cellos in question are either in carry-bags or even hard-cases which would add even more to their length. So you might find it very difficult to find anything that will accommodate a 1.2 or 1.3 metre cello lengthways in the luggage area without resorting to folding down half the second-row seat. Even a big car like a Volvo XC90 has just 1220mm of load length with the rear seat in place, and mid-sized station-wagons typically have less than a metre between the tailgate and the rear seat. The best idea might be to make a short-list of cars you’d be happy with and then visit the relevant showrooms with a tape measure (or even a cello) in your hand.

There are many variables that can determine how reliable or or otherwise a vehicle can be, especially one that's 11-years-old. A full Volvo dealer-stamped service history, careful owners and pure luck all play a role here, and should be a prerequisite. 

Research shows that the XC90's D5 diesel engine's injectors have been known to fail, and this can be an expensive fix. This may or not be associated with power-loss issues.

Blown turbos, electrical faults and overheating problems have also been reported multiple times.

Some earlier XC90s have been known to suffer from complete transmission failure, reportedly preceded by "strange" noises before bringing the car to a total stop. It seems regular full transmission servicing really reduces the instances of this happening, so again, insist on a fully-stamped service book from authorised Volvo dealers or specialists. 

While not strictly speaking mechanical, the Volvo's sunroof can leak, and this can become very costly to rectify. Neglecting this problem can then lead to electrical failures and water ingress damage inside the cabin.

Our research shows the XC90 D5 of your vintage is no more likely to break down than most European rival luxury SUVs of the same period, which is reasonably good news, though Japanese alternatives do perform better generally.

We hope this helps.

This is a pretty common complaint from owners of a lot of European makes and models. To maximise braking performance, a lot of manufacturers (including Volvo) use a relatively hard brake pad and a relatively soft brake rotor. With the result that by the time the brake pads are worn enough to be replaced, so too are the rotors (discs).

However, the general expectation is that a vehicle should be capable of covering about 60,000km before this work needs to be done, so the 30,000km on your car suggests the brakes work harder than perhaps you think they do.

As for the price, I’d assume that to be using genuine Volvo parts. Shopping around and using aftermarket replacement parts could almost halve that quote.