In 2013 I had graduated high school, and decided I was going to attend the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, about 45 minutes from home. I had been up on “the hill” as locals call the university, and after my first winter up there I decided I needed AWD. The hills in Fayetteville are quite something in some parts, and coupled with snow (yes Arkansas gets snow) it made it impossible to get around. I know, I know AWD isn’t everything, it depends on tires and road conditions, but I wanted AWD for piece of mind as well.
So the search began again to find a car with AWD. At this point I was certain I was going to get another Volvo because I had, I knew, fallen in love with the look, and versatility of the XC90. I knew though that I was going to be picky with this XC90 purchase. I wanted a few things that made it a little hard to find. I wanted: active bending headlights (basically HID headlights that move with the steering wheel), AWD (duh), navigation, and most importantly the V8.
I found a few that fit my budget that were at a dealer, but looking into it more I had decided that I would be better off trying to sell the 2008 XC90 that I had, privately. After not too long, I had found a perspective buyer for the ’08, and they bought it the next day. Giving me little to no warning, I had no car to drive. I was bumming rides for the first few days, and finally borrowed a friend’s third car to drive for a week. This car was a bit different than I was used to, a 1988 Volvo 740 wagon. I liked it, however I was ready to get back into something newer to drive daily.
Knowing I had bought some time, I decided I really needed to get down to business and find a car. One night while searching Craigslist, I decided to hop on Autotrader, and there it was. A 2007 Passion Red XC90 V8 AWD Sport. I knew this was the car, so I reached out to the seller, and within 30 minutes we were talking on the phone. He had told me they were the second owners, and had done most of the maintenance at the dealer, and had the records to prove it. With about 100,000 miles on it I knew this would last me as long as I needed it to.
The only problem with this car was that it was in Louisville, Kentucky, about 10 hours away. I had talked it over with my dad to get his opinion, and he told me if it was something that I wanted I should fly up and get it. So that is exactly what I did. I left on a Friday after work from XNA, landed in Atlanta for about two hours, then reached Louisville at around 10-11 that night. The seller met me at the airport to pick me up, and I remember standing outside waiting, and seeing the car come down the road. The HID’s glowing in the dark, and the bright red shining through the street lights, I was in love. I jumped in the car, and we went to a McDonald’s to do the paperwork. I then drove towards home for about an hour, until I stopped to spend the night.
The next day I woke up early, and headed home. I stopped in St. Louis to meet up with some Volvo friends. Then I made it home still smiling ear to ear with how it drove. My girlfriend (now wife) looked at the car, and says “well it is red”. It was exactly what I wanted, and to this day is in the top three best cars I have owned.
Now, this car is unique because it was the Sport model which was only made from 2007-2008. In 2009 it was called V8 R-Design, which is more rare because it had the dual exhaust. Volvo carried the V8 to 2010/2011 and dropped it from their line.
The V8 is the best engine option in a XC90 hands down. About the only good thing that came from the Volvo-Ford partnership was this Yamaha V8. This engine was used in Ford’s SHO, and I believe their GT in some form. Volvo used it in their XC90’s and S80’s starting in 2007. The sound it would make when you started it, was astonishing, I still love hearing one start up. It was a lazy engine, doing about 80 on the highway it was at around 2,000 rpm. The power that it had was fantastic for what car it was in, a far cry from the 3.2 I had owned. I would own another one in a heartbeat.
The car was optioned exactly how I wanted. It had navigation, and the screen would rise up from the dash, and tilt away from the sun. It had Volvo’s integrated phone system which was an added plus. The HID’s were better than I had expected them to be, especially since I do not drive well in the dark to begin with.
Inside it had black leather, with a white piping down the sides. The seats were also bolstered to fit around you, as if they could make a seat more comfortable. The instrument cluster had blue gauges with LED lighting to give you a sportier feel. Like my other, this one had the flat-folding third row seat, and the split tailgate, which was awesome.
I was not able to get the window sticker on this car, but looking at the Carfax, it was sold in New York City. It somehow made its way to Kentucky I believe via auto auction. It was then sold to the people I bought it from at a Nissan dealer in Lexington.
Upon getting the car, I added an OEM trailer hitch and wiring. I pulled anything with this car I could hitch behind it. I bought a 1969 Starcraft pop-up camper that we enjoyed for a little bit. Then, I started getting heavy into older Volvos, and they would often need a tow. The XC90 pulled very well, up hills or in flat land. I did not have trailer brakes on the trailer I was using to haul, and knowing I should have, it did wear my brakes out faster than normal. The AWD was able to get the car going while pulling heavy loads, and it never complained until the end.
Looking back, I put this car through so much, towing, off roading, long road trips, plowing through snow. I always took very good care of it though. I washed it regularly, and kept up on the preventative maintenance. The car really never missed a beat until the end of our two year relationship.
I took this car to Colorado twice, once to pick up a Scamp camper, and another time to get a Volvo 1800. I also returned to Louisville another time to get a rare Volvo memorabilia piece. Most of the 50,000 miles that were put on it during the two years were going back and forth Clinton, Arkansas where my friend lived that was helping me restore one of my Volvos. It honestly was the best car to take on a road trip, I loved every mile I put on it.
As I mentioned, the end of my relationship with the car was a bit more stressful to say the least. The car remained relatively trouble free. I did have to replace the serpentine belt right after I bought it, and both front strut mounts. Then, at exactly 150,000 things hit the fan. I was parking my car in a steep gravel lot when I would go to class. When it rained it became very rutted, but it was free parking. I had noticed that coming out one day only my front wheels were spinning. I knew what this meant. Volvo’s AWD uses some unique components that always fail. First it has a transfer case right after the transmission with a gear that connects to the drive shaft, which in turn goes to the Haldex unit, and turns the rear wheels. Well, they decided to fit a fail safe collar between the drive and drive shaft, so if something happened to the drive shaft, and it locked up, it wouldn’t destroy the transmission. This collar is very common to get stripped out, thus not turning the drive shaft. I knew that all the weight I had been carrying over the years led to this being stripped. This is no easy task to replace on the V8 because of how tight everything is. They actually have to suspend the engine, and drop the front sub frame, and remove the exhaust to get to this. All I saw was dollar signs, so I lived with it.
Then, one day I got in the car, and the battery light was on. I also knew what this meant, the alternator. This is another common thing on the V8’s as the engine produces so much heat that it will actually burn alternators up over time. Well, this time I had to get it replaced. I had it towed to our Volvo mechanic, and he said it would be roughly $1200 to replace it. I told him while he was up there to please change the collar in the AWD, and I would throw in the towel after that. Well, after a month of it in the shop, he called and said it was ready. I went and picked it up, and was extremely disappointed. The check engine light was on, and every corner I took, there was this grinding sound coming from the drive shaft. I immediately took it back, and they told me they had pinched a O2 sensor wire causing the check engine light to come on, and that my drive shaft was toast. So another few weeks went by, and the new drive shaft was in, and the sensor was fixed.
Before this had happened I was able to take some very detailed pictures of the car, and list it for sale. I was honest in the ad stating the car was getting some maintenance done, and it would be available for showing at a certain date. I got a few hits, but nothing special during the time it was in the shop. Once I got the car back, I suddenly got an interested buyer in Louisville of all places. He offered me $10,000 which was not far from asking, so I agreed to meet him in Little Rock that weekend. The transaction went smooth, and he had done his research on the car beforehand. He, like me, was a Volvo nut so we already bonded. I took one last picture of the car before I left, and was ready to move on.
I had bought it for $11,000 two years prior, but just put $2,000 into the car on top of the other maintenance. Despite the high cost of maintenance, and stressful ending I loved that car. It did exactly what I needed it to do, and it never left me stranded. It stood out from the crowd, and went against the mainstream. I really could not have imagined a better car to have at that time in my life. In the end I owned it for just the right amount of time, to love it trouble free, right before more major stuff would go wrong. If you were to tempt me with another one, I might be having to add onto my garage.
Nice post and that sure is a beauty – and I like all your older Volvo’s; especially the P1800…
The Yamaha V8 does sound very nice – you never expect to heat a deep V8 growl like that from a Volvo.
I have a C30 – if you see one cheap, I think you’d like it too…I’d go with a manual.
I have thought of the C30, but kinda worried about reliability. I love the looks of them, and it would be perfect for me, but just dont know that much about them.
I am not sure I trust CARFAX. I recently sold a late model car to a large “We Buy Cars” operation here in Houston. I decided to sell to them because I did not want to deal with the public with CV19 around and the price they offered was OK.
The car is now offered on their web site at a $3000 markup. The VIN is correct and the mileage is correct. However, when I click the CARFAX link the right VIN is there but the report is completely wrong. The car I sold had three minor insurance claims (none our fault) and the CARFAX shows no accidents. Also, they have states of ownership completely wrong.
I cannot say if this is some sort of computer error or if there is some monkey business afoot.
Anyone else have and CARFAX stories?
PS Woooo Pig Soooie!!
The accuracy of Carfax is an interesting subject. Did you see a Carfax showing these incidents before you sold the car?. I’ve read about inaccurate or missing information on Carfax but I’ve never heard of a poor Carfax being scrubbed clean by a dealer.
I’m no expert but it’s possible those 3 incidents were never recorded in the first place. So the Carfax was clean when you sold your car to the dealer, to your benefit.
I disclosed to the guy doing the buying. Two showed up when another place I visited to sell ran the CARFAX I had disclosed to them also. Their offer was $500 less so i am not sure how much they were worried about minor accidents. Repairs were very well done btw.
Carfax is something that is weird. I usually look at the Carfax to merely check to see when it was serviced and what was done. Sometimes you dont get all that info though. My father-in-law is an insurance agent, and he said if the accident is not filed Carfax wont pick it up. It can get tricky I guess.
There is a list on line of the ten states that are most likely to issue a “washed” vehicle title, I guess meaning that vehicles titled in those states could have been submitted as branded( salvage) titles, but reissued to the new owners with NO branding.I also ran across a dealer last year that sent a requested CARFAX to me that abruptly stopped a a certain date and miles I think about 8 months were missing from the cars history. A red flag so I didn’t pursue it with them .Switching VINs has been reported, also. The courts have decreed that “due dilligence” is the onus of the buyer, not the sellor. Finally, I understand when a U.S. made vehicle is sold to another country, the “branding” is “lost”. EX, some of Hurricane Harvey cars went to South Africa, Latin America…shinny and new with salt damage slowing taking its toll. COPARTS even has a box that is checked when (if) a salvage vehicle is to be shipped out of country. Buyer beware!
It’s really amazing to me how differently Americans live to Europeans. I no of literally no one who would have used this, a giant thing with a V8, as their car on leaving high school! Blows my tiny mind.
This definitely isn’t the way most American college students live. Most if they even have a car, drive around in older hand-me-downs or much less interesting used cars.
$1200 for a failed alternator is something I have difficulty wrapping my brain around. But then my brain is forever stuck in “cheap rebuild at the parts store costs $20” land.
It is really tough to know what to do with a car of this kind – fairly exotic tech and uncommon. Having just eaten two repairs for known trouble spots (that didn’t fail for 100 k miles the first time) do you keep it and enjoy it? Or are there more known trouble spots that have not happened yet. I guess this is why I have never been drawn to an older modern European car.
I suppose that 2 years and $3k is not a bad cost to drive something you really enjoyed.
Heck my friend at work spent something like $900 on an alternator replacement on his wife’s ’11 Town&Country at a shop in Noblesville. I was shaking my head at that one. Two years ago a different friend at work had an alternator crap out on his FJ Cruiser and had a quote for $750 from a mom and pop shop. We popped in a new Denso unit from Rockauto and a new serpentine belt for somewhere around $200 (and he bought me some wings and beer).
It wasn’t in the grand scheme of things. Looking back I put that car through its paces for sure. I drove it, and a lot of it was not easy driving. I just could not fathom spending anymore on it.
Changing the alternator is a big job on this because of the space. The labor charge on it is crazy.
You really hit a sweet spot in so many areas; you got to drive a really amazing car at a fraction of its original price and got rid of it before it started to get back up to its original price in terms of repairs. Modern European cars get stupid expensive to keep on the road and require very specialised attention. You were very smart/lucky/some combination of both.
I did dodge a lot of bullets on it. The valve covers gasket never leaked which is a common issue. The AC never gave me an issue, which is common in the 07. Most importantly with all the towing I did the valve body never gave me trouble which is a big issue for the early build 07’s. I would say more of it was luck!
Great post on a car I’ve always been curious about, Connor. I also love the pictures of all of the cars you’ve towed with it. By the way, the Yamaha V8 was only used in the 1996 to 1999 Ford Taurus SHO and the Volvos. The GT used the 5.4-liter version of Ford’s “Modular” V8.
I understand the value of a fail safe part, but it should be something easy to repair.
The Volvo/Yamaha V8 is lovely and unusual in having a 60 deg. angle between its cylinder banks, which necessitated a balancer shaft. I have driven XC90 V8s and it is, indeed a lovely motor.
It was also bored out to 5 litres to race in the Australian Touring Car Championship and used in the Noble M600:
“The M600 uses a 4.4 L (4,414 cc) Yamaha-built Volvo B8444S 60º V8 engine which is also used in the Volvo XC90 and S80. The engine used in the M600 is manufactured by Motorkraft in the US from B8444S crate engines with Garrett AiResearch twin-turbochargers equipped with variable boost. This allows the buyer to choose from variable power outputs ranging from 450 hp (336 kW; 456 PS) (Road setting, 0.6 bar (8.7 psi) pressure), 550 hp (410 kW; 558 PS) (Track setting, 0.8 bar (12 psi)) and 650 hp (485 kW; 659 PS) (Race setting, 1 bar (15 psi)) through the use of a switch present on the dashboard.”
Here’s a link you may enjoy which also deals with the weak link of this motor:https://blog.fcpeuro.com/the-dark-side-of-volvos-excellent-v8
I had a ’96 SHO and though a bit of an underachiever compared to previous SHO’s I fully agree it made a wonderful howl at full chat. I always felt it was a great motor in search of a worthy car, whereas the Millennia S it replaced was an awesome car in search of a worthy engine.
That Polestar 5 litre motor sounds like it has a flat plane crank in it…..
Your experience is really similar to mine—when I was in my mid-20s, I went to visit a friend from uni who had just got an XC60 T6 R-Design. I was so impressed that I bought my own five-year-old XC60 T6 with 60,000 km, which I drove for 1½ years/another 60,000 km but ended up trading in on a new Škoda Octavia RS after one too many expensive services. Mine was pretty highly specced (it was a demonstrator from a Melbourne Volvo garage from when they were first released here, and would have been almost 100,000 AUD new)—this was great when all the features worked; however, in the end, this is where all the failures were. The radar for the cruise control stopped working, then the windscreen seal failed and it was going to be almost 2,000 AUD to get this replaced as the lane assistant camera needed to be recalibrated at the same time. This is all on top of getting a new radiator at 100,000 km amongst a number of other costly issues. At 120,000 km, I was over pouring money into it; Škoda were offering a 1.7% interest rate, so I bit the bullet and got something with 14 km on the odometer and a five-year warranty/roadside assistance.
While the Škoda is undoubtedly a better driver’s car, the T6 engine in the XC60 was so effortless, the seats were super comfy and, like you mentioned, the swivelling xenon headlights were excellent. It was so easy to just eat up the kilometres—it was reasonably efficient on long trips (I could get ≈ 800 km from Melbourne to Adelaide on one tank) although around town it was not uncommon to do over 15 ℓ/100 km (it averaged 11.9 ℓ/100 km over the time I owned it). I even used to take it four-wheel driving and would get lots of strange looks from people in HiLuxes and LandCruisers with lift kits!
Even with the high cost of ownership, I really miss the XC60 and would have another one tomorrow.
I never saw a red XC-90 – pretty amazing hue. I always loved the 90 – it was a simple, stoic design that has withstood the design test of time. Unfortunately, like with nearly all European cars, maintenance is frequent and expensive. I loved our little S70, but after 60k miles it was going to send us to the poor house.
If only Lexus or Infinity could turn out an XC-90….it would well worth the price of admission…
Infiniti did turn out a vehicle somewhat similar to this which also had a V8 and was offered in this exact shade of red, the FX45.
They were very entertaining to drive and pretty much bulletproof, which can’t always be said for XC90’s. It’s a real shame that Infiniti has lost what used to make them special!
“I did not have trailer brakes on the trailer I was using to haul, and knowing I should have, it did wear my brakes out faster than normal.”
It goes way beyond concerns about increased wear IMO. A car trailer of about 5klb being towed by a ~5k vehicle absolutely NEEDS trailer brakes, especially with looks like quite frequent use in this capacity.
Nice car and I think you hit the sweet spot of enjoying a heavily depreciated luxury SUV for a few years and didn’t get burned too bad.