Tell me about Volvo V50s

[Burnsy2023]

So my current V70 is getting to the point where it may become uneconomical to keep repairing. It's a phase II 2.4T petrol and whilst I love it, the old dear has clocked up around 160k. I'll keep running it until it dies but I fear that time may be soon and contingencies should be accounted for.

I'm kind of married to the Volvo brand and have been looking at downsizing from a V70 to V50. I love the space and flexibility of the V70 but most of the time I just don't need the space and I'm finding it hard to justify the premium and running costs of the slightly bigger brother.

I'm looking at the 2.0 Diesel D3 with a decent trim, ideally SE Lux Premium, but it depends what I can find. I'm looking up to 4 years old with a budget of around £10k.

So are there any issues that I should be aware of or any advice from current or previous owners?

 

[GreenMint]

Probably not the greatest help, but my Dad has had a 58 2.0D for 4 years and loves it, nothing has gone wrong the car feels great, drives well, looks good enough, but for what it is he really loves it and I do enjoy the car!

 

[panthro]

I nearly bought a V50. The R Designs look nice and they drive ok. I doubt you'd see any major problems with a newer model; they share most parts with the Mondeo. There isn't really that much space though, I thought they'd be a lot bigger but I guess that's what the V70's for. I went for a 3 Series estate instead.

 

[Tinders]

I nearly bought a V50. The R Designs look nice and they drive ok. I doubt you'd see any major problems with a newer model; they share most parts with the Mondeo. There isn't really that much space though, I thought they'd be a lot bigger but I guess that's what the V70's for. I went for a 3 Series estate instead.

Its based on a focus platform, not mondeo iirc?

 

[richolmes72]

I bought an old V50 cheap 6 months ago as needed an estate for renovating my house. Build quality good, especially considering it's done 210,000 miles although my washer bottle has sprung a leak somewhere.

Flat folding passenger seat makes it more practical than many full size estates.

Got the T5 auto, quick and smooth.

A bit bland and rolls a fair bit but the steering has reasonable feedback and super comfortable seats.

 

[[TW]Fox]

They are decent cars but I cannot think of a single reason to spend £10k on one - they are based on the 2004 Focus and came out 10 years ago and remained fundamentally unchanged throughout production, just bits of bling added here, a few engine refinements there, etc.

So spend half that on an older one and it's basically the same car.

 

[MassiveJim]

They are decent cars but I cannot think of a single reason to spend £10k on one - they are based on the 2004 Focus and came out 10 years ago and remained fundamentally unchanged throughout production, just bits of bling added here, a few engine refinements there, etc.

So spend half that on an older one and it's basically the same car.

Except it will be a more tired version, unless you find the needle in a haystack that is the unmolested example somewhere, but that will command a price premium anyway.

 

[Demon]

Except it will be a more tired version, unless you find the needle in a haystack that is the unmolested example somewhere, but that will command a price premium anyway.

I tend to take the newness of design into consideration when buying cars, but it's all subjective.. I wouldn't take a newly design Corsa over a 5 year old designed BMW 1 series for example, I'd look at each on its own merits, and quite frankly I don't really mind if a car is based on a 10 year old platform if engines/electronics/suspension etc have all been updated regularly..

As you say, getting a less tired, newer example if it has all the right kit in it is fine with me.