Now I find myself retired and fortunate to live in a place without winter snows, and I’m pining for a Volvo once again. I have a 2023 Mustang which is my fun car but wasn’t meant to be my only car. It’s a manual, which means that my wife cannot drive it, and it gets annoying in heavy traffic. I’m missing the comfy seats and adaptive cruise specifically of my 2016 S60 with every package and option. We don’t drive many miles now, less than 5k last year, so leasing or buying a new or even relatively new car doesn’t seem to make sense, so I’m going to try an older one that just needs a little love. We have a small camping trailer so sedans and wagons are out, we need a minimum towing capacity of 3500 lbs. So that means an SUV. We liked the XC90 and it towed fine even with the 4 cyl T5 in Colorado, though it did need Polestar tune. But we don’t need the 3rd row and I’ve always liked the size of the 60 series, so an XC60 seems to be the clear choice.
The shopping list is for a 2017 or later, to avoid the piston ring issues and anything really old. The 2018+ models are nice, and they have the updated screens with carplay, but seem to be at least $5k more than comparable 2017s. Since I’m expecting to keep this car for a long time, I’m thinking that the screen isn’t going to seem as fresh in 10 years as it does now, so I’m ok with the older style and plenty of physical buttons. Either T5 or T6 engine would work, though the T5 might be lower maintenance and should be peppy enough in the lighter XC60. Otherwise it must have all the options.
Never used CarMax before but it seems like a good play since finding exactly what I want is a challenge. I do recognize that their prices are a little high but that may be the cost of convenience, and the return policy and available Maxcare warranty. So at this point I’m awaiting a 2017 with 80k and all options to be shipped from a nearby store for inspection. The pictures look good, minimal wear and tear, and unless there’s something obviously wrong in person then I’ll buy and get an independent inspection done prior to the 10 day return window. All in it would be around $20k which still seems like a lot, but then again the last used Volvo I bought was a 2007 C70 with 70k for $16k. We drove that car year round in central NY for many years and another 60k before selling it to a neighbors high school age daughter. It was still in great shape.
No questions here just sharing my journey with this forum which has entertained and helped me over many years of Volvo ownership.