|
There are some people with older XCs that are lucky and havent had tire related AWD problems BUT that's not the case with many others. If the car doesn't always have 4 of the same tires, same wear (rotated often), etc, then AWD problems are likely AND every part of that system is very expensive.
That means that if you ever have a tire blow-out, you're on the road somewhere.....it's 4 new tires now or else. The AWD system is also harder on tires than its 2WD brother where it's not unusual to need a new set every 30K miles. If you fail to read and understand what the owners manual says about the included POS spacesaver spare (like don't use it for long, maybe 40 miles at less than 50 mph, not an exact quote) then ITs use in itself can and will do AWD component damage and yes, I've seen that happen. The commonly failing part from mismatched or unevenly worn tires, the bevel gear costs about $2,400 plus labor so that's a chunk of change to consider. You also don't know what that car's had happen before when buying it used so it might have had bad tires before.
The AWD system is then not really very durable IMHO compared to other AWD systems and with 53K now on it, someone just got out of it due to it running out of its original warranty and perhaps for good reason.
As many here have previously said before, do NOT buy a '98, '99 XC (or AWD V70, same thing IMO). Newer XCs might be doing better but it's really too early to know that for sure. If you want a wagon, get a 2WD V70 (any). IMO, you do NOT NEED AWD in the your area and any 2WD Volvo does pretty good in the winter with 4 decent snow tires, even old RWD Volvos.
|
