USED Volvo V50 Estate (04 - 12)

My car

Decent small estate car. Made the purchase recently as needed a bigger boot to accomodate the babies buggy and my golf clubs. Liked the appearance of the R-Design with the two tone part leather seats. Have had various German prestige vehicles in recent years and the build quality of the V50 is well up ther with the best. Practical cabin although it isn't the biggest in the class. The ride is a little firm as one or two other people have mentioned but it doesn't cause a major problem. Thats the trade off for having a sporty ride. All in all, if you want to look good in a competitively priced estate car I reckon this car is hard to beat!

My car

Apart from a 4-year flirtation with a Merc 260E (not particularly comfortable, horrendous oil consumption, 2 engines in 180,000 miles) I've had an unbroken sequence of Volvos since my first 244 in 1979. The V50 is my favourite. The driver's seat is without doubt the most comfortable seat of any description (car seat, easy chair, airline seat, dentists chair...) that I have ever sat in in my entire life; finish & equipment good; acceleration good; cruising quiet & smooth; fuel economy (ave. 40 mpg) not quite up to expectations; servicing on the expensive side but Clelands of Galashiels excellent, friendly, & helpful. Frankly I wouldn't even look at anything else.

My car

After my first test drive of the V50 my immediate impression was good; good value, good kit and good looking! Having owned it for a year a few things have started to niggle me. Firstly the lights. Having purchased it in the Spring I didn't get to drive it very often in the dark. When I did it was usually on well lit motorways. Since then dark nights and regular commutes down dark country roads and the lights are just simply useless. Later models have xenons so don't buy one without them. Lights are simply too low and not bright enough. Change of bulbs and raising the beam has helped but don't expect Volvo to do it. Other gripe has to be the firm ride. On anything other then well maintained tarmac then expect a bumpy, nauseating ride. Saying that the firm ride pays dividends on the motorway - this is a cruising car. And on the positive side, the diesel engine has excellent low down torque if it does sound like a tractor when cold! Economy is excellent and performance is better compared to comparable Saab, BMW and Audi diesels.

In all not a bad car contrary to what JC says! But what has let me down is such a big way is the after sales service by Volvo. Terrible, rude, arrogant overpriced and unhelpful. Don't take your car to be serviced by Volvo. Go to a good independent, save your money and sanity.

My car

I have owned the V50 1.8 Petrol Since November and I cannot believe how much it costs to run. It eats fuel!! My car was an ex demonstrator which had 2000 miles on £16,995. After 3 months and 7000 miles I am only being offered £11500!! Oh My God, Do not not buy this car. It runs very average, save yourself the purse ache and buy a vauxhall.