As my plans to dump the GTI to get out from the payment continue, I'm zeroing in on what I want for a replacement.
The 2005-2010 Volvo V50 2.4i (non-turbo) seems to be everything I want in a vehicle. I'd love to find a 5-speed manual example but may settle for an automatic as it's not a huge dealbreaker for a daily driver with the traffic I see (at least, as long as they aren't mechanically problematic).
I even found this relatively nice example somewhat locally and may go check it out.
That said, my experience with Volvos ends with the 850. I've had a number of redblocks along with a 965 and an 855R, and they were all good vehicles (I particularly regret selling my 744t and 855R) but these newer CANbus heavy shared-platform Volvos are a bit foreign to me. I know about the obvious stuff like 100k timing belts, regular trans fluid changes, etc. but that's about it.
Anyone here owned one of these? Is there anything I should know or watch out for as I go looking at these? Should I plan on plunking down for a knock-off VIDA DICE setup immediately after purchase? Are the automatics reliable and tolerable?
