Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Carlton
They're all good except for the T6, which is a disaster. GM transmission, grenades from the inside, fouls the cooler lines and radiator. $7,500 typically every 50-75K miles. All the motors are good. The V8 is awesome, built for Volvo by Yamaha. On a used XC90, it doesn't jack up the price much and only hurts it by about 2 mpg city/highway. Moves the car nicely. On a new one, it adds over $6K to the price if you subtract for the stuff that comes with it. If you buy a used one like an '07, the lion's share of the depreciation has passed. Safe car, 4,800 pounds. Seatbelt pretensioners on all 7 seats, side curtain airbags all the way to the rear.
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Only partially true.
The transmission is a GM 4T65E (4= 4 speed, T= transverse, 65 = torque rating, E= electronically controlled). That transmission is used in the Supercharged 3800 versions of GM front-drive cars (i.e. Grand Prix GTP, Monte Carlo SS, Impala SS, etc). It holds up pretty well up to the 280 ft-lbs rating.
Volvo's version is 4T65EV/GT (V= Volvo) is modified by Volvo (duh) with a completely different valve body, transmission control unit (TCU), oil cooler, and Haldex all wheel drive piggyback unit. The TCU/Valve body programming is thought to be why the Volvo versions fail and the GM versions do not. There have also been failures from the coolers allowing cross-contamination where coolant can mix with transmission fluid.
In late 2005, Volvo started purchasing the upgraded version of that same transmission that GM used in the LS4 V8 versions of the same cars. That helped, but the software was still not a perfect match.
When Volvo developed the Ford/Yamaha V8 version (also late 2005) they used the 'new' Aisin 6 speed which is used in lots of other Ford, Mazda, and Volvo applications. Not bulletproof, but a good transmission.
So 2006 and newer transmissions in all XC90's should be better. I'd buy a 2007/2008 off-lease for the facelift, changes, and remaining warranty. You should be able to buy a nice 2007 in the low $20's.