Massachusetts Volvo Car Dealers

I've posted here in the past about the problems we have had with our 2001 XC. Some were fairly critical. I didn't think that the newly restyled XC was any improvement. Was I wrong. A week or so ago, we bought a new 2009 XC with premium and techonology for MSRP, less 10K. It was a painless transaction with Lee Volvo in Wellesley, MA. While I recognize that our brand new 2009 is now one model year old, we keep cars for a long time and the 2009's still have the five year free scheduled maintenance and five year warranty. The new 2010's have only 4 years. We like the car a lot. It has clearly much less torque steer, is a lot quicker, and has better ride than than the 2001. Plus lots of little features that make it a great car for New England: heated headlight washers, a conservative non-wheel bending tire profile, SERIUS radio (yep, anyone driving in rural VT or NH better have SERIUS), etc. Although the technology package contained zenons and a better sterio and not much else we wanted it for increased safety on dark nights. Curiosly enough, our XC with premium and technology (only) came through with nicely tinted rear windows although it wasn't mentioned as being part of either package. Why a Volvo XC instead of an Audi or BMW wagon? Afterall, at this stage in the game we could afford to have gone German. Easy. With the 6K factory incentive, the 2.5K loyaty incentive and the dealer contribution we paid about 34K. No way an Audi or a 5 Series wagon would have been within 20K of that. Leaving money aside, the ride is great, the seats are the best in the industry (as our 2001 seats are), the wheels are not super low profile, and it has all the bells and whistles we need. (I am still not sure if I had had the choice if I would have gone for the turbo version for 2K more.) In the meantime, we kept the 2001 XC. Don't know why except maybe we are a glutton for punishment. At 105,000 miles it runs like a train (and always has: the suspension and brakes have always been issues) but we are told the drive shaft center carrier bearing is worn and the drive shaft will begin moving around shortly. This would be no big deal in most cars as you would just drop the drive shaft and replace the center carrier bearing. Volvo? Nope. You can't buy the center support separately and have to buy the whole driveshaft for $1100. Maybe VolvoMax knows of a junkyard with good used drive shafts?

Many thanks for the reply, Luisaja. This surely reinforces my thoughts about leasing rather than purchasing. I'm actually starting to think about the XC60 instead, although obviously the car is too new for us to know about reliability.

I've got a 2004 XC70 which is starting to run up some pretty sizeable service bills. I'm thinking about getting a 2009, I know it's not the best car out there but I just happen to like the dealer, the service, the car itself (previously also had a 1998 V70). I find that I tend to keep a car between 5 and 6 years, and have always purchased, not leased. I put somewhere between 12K and 14K annually on the car. What would you recommend: purchase or lease? Many thanks.

hi carman need some advice - i am coming of my lease next month. my mercury mountaineer is a 2006 premier v8 awd, navigation, loaded. the lease was 3 yr 45k miles through an x plan in 2006. I had put 2k down paying about $442 month. while i had 45k mile lease, i only used 35k so if i lease again then i plan on doing 36k. i am looking to downsize both vehicle and cost. i do however want a car that can transport family - wife & 2 kids in cars seats. do not want a minivan. i have test drove the following mercury mariner ford escape and edge subaru b9 tribeca, outback and forrester nissan murano sl volvo XC90 honda pilot i have found that the x plan seems to get me nothing as cars are going for less than invoice - would you agree? i asked for a lease price on a ford escape and they gave me $480 month. i didn't even bother negotiating since i wasn't buying - though i was amazed at the rather large amount. fact is the residual is pretty low so monthly is high i didn't ask for a price on the subaru's but the salesman suggested that the residuals were pretty decent. my wife has an outback and i wouldn't be opposed to getting tribeca, outback or forrester. i test drove a 2009 xc90 today. msrp was 44,570, sale price was 37,000 and with 3,500 down i could pay $595 a month. residual was 41%. with nothing down it would be close to $700 month - ridiculous. i was initially drawn to the volvo dealership b/c of good looking prices on 2008 models - though they said effective in november you can't get a lease on a 2008. also the msrp on a stripped down xc90 was only $36k, but it seems like those don't exist. i have x plan type access to all the ford, lincoln, mercury, volvo, nissan, volkswagon, GM, but probably wont do much for me. I like my mountaineer. the paperwork indicates i could buy it at lease end next month for 18750 + 500 + tax. I wonder if i could offer the lease company some insane low price and they would sell it to me rather than taking it in. looking on edmunds, the trade in value seems to be around $13k. thoughts on doing this and how to approach this/what to offer? Long story short - my goal is to get some sort of suv/wagon etc. Ideally if i could pay $300-400 month with no money down that would be great. lease or buy. i don't necessarily need bells & whistles though that is how the cars on the lot seem to be. maybe i need to look at buying with a 60 month loan. live in MA thoughts?

Hi, I got the below price from a local dealer in MA - I am actually giving them business for myself & my sister both getting the same vehicle - purchasing 2 XC90's w/below options - I may also get navigation just wanted some guidance to see if it was a good deal. Price does not include tax, title, registration. 2008 XC90 3.2 AWD PREMIUM PACKAGE CLIMATE PACKAGE MET PAINT VERSATILITY PACKAGE MSRP: $45,200 Sale Price: $37,850