My sister is looking at buying a Volvo XC60. Probably 2013ish, T6 AWD.

Last I knew, Volvo had a bulletproof reliability record, though in the unlikely event something did break it could get expensive. Is that still the case? All the reviews I can find for the XC60 have nothing but good things to say, but they all just base it on a test drive.

 

If it has the same transmission used in the T6 XC90, she should run like the wind.

 

I know ancient volvos have this reliability record you speak of.
Never heard the same for the newer ones.

 

I almost replaced my wife's CX-7 with an XC-60, but I know a guy who has an XC-90 and had all kinds of expensive problems with it. I love the style of the XC-60. They are gorgeous, but I couldn't see paying the money for a possible headache right now. Maybe in a few years I'll buy one, but for now we got a fully loaded CX-5 that was a year old for a little over $20k. It's AWD, gets around 30mpg's...wife loves it. I hate it, just cause its a slow turd... otherwise it's nice. It's been good to us so far.

 

If it's anything like the S60, it'll be a PITA to repair simple things. I had a friend that needed to replace a clogged PCV system at only 50k miles. The PCV/hose kit was around $150 in parts, then $1200 in labor.

From my brief google search of "clogged xc60 pcv" it looks like one of the most common complaints across many volvo models.

S60 example:
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?176501

XC90 example:
http://www.justanswer.com/volvo/7gu8...html#re.v/150/

XC60 example:
http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthr...0-PCV-Problems

XC70 example:
http://repairpal.com/why-does-it-bur...every-week-024

 

Thanks for all the advice and info guys. She ended up buying a 2011 Touareg instead, so clearly maintenance costs weren't a huge factor for her in the end. Very nice, comfortable car, I must say.