I concur with Nisk, I have never owned a 2.5, firstly because I looked under the bonnet of one and it frightened the life out of me, the Haynes manual did nothing to allay my fears neither have the reports of things that can go wrong and the difficulty in obtaining certain spares. I have had four 2.1s which are difficult enough to work on but I have managed to maintain them so far. The head gasket on the 2.1 is a pig, I have recently done mine and hope not to have to do it again! but a good 2.1 will go on forever and they have quite enough power for me (providing they are manual). Late 2.1 manual estates are getting very difficult to find and I have been tempted to buy another one to ensure continuity of use.
Crooser - I will be interested to know how they compare, when I have tried other vehicles, I have been very pleased to get back into my XM.
xm2.5 vsx estate versus volvo v70 d5se
Moderator: RichardW
sad to say i bought the volvo but only because of the work involved doing the head on the xm which i would probably have to do one day in the distant future.after 14 years of having a very large diesel american estate[oldsmobile custom cruiser] i don't regard the xm as a big estate,but along side the volvo it's big because the volvo is a midget.the volvo is 10 inches shorter and over a cwt lighter.and now the real comparisons.lift both bonnets,with the xm you can't get a hand in anywhere because everything is so tightly packed,there is no room for air to circulate hence the red hot engines.the volvo has a 5 cylinder engine,33 more horsepower and yet there is a good 6 inches between the radiator and the engine wich means you can effect repairs or maintenance easily,at the back the turbo is in easy reach.comfort,the xm wins but only because of the suspension.with interior build quality the xm isn't even in the running.stability the volvo wins as it does with performance due to the more powerful engine.surprisingly the volvo is more economical.that big old gas cooker that you want to dump won't fit in the volvo but it will in the xm.with heating and cooling and instrumentation the volvo wins again.all i can say now is--- sorry.