How many miles does it have on now SjB? (The car that is - not the wheel)
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How many miles does it have on now SjB? (The car that is - not the wheel)
34k
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Do you realise that you're a man of the world, go swanning off on business trips to all sorts of exotic places and I do nothing, laze around all day and rarely leave the North West and I've still done more miles than you in a shorter space of time?!
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Do you realise that you're a man of the world, go swanning off on business trips to all sorts of exotic places and I do nothing, laze around all day and rarely leave the North West and I've still done more miles than you in a shorter space of time?!
Heh heh! ;-)
I could add the mileage I drive in the missus' 306 plus what I ride on the Hornet but I'm afraid it's still only about 13,000 per annum.
BTW - Yes I do fly all over the world as part of my work, and if on some occasions I find myself at the back of the plane long haul I have enough airmiles to upgrade, but if my monthly (and sometimes twice-so, for the past nine years) Ryanair trip to Sweden is "swanning off", then I'd hate to learn what slumming it is! ;-)
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>>but if my monthly (and sometimes twice-so, for the past nine years) Ryanair trip to Sweden is "swanning off", then I'd hate to learn what slumming it is! ;-)<<
I dunno, I'm growing quite accustomed to it now ;-)
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That's a very keen price if it included an airbag! I suppose they transferred it across but the labour and testing can't have been cheap. A result for you!
...but having had the steering wheel (rim and spokes element only) replaced...
Airbag, airbag cover, cruise switches, audio switches, and everything else were indeed carried over from the original steering wheel. Interestingly the invoice only shows £22.90 labour charge (pre 50% goodwill discount!) which at Volvo rates is as long as it takes to sneeze! Book time for the job is however an hour, so I guess the invoice doesn't reflect reality (not that I care).
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SjB, how have you got on with the V70 generally? Mrs B really likes them (she´s Swedish) and although they are comparatively expensive out here in Germany we may consider one. Is the 2.0T any good? (it is a wee bit cheaper second hand than the 2.4T) We´d be looking at a petrol as we don´t do the miles to justify an oil burner. Does it still feel up-to-date, or is it a bit old tech now? Mpg?
Ta in advance
Barchettaman
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Hi barchettaman,
I've been delighted with it, and as you've read above it is still taught to drive. Far from feeling out of date despite the P2 platform now dating back to 1998 with the original S80, the cars curves still look fresh (I love the sculptured flanks) and leading edge technology at the time is still very much current. I have no intention of parting company with my V70.
We've owned it from new and it was the first car I've ever had that was totally glich free on delivery; I couldn't find a thing wrong with it. Now at three and a half years and 34k miles as indicated above, the only things to be done outside routine maintenance have been the steering wheel replacement that was handled so well, a turbo boost control solenoid (about forty quid) last summer, and an upper engine (torque reaction) mount that Volvo have now redesigned to stop failure . The latter two are the most common failures (25-30k miles is common for both) on the otherwise highly reliable and well designed range of petrol engines. Both are easy to replace, with the turbo solenoid taking just a few seconds with no tools required.
I regularly work in Sweden where colleagues have many variants I've driven. I've also had many as rental cars and driven dealer cars, so to write a summary of the engines available when I purchased my V70:
2.4 (170hp non turbo) - Didn't light my fire. Smooth and cruisy in nature, it never really got out of bed.
2.0T (180hp turbo) - Much, much, better than ten horsepower over the 2.4 would indicate. Very smooth and sweet in nature with good torque delivery. Much quicker, and more effortless with it, it is however at the lower end of what will effectively punt a V70 along, especially when laden.
2.4T (200hp) - the best real word engine. Strong torque from low RPM (1800PM is peak torque, this then being held over a wide plateau) but being silky smooth and effective all the way to the rev limiter gives many effective usage options. Little slower than a T5 point to point and more relaxing with it. The engines carry huge mileages with ease so I would choose a slightly older 2.4T over a newer 2.0T of the same budget.
T5 (2.3 250hp) - Really great on boost, but not best suited to give and take traffic. I went to buy one, but ended up with the 2.4T.
D5 (2.4 163hp) - Expensive injector problem aside - see the Car by Car breakdown - this engine has earned a widely held reputation of being a fine engine. It even sounds sporty as well as being economical and torquey. I didn't choose it because I prefer wide petrol power bands like the 2.4T has in spades to "sudden death" diesels. Fuel consumption was not an issue for me as like you I don't drive the mileage.
You asked about MPG: for both the 2.0T and 2.4T is typically in the range 26-31MPG depending on driver and usage. The theoretically more economical 2.0T in practice has to work harder than the 2.4T, so consumption tends to end up in the same ballpark.
For the record, since January 2005, some BSR tuning software and other modifications have resulted in my 2.4T developing 258hp and 444NM (from about 1700RPM) when last tested. The car has always been swift, refined, and long-legged but now it's also a truly effortless car to overtake in or to drive at very high speed. Wonderful on the autobahnen. :-)
Of course read the Car by Car Breakdown for all the gen, but in any case be aware that pre-2003 petrol models have an inherent problem with the Electronic Throttle Body design. Replacement is expensive, but the interent carries well documented instructions of how to clean it instead. Although being 2003 by V70 doesn't have the problematic design, colleagues do have cars that are affected. They say cleaning takes about an hour after you've done it the first time. Typically they do it every couple of years.
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That´s really useful SjB, many thanks for such a thorough review. All I´ve got to do now is keep the missus away from this thread or she´ll be down the showroom in an instant.
Hope the Volvo continues to prove trouble free and enjoyable!
Cheers,
Barchettaman
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No probs, thank you, and good luck yourself in equal measure.
If you do buy one and you do get the turbo solenoid problem you'll know because as soon as the car comes on boost, the boost collapses, only to come back a second or so later, and so on. The result is a accelerating in a series of jerks until a given RPM point when boost tends to stabilise and "Normalish" power is made. I drove all the way back to the UK from the Czech Republic with this problem, which does no long term damage to the engine but which is of course frustrating.
The turbo boost control solenoid is a small black box clipped to the side of the air filter housing.
It is fed by one cable and three hoses.
To replace it:
Unclip from the air filter housing
Depress the wire tang and disconnect the wiring plug
Pull off all three rubber pipes (even the one with a retaining clip doesn't need pliers)
Reverse to refit, noting each pipe has a coloured hatching that should match the coloured blobs on the turbo boost control solenoid body.
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Just a quick note to BarchettaMan and anyone else interested (although Barchettaman is in Germany no?).
If you are interested in buying a new Volvo in the UK, if you join one of the Volvo Owners Club
( www.volvoclub.org.uk ) you can get an extra 7.5% discount off any V70 over and above any discount you already negotiate with a dealer, and free metalic paint as well. Similar discounts available on other modles as well.
As some dealers will do good discounting this could give you a new car for the price of a 2nd hand one.
Hope this is of interest.
Cheers.
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Cheers SfD.
I am in Germany, so it doesn´t apply, alas.
Mrs B now wants a V70.
I knew this would happen.
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