hi all

Any experience of these cars, tell me about your woes. Petrol or Diesel, manual or auto box.
Not much in the mpg figures and not anticipated to be running up massive miles

They are cavernous sofas on wheels, and as such handle like them.

Thats the idea, will tow and consume mtb’s 😀

Comfy enough but our ’07 model (new shape, D5) has taken a bit more upkeep than we’d like.

It gets a pretty easy life and has FSH but at about 60k miles (owned it since 30k or so, can’t remember exactly) – from memory, we’ve had a new intercooler pipe, new sensors in the suspension, new alternator, new steering bits (steering lock wouldn’t disengage, needed taken to Volvo on a trailer and new bits), new brake callipers (front, I think), not sure what else I’m sure there’s more. On top of normal servicing etc.

Each time has been a few hundred quid (up to nearly 1k) and it’s needed towed to volvo once. Maybe that’s normal for a car but it is poor compared to my 02 Honda Civic with 125k on the clock and we were hoping for something a bit better from what we considered a quality brand.

It goes fine – not fast but shifts OK. Not that economical but that doesn’t sound like a huge concern for you. It swallows bikes very easily. Seat down and it’s very easy to throw bikes in the back without removing any wheels or dropping saddles. Seats up and you have a big boot but you’ll need to remove at least a wheel.

Any specific questions, drop me a note and I’ll do my best to answer.

Build quality is ridiculous.. Everywhere one bolt would do there are four!

Go test drive a D5 (2.4t diesel) 163 or 185bhp depending on year.. Nice smooth 5cyl.. plenty of go and the mpg will pleasently surprise you.

We get about 30-35mpg – which did surprise us but not in a pleasant way. (D5, 185bhp)

To be fair, it’ll push 40mpg at 65 on the motorway but any stopping/starting/accelerating or more realistic motorway 75mph and the fuel goes a lot faster.

Much thirstier than the equivalent BMW or Audi (5-series, A6). On the plus side, you won’t be accused of being a cock, but people will assume you are senile instead.

Euain that sounds low.. I think the older 163hp ones don’t have the DPF and are known for better mpg but yours surprise me.. Maybe you are doing more shorter or town journeys.. shrug..

Average in mine is 40-45 measured over a few tanks depending on whether i do more town or motorway at the moment.. That’s calculated figures not from onboard computer..

Managed to get that to read 72.4mpg over 90odd miles at 65 the other eve! Didn’t get chance to brim it and see how far off it was..

Anyway i’m used to thirsty petrols so maybe i’m getting carried away to see mpg numbers above 20!

Ran a t5 geartronic for a few years – suffered a number of electronics failures, including door locks, abs module, throttle bodies (supermarket fuel). Fuel cap fell off.

Overall…I preferred my 850.

We replaced it with a merc estate – which had a warranty that got hammered – was ok ish post that.

Avoid main stealer servicing like the plague

Flashy’s got one.

Whether that puts you off or not I don’t know!

I have one as a company car, ours has been chipped to 235bhp. Goes very we’ll, not sure the yellow and blue paint job is to everyone’s tastes tho 😆

Wife has a 54 plate 2.4 140bhp 5cylinder petrol that has 125k on the clock, gets used and abused far beyond the call of duty for her business. Owned for 5 years.

Averages 25mpg but knew that when buying – didnt want a diesel (I dont like modern diesel’s due to DPF/injectors/DMF).

Is massive with seats dropped, loads of cool swedish design features for a 10 year old car. Hard wearing interior/leather seats – ours looks like new inside despite being filled with boxes most of the time.

Built like a tank – she ran it into a wall – replaced bumper/lights/bonnet myself – absolutely huge underneath hence 25mpg.

Barge like handling – not much fun to be had on Welsh/Scottish twisties where it ties itself in knots but brilliant at crossing continents-seats are the best I’ve ever sat in.
Good CD player/sound system.

Has needed 2x rear calipers due to rubber sealing boot failing and rusting pistons. Handbrake mechanism required rebuilding in brake drums. Otherwise standard service items and a gearbox flush to be on the safe side.
Front wishbones bushes will need changing shortly but to be expected with mileage & car weight.

Plenty of forum info out there if your handy with spanners.
Petrols are far cheaper than diesels.
Fully galvanised bodies (certainly on pre Ford ones) so no rust worries.

Major issue is the autobox which ends up writing these cars off due to being ‘sealed for life’
Check autobox fluid colour – if black and smelly then walk away. Dont buy with a towbar fitted unless autobox has the extra towing cooler fitted at same time otherwise autobox fluid will be cooked and eve then think twice.

Would deffo buy another if ours was stolen/damaged beyond repair.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BjI1lG2q4A[/video]

The computer readout on my old XC70 D5 was a little optimistic. So 40mpg on the computer equated to 33mpg ish. Best I saw was 50mpg on the computer so around 40mpg in real life. Tank range was 420 to 510miles and never the 650+_ range to empty estimate!

I now have a V70 1.6drive R Design. This car has the 1560cc diesel engine. Best consumption is around 60mpg however 53 to 58mpg is more the norm on a run at 65mph. 30mpg around town. 40 to 50mpg extra urban. I typically manage around 650miles per tank and on one occasion 800miles. (67 litres typical fill)

I absolutely loved mine, 2001 T5 ex police with 100k on the clock when I bought it and 178k when I laid it up when I came to oz (bad things happened to it after that 🙁 )

Was the 2.3 turbo T5 un chipped and still pretty quick. The later 2.4turbo T5 was slightly more powerful but ecu chips wonderfully up to 320bhp/400nM (I know because I have one in my S60… :D. Had a couple of engine seals need replacing and it always leaked / used a little oil but it had had two careful owners – me and the police 😛

Massively spacious and very comfy. With the seats down you can get two full DH bikes in with the wheels on and gear around them. Apart you can squeeze 4 DH bikes and 4 people in as long as you don’t mind stuff everywhere!

Handling wise ok its not a sports car but you can still get them sideways around roundabouts. Performance its pretty quick of the line but it excels as a midrange car, the 2.4 T5 chipped has amazing torque but as stock they are pretty damn good. used to average about 27.5mpg with a bit of a heavy foot and a mix of driving. if I was careful and or doing motorway miles I could get it up to 32-33mpg. That said the engine probably wasn’t in its prime!

Oh and they are SOLID. Had a Merc shunt an astra in to the back of mine whilst parked and it wrote the Astra off completely (creased boot up to spare wheel well, squashed radiator against the block etc etc) and there wasn’t a mark on the V70, had the Ovlov up on the ramps and you couldn’t even tell 😀

I currently own a 2006 T5 (2.4) S60 and a 2006 S40 T5 AWD and I’m pretty much a Volvo for life driver now.

Also if you buy a white one and a Hi-Vis Jacket then traffic in the fast lane is a thing of the past! 😀

I had an early P2 one (X Reg)
Electrics were always crapping out. Parts were expensive.
Preferred my 940.

Yeah, that window is made of gaffa tape

Most of the cars listed are autos, for some reason. You mention the oil cooler for the auto box, is the cooler visible when opening the bonnet ( separate radiator) or is it a shared radiator with the engine.
Best take some allen keys with me to check oil condition then

Not exactly trouble free motoring then! or they will do big miles with a little help

We had an early T5 (W reg) for about 6 years or more which was a great car but thirsty. Only issue we had was the throttle body going phut which was a known issue (I’m sure they fixed it). Engines will go a long long way.
If we ever get rid of the XC90 (doubtful) I quite fancy an old 940 or similar as a mobile skip.

Used to have a T5 too, some scrote wrote his ‘pimped’ off nova driving into the back off me whilst I was waiting to turn right, he hit the tow bar & ended up the a V-shaped grove all the way to the wind shield 🙂

I just bought an ex dem d5 auto. It’s got lots of toys but is a bit wobbly compared to the a6’s I’ve had before. I’ve only had mine week or so and it says 40 ish on the lying thing. Haven’t brimmed it yet so don’t know how accurate it is.

It’s big, reasonably plush inside, wobbly but grunty with 215bhp (dulled a bit by the auto box). They are ~£5k cheaper than the equivalent garman stuff but that may well be for a reason…..

I had the Pre V70. Manual 850R 300BHP AMAZING BEST CAR EVER. still miss it!!!
Noone ever expected it to be as fast and handle as well as it did.
Was like doing 100MPH in your living room.

I think you guys are all looking at newer models than I am, 2000 to 2004ish for me as will be our Third car or my car if daughter passes her test, so looking at 100k miles ish
Now worrying about auto boxes and the overheating/ cooking oil and contents as previously mentioned

feckinlovebbq thats one nice looker, speed humps and off road issue when fully loaded?

Deffo be worried about the autobox fluid- its the reason many are broke for parts on Ebay. Replacement boxes are £2k – ebay ones are unknown condition.

Its 2 mins to check the condition of the oil, take it for a spin and see how it changes -especially when cold ut they are a bit lurchy/notchy until the fluid warmms up.
The fluid is special stuff – DO NOT USE standard ATF – it will kill the box. The fluid is approx £300 for the 12(IIRC) litres it needs. Plenty of info out there on how to do it though.

Diesels have potential injector issues around the 100k from what I could gather and there are 5 of them so unless doing huge mileage the cost benefits of diesel could be quickly overcome.

The 140bhp 2.4 petrol is a non turbo ‘old school’ engine and will run forever-providing the timing belt is changed at 80k (IIRC).

Front wishbone bushes are another supposed weak area – I bought a pair of genuine Volvo ones from ebay for £200 thinking I need to do them buts its been fine = passed MOT with no issues.

Wife went from an a nice MX5 and was crying when handing the keys over to the new owner she loved it that much, looked at all estates as needed something big for her burgeoning business, didnt want a V70 due to the image but settled for the boot space – she absolutely loves it now and wouldnt ever sell it.

Ours recently in a non fault accident (hit by a Saab93) and was being fixed, had a new Ford Galaxy then a Hyundai I40 courtesy cars – both new, both crap compared to our Ovlov. Couldnt wait to get it back.

Edited to add – forget daughter going on insurance – they are expensive to insure.

Smartay – It was low. It managed foresty carparks but it had to be slow. Was super stiff so it wasnt plesant but it got there.

Did a trip to fortwilliam for the world cup fully loaded(5people, stuff for a week, bikes and beer). Wore the rear tyres through to the ply. On the way home we were lighter 1 less person and no beer so it was ok.

As standard it would have ridden a little higher and i think it would have been ok.

Miss it soo much.

Most of the cars listed are autos, for some reason. You mention the oil cooler for the auto box, is the cooler visible when opening the bonnet ( separate radiator) or is it a shared radiator with the engine.
Best take some allen keys with me to check oil condition then

Not exactly trouble free motoring then! or they will do big miles with a little help

I think the additional oil cooler is visible behind the bumper when fitted, IIRC its part of a volvo tow bar package, the danger is with aftermarket fitted towbars and an additional cooler being fitted. Either way I wouldnt buy a Volvo with a auto and a towbar.

I’ve had my V70 D3 140bhp auto for nearly a year now, and I have to say its excellent, so far. I’ve had it since new and covered nearly 19k. The fuel economy is rising nicely. Average now says 46.9mpg but I easily get mid 50’s on the motorway and well over 700 miles out of a tank. It appears to be very well put together, AND wait for it…………It doesn’t handle like a boat.

But the reason I went for the Volvo over the Mondeo, 5 Series, Audi A6 was the boot. On paper they all are much of a muchness, but in the real world the Volvo just works as a space. It’s a big square hole! all the others have a sloping roof line which cuts the useable space like you wouldn’t believe.

I drove a D5 auto down to Italy last year. It’s a lovely motorway engine, but I wasnt a fan of the gearbox. Not impressed with the MPG either. The front suspension also felt slightly baggy, despite only having 60k on the clock.

Nice enough car though, wouldn’t discount owning one if the price was right.

Edit: Boot is great. Rear seats fold flat on top of the bench to give masses of space in seconds.

Like any big estate you’ve got to do the Mondeo Challenge really. For some reason I thought the V70 was a fair bit bigger externally but it’s pretty similiar. Boot capacity isn’t very different with seats down, but the boot entrance is better on the volvo which is great for bikes. Volvo feels better made but not convinced it’s any more reliable, you see more grumbles about the volvos (maybe volvo owners just expect better than mondeo owners?) Interior is nicer on the volvo but adequate on the mondeo.

With me it basically came down to the drive… The volvo was kind of wobbly in corners despite being much newer than the mondeo I ended up picking up, the engines were pretty comparable (it was a 160bhp 2.4 I think vs my 2.2 155) but the fuel economy’s inexplicably miles worse on the volvo. (and it’s not like the tdci is exactly super-efficient or madly powerful). Oh, and the D5 just seems very expensive to buy.

I wanted a T5 tbh! Did like the D5 but it just didn’t compete in the end.

My parents had a 54 plate V70 D5 with an auto box. The gearbox blew up after 6 years, about 100,000 miles. Standard Yamaha box in the D5 AWD used for towing a horsebox, but I’d avoid it regardless as it wasn’t that nice anyway- old fashioned auto nastiness.

Vast inside, I always thought it was like driving a dinosaur. Fast but not especially pleasant. They have since had a V50 2.0 which was OK but had its own reliability issues, and now a V60 D5 which is very nice actually, and awfully fast.

I had (until last week) a 2012 V60 D5, which is the same chassis and drivetrain as the current shape V70. My parents also have a 2011 V70 and we’re very much a Volvo family (other than I now have a Golf Mk5 R32).

In short, the design theme of the post 06 V70 is “box” while the V60 is “sculpture”. I think there’s 10mm difference is length, but a couple of hundred litres of boot space.

They’re truly soothing cars of the very highest quality.

They’re truly soothing cars of the very highest quality.

🙂

We obviously have different standards around this. I’ve put about 500miles on mine now and I know this isn’t much but… I do know it’s not as ‘nice’ to be in as an A6, it doesn’t drive as well as an A6 (itself not renown for its dynamism…) and it doesn’t feel as good quality as an A6. It’s ok but no standard setter.

Mmmm, praps I should have got another A6? 🙂

We bought a 55 plate D5 185bhp manual 2 months ago with 77,000 miles on the clock for £6k. We love it as has been noted above it’s like driving your living room, plenty fast for our needs huge boot space not tried putting bikes in it, that’s what roof and tow bars are for. Not sure of real mpg, computer is stating 40mpg getting roughly 550 to a full tank.

We just bought a 2001 T5 manual, and so far it’s fantastic VFM, not efficient but we could cope with that already having run a 9-5 aero and 330i bmw in the past.

As people have already said, very spacious, and comfy, corners like a sofa but will press on if required, and massively quick in a straight line.

Other thing to mention is the forum support online is great, and has loads of helpful members.

If you’re anywhere near malvern and want to come take it for a drive you’re more than welcome, drop me an email

Smartay – I’d be wary about the 200-2004 V70s with high mileage (i.e. over 100k)

They are heavy cars so are hard on their front suspension and they have a LOT of electronics. You’d be better with with the model before (the squarer one – the P1 platform, the ones you are looking at are P2).
Suspension parts are half the price and it doesn’t have so many ECUs. If I remember rightly the P2s have 11!!!!

The P1s are easier and cheaper to work on at home – parts cost less and less trips to dealers or independents to get them to fix things on the computer.

For example, on mine (a 2000 X reg P2 with the 2.4) the binging noise for no seatbelt annoyed me, so I took the fuse out. That sets off the airbag warning light which can only be reset for an hour of a main dealer’s time. Airbag light is an MOT fail.

YGH, just to be clear, you are saying to avoid a car based on your experience of messing with a safety system and it resulting in requiring dealer intervention? Failing to see why that is a problem?

These cars do have well known issue with front suspension wishbones, but ehy can be easily upgraded to powerflex items for little cost. And it’s not as if tehya re the only car with this fault, the BMW E46 had a very similar issue. If you cannot wield a spanner then avoid any older car which will require maintenance, as labour rate will make most repairs uneconomical pretty quickly, irrespective of the make.

I don’t call a seatbelt warning ‘boing’ a safety feature, more a condescending, annoying pain in the dick.

My experience is that these early P2 V70s are dogs. High mileage ones need lots of work since they are so heavy they wear their suspension badly, need to go to the dealers to have their computers fiddled with, have terrible fuel economy, are incredibly boring to drive and handle like shit.
The seats were amazingly comfortable and you can fit loads of stuff in them though!

I swapped mine for an Alfa 156 sportwagon of a similar age (13 years old) and mileage (~140k) and it was a joy to own and drive. That V70 sucked the spirit of any desire to drive. They are grandad’s cars and of all the cars I’ve owned, the only one I’ve sweared never to by another of.

Just my experience obviously.

@ yourguitarhero…. bollocks, wish you’d said earlier :-/

YGH, completely agree with you on the handling, it ain’t no sports car, even with 250BHP T5. I used to think getting out of my 3 series into a boxster made the 3 series seem barge like, but getting into the volvo does require a serious change of expectations! I think my old navara handled better!

Fuel consumption is pretty terrible, same-ish BHP as the 3 series but 6mpg less! which is about 17%!

They are cavernous, but we are considering changing back to a navara considering the state of roads around us… V70s don’t seems to like potholes!

Hi All

Viewed a 2000 2.4 petrol noticed that the pipe from exhaust manifold to intake/ maf sensor missing is this a common “tweek”. Probably only used when starting cold as an air preheater, any experience.