19 y/o with an S60 T5 - my car history and a belated intro..
Discussion
Waugh-terfall said:
Synchromesh said:
Was also good to meet Stedman
We have....history, in that orange R... Just sayin' 
Having also driven that car fast, I can confirm that it's mighty fit. WaaAAAAAAAAAARBBBB!!!!!
Warb. Got quite a few pops from it on Friday Tom.
IOB4C
Back home today from my night in Lille - a 580 mile round trip in all. My first time driving abroad, but found driving on the right only took me a few minutes to get used to. In fact, it took me just as long to get used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road when I got off the train at this end.
Had plenty of time to get to London so managed to eek out 40mpg
(you heard me right T5'ers) at a steady 62mph. In fact, going slower didn't yeild any better results - perhaps it's tuned to be most efficient at 100kph to do better in official tests?
This soon went down once we reached the Autoroutes and I could set the cuise to 80mph (130kph) in smug legality. Blissfully smooth surfaces meant I could converse with my passengers in hushed tones, above only the quiet whisle of the wind in the mirrors. A stark contract to our own M20!
Another difference - lane discipline. Perhaps it's a factor of having two lane motorways rather than three, but at no point did anyone stay in the outside lane a moment longer than they needed to. Blissful
I think the real star of the trip was the car though, not that I ever doubted it (evident by the fact that I don't even hold breakdown cover). I've discoved it's natrual habitat really is cross-continental travel.
S60 driving on to Chunnel by jlewisbarned, on Flickr
S60 on Chunnel 1 by jlewisbarned, on Flickr
S60 on Chunnel 2 by jlewisbarned, on Flickr
Had plenty of time to get to London so managed to eek out 40mpg
(you heard me right T5'ers) at a steady 62mph. In fact, going slower didn't yeild any better results - perhaps it's tuned to be most efficient at 100kph to do better in official tests?This soon went down once we reached the Autoroutes and I could set the cuise to 80mph (130kph) in smug legality. Blissfully smooth surfaces meant I could converse with my passengers in hushed tones, above only the quiet whisle of the wind in the mirrors. A stark contract to our own M20!
Another difference - lane discipline. Perhaps it's a factor of having two lane motorways rather than three, but at no point did anyone stay in the outside lane a moment longer than they needed to. Blissful
I think the real star of the trip was the car though, not that I ever doubted it (evident by the fact that I don't even hold breakdown cover). I've discoved it's natrual habitat really is cross-continental travel.
S60 driving on to Chunnel by jlewisbarned, on Flickr
S60 on Chunnel 1 by jlewisbarned, on Flickr
S60 on Chunnel 2 by jlewisbarned, on Flickr
I'm in the land of the surrender-ers at the moment! It's a turbo car so slower wont necessarily mean better. Lower than 70mph in my car is just laggy, anything over is lovely. 80mph is right in the 'band, but tends to chew fuel a bit quicker.
Yes, driving here is a doddle! I often do 10 hours in the car alone very very easily. Just a shame they don't have unlimited stretches for gay gold estates....
I see you took Jimbob out for a drive, have fun?
Yes, driving here is a doddle! I often do 10 hours in the car alone very very easily. Just a shame they don't have unlimited stretches for gay gold estates....
I see you took Jimbob out for a drive, have fun?
Synchromesh said:
I think the real star of the trip was the car though, not that I ever doubted it (evident by the fact that I don't even hold breakdown cover). I've discoved it's natrual habitat really is cross-continental travel.
With you on that one. I had an S60 D5 (remapped, of course) at 20 and probably did more miles in France than I did in the UK during my 3 years of ownership. It was very suited to sitting on the cruise at 80mph for hundreds of miles at a time on my very regular overnighters from the UK > South of France.Prior to that I had an 855 T5 at 18/19 and that was almost as good but the advantage of the D5 of course was the ability to achieve stupendeous economy which when coupled with the much lower diesel prices in France meant very cheap cross country travel.
Stedman said:
It's a turbo car so slower wont necessarily mean better. Lower than 70mph in my car is just laggy, anything over is lovely. 80mph is right in the 'band, but tends to chew fuel a bit quicker.
If I'm honest, engine response isn't my priority when I'm on cruise control mode for a few hours. Having said that, mine pulls with conviction from almost any speed in top, although I may just think that because my last car was a 1.4 'valver' PoloStedman said:
I see you took Jimbob out for a drive, have fun?
Oh yes. 
DJC said:
I had an S60 D5 (remapped, of course) at 20.....Prior to that I had an 855 T5 at 18/19
Disregarding the power plant, how did the 850 compare to the S60? Synchromesh said:
Stedman said:
It's a turbo car so slower wont necessarily mean better. Lower than 70mph in my car is just laggy, anything over is lovely. 80mph is right in the 'band, but tends to chew fuel a bit quicker.
If I'm honest, engine response isn't my priority when I'm on cruise control mode for a few hours. Having said that, mine pulls with conviction from almost any speed in top, although I may just think that because my last car was a 1.4 'valver' PoloStedman said:
I see you took Jimbob out for a drive, have fun?
Oh yes. Ha cool, I saw you're part of the IAM. I'm guessing something along those lines helped you and Jim have fun!
Synchromesh said:
Disregarding the power plant, how did the 850 compare to the S60?
That is actually quite a hard question to answer, probably because the engine is so very core to both the cars and the T5 and D5 lumps are both excellent but very different in character. My 855 was auto, whereas the S60 was manual. That said, I also had an S70 T5 manual between both 855 and the S60 and drove both my parent's 855 and 854 T5s which were both manual.
The S60 is a lot more 'assisted' than the 850/S70 and therefore everything is ultra light in comparison to the 850 which had heavier steering, clutch, braking etc. This made the S60 a lot easier to drive normally, but much less involving when pushing on. The S60 didn't like being pushed too hard but the 850 asked for it, but could be a bit of a handful if you were really pressing on mainly due to the weight and loss of traction out of corners.
Don't get me wrong, the 850 wasn't exactly hardcore but there is a noticeable difference and pushing on was more enjoyable in the 850 but I'd pick the S60 for everyday driving.
My 850 also had the 'Sport' kit which meant it sat a fair bit lower and consequently handled reasonably well, certainly compared to both my Mums 855 T5 and to a lesser extent, my Dads 854 T5. The S60 did not handle very well at all compared to my 850.
The S60 is much, much better in terms of ergonomics and design. The 850 feels very old school now whereas the S60 still looks pretty fresh both in and out. There is no getting away from the fact the 850 is old now.
When I bought my 850, it was 10 years old and still a £5-6k car. Most are now at least 15 years years and up to 20 years old and sub £1k so there are an awful lot of dogs out there. In fact, it's rare to see a good 850 these days sadly. Even most of the R models are sheds. Good ones can still command good money.
If you go down the 850 route, get an aftermarket exhaust. I had a Miltek fitted to my S70 and on full boost it sounded fapping awesome. Not too loud or offensive, but very meaningful and deep!
My 855 T5 CD - Probably the car I miss owning the most.
S70 T5 CD - I should have kept this one
My S60 SE
Stedman said:
I have a milltek
AWESOME?
Yes; do you not agree? I have driven lots of T5s with various aftermarket exhausts some quiet and some very very loud. The Miltek struck the right balance between noise and subtlety: it accentuated the 5 cylinder warble but at idle only sounded a tad deeper than the standard system yet when in full rocket mode gave a lovely deep noise which suited the car so well.AWESOME?
If you like out and out noise, it's not the right exhaust for you!
DJC said:
Yes; do you not agree? I have driven lots of T5s with various aftermarket exhausts some quiet and some very very loud. The Miltek struck the right balance between noise and subtlety: it accentuated the 5 cylinder warble but at idle only sounded a tad deeper than the standard system yet when in full rocket mode gave a lovely deep noise which suited the car so well.
If you like out and out noise, it's not the right exhaust for you!
Sorry, I meant '!' If you like out and out noise, it's not the right exhaust for you!
My exhaust can be subtle, right up until the point where you boot it high up the rev range! (3inch DP)
no drone though, not like the other Swedish counterparts 
You weren't on the VOC were you, near Hove...?
Thank you for the compliments Tom.
Sync'-apologies for thread hijack!
petrolveins said:
Subtle? Not what I'd call Stedman's Volvo. I had 4 passengers in my 330i and had to try very hard to keep up with him a while ago, with my windows down his exhaust drowned out all the sound coming from my car.
Not seen Stedmans R, but I had a play in this one with dual exits and it still was pretty subtle!
Dammit I want to buy a 850 T-5R now!
Stedman said:
Sorry, I meant '!'
My exhaust can be subtle, right up until the point where you boot it high up the rev range! (3inch DP)
no drone though, not like the other Swedish counterparts
You weren't on the VOC were you, near Hove...?
Thank you for the compliments Tom.
Sync'-apologies for thread hijack!
Ahh. Now it makes sense.My exhaust can be subtle, right up until the point where you boot it high up the rev range! (3inch DP)
no drone though, not like the other Swedish counterparts You weren't on the VOC were you, near Hove...?
Thank you for the compliments Tom.
Sync'-apologies for thread hijack!
May have been me. I was on the VOC, VPCUK, T5D5, SwedeSpeed, VolvoSpeed... most of them
Sorry for the hijack too... but at least it's on the topic of Volvos
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff