Sensible commuter - Volvo S60 2.0T LPG
Discussion
Loving the car on the winter wheels. How much of it is the different tyre design and how much is the smaller wheels/higher sidewall I'm not sure about, but either way the ride is much improved. The downside is a generally "squidgier" response in cornering but this car has never been about driving fun.
What I'm not liking is the reliability. It's never actually let me down, but the brake servo has now started to fail. I'm getting "hissing brake pedal" syndrome which usually happens because a small hole in the servo diaphragm has opened up. It can apparently go on for months in the state it's in before finally going pop, but I'm not happy with the potential to lose servo assistance so I'm getting it fixed straight away.
This is apparently another known issue with the early S60/V70 cars which is fixed by an upgraded part so it should be done and dusted now, but it still doesn't change the fact that muggins here is having to shell out for it. I might be lucky and it might just be some pipework which has failed rather than the servo, but the odds aren't good.
If it is the servo then I'm getting perilously close to having spent the purchase price on repairs in the course of six months. Such is life sometimes when running old cars at high mileages.
Overall given I'm looking at near-zero depreciation I can't complain too much about the value for money I'm getting.
What I'm not liking is the reliability. It's never actually let me down, but the brake servo has now started to fail. I'm getting "hissing brake pedal" syndrome which usually happens because a small hole in the servo diaphragm has opened up. It can apparently go on for months in the state it's in before finally going pop, but I'm not happy with the potential to lose servo assistance so I'm getting it fixed straight away.
This is apparently another known issue with the early S60/V70 cars which is fixed by an upgraded part so it should be done and dusted now, but it still doesn't change the fact that muggins here is having to shell out for it. I might be lucky and it might just be some pipework which has failed rather than the servo, but the odds aren't good.
If it is the servo then I'm getting perilously close to having spent the purchase price on repairs in the course of six months. Such is life sometimes when running old cars at high mileages.
Overall given I'm looking at near-zero depreciation I can't complain too much about the value for money I'm getting.
You're right what you say about the smaller wheels you know. I have a D5 and bought it with 16" wheels, I bought some 17" Tethys a year later and had them refurbed in a dark grey and new tyres fitted, I polished the car up the day they were fitted and it looked mint. However it ruined what the car was all about for me, the suspension felt firmer and crashier and as for the already woeful turning circle, well less said the better!
I wore the tyres out, sold the wheels on ebay, put the 16" back on and now I run winter/all seasons the year round. For cruising up and down the M65/M66/M60/M62 its perfect.
Not far off 170k now, I've put 80k of those on. The car cost me £3k 4 years ago, now thats value!
I wore the tyres out, sold the wheels on ebay, put the 16" back on and now I run winter/all seasons the year round. For cruising up and down the M65/M66/M60/M62 its perfect.
Not far off 170k now, I've put 80k of those on. The car cost me £3k 4 years ago, now thats value!
Yep I agree with you. I've currently got the 17" wheels up for sale. If they don't sell then it doesn't matter as they can just sit in the garage until the warmer weather, then I'll finish off the tyres and sell them as bare wheels.
Car is back from the mechanic and the brakes feel much better, obviously the old servo wasn't doing it's job entirely correctly for some time. Cruise control has gone west but a play with the brake and/or clutch position sensor will most likely sort that out, if not I'm sure the guy who did the work will take a look for me.
So that's:
£110 for the VVT solenoid (fitted it myself)
£1100 for the clutch, flywheel, DMF and a set of brake pads plus an aircon regas
£340 for the brake servo - and that was a very good price for the part and the work.
£1550 on repairs so far. <sigh>
Car is back from the mechanic and the brakes feel much better, obviously the old servo wasn't doing it's job entirely correctly for some time. Cruise control has gone west but a play with the brake and/or clutch position sensor will most likely sort that out, if not I'm sure the guy who did the work will take a look for me.
So that's:
£110 for the VVT solenoid (fitted it myself)
£1100 for the clutch, flywheel, DMF and a set of brake pads plus an aircon regas
£340 for the brake servo - and that was a very good price for the part and the work.
£1550 on repairs so far. <sigh>
Cruise control was an easy fix in the end, the balljoint linking the clutch pedal to the position sensor had popped off. Most likely due to all the messing around when the brake servo was replaced, no biggie, it just popped right back on and now I've got my cruise back.
Good news is that I sold the old "summer" wheels for £300 which pretty much covered the cost of the servo replacement. The current wheels will just have a set of new tyres thrown on once the current winter tyres get low on tread. They're considerably cheaper than the bigger tyres anyway so I can't see any reason to run the larger wheels at all. OK the bigger wheels look a bit better, but it's a base spec S60 for chrissakes
Slowly starting to build some trust back in the car again, hopefully I'm in for a period of just putting fuel in the tank and driving it. Please. God.
Good news is that I sold the old "summer" wheels for £300 which pretty much covered the cost of the servo replacement. The current wheels will just have a set of new tyres thrown on once the current winter tyres get low on tread. They're considerably cheaper than the bigger tyres anyway so I can't see any reason to run the larger wheels at all. OK the bigger wheels look a bit better, but it's a base spec S60 for chrissakes
Slowly starting to build some trust back in the car again, hopefully I'm in for a period of just putting fuel in the tank and driving it. Please. God.
charltjr said:
hopefully I'm in for a period of just putting fuel in the tank and driving it. Please. God.
That's exactly what's happened. Gas in the tank, a top up of oil, nothing to report.Had a very odd conversation with someone at the petrol station last time I filled up. "Bet you regret having LPG now petrol prices have dropped so much, eh?". Um, well, no? Admittedly my "petrol equivalent" mpg doesn't look so pretty any more as it's in the low 40's but the car isn't costing me a penny more to fuel than the day I bought it so I'm still perfectly happy with it.
Service is coming due, so that's 12,500 miles in six months under the cars belt.
Looked through the schedule this evening and all it scheduled for is a cabin filter, oil filter and oil. The usual checks but nothing else is scheduled for replacement. Phew.
I think I'll give the cabin filter a miss as I only changed it six months ago, I'll do it at the next service.
The car continues to behave itself perfectly, it's been starting without a hitch even in -6C but then I guess that's a pretty mild day for a Volvo
Looked through the schedule this evening and all it scheduled for is a cabin filter, oil filter and oil. The usual checks but nothing else is scheduled for replacement. Phew.
I think I'll give the cabin filter a miss as I only changed it six months ago, I'll do it at the next service.
The car continues to behave itself perfectly, it's been starting without a hitch even in -6C but then I guess that's a pretty mild day for a Volvo
Just a quick update:
All is well!
The S60 is off to my mechanic next week for an oil service as per the schedule, but other than that and a slightly tired battery which needed replacing it's been ticking along perfectly.
The winter tyres have lasted well and certainly have at least one more year in them if not two, but now the weather is warming up they'll be coming off shortly. The other big advantage of running the 16" wheels is cheap tyres - a set of four from a good brand comes in at only a little over £200. Marvellous
I can't see me keeping the S60 much longer, it's a great car but boredom is starting to kick in and I fancy something with an auto box next time around, although I'll probably end up with a cheap lease deal of some sort so I don't need to worry about unexpected bills. The fact it's taken me nine months to get to that point is a tribute to the car really, it usually only takes about six!
All is well!
The S60 is off to my mechanic next week for an oil service as per the schedule, but other than that and a slightly tired battery which needed replacing it's been ticking along perfectly.
The winter tyres have lasted well and certainly have at least one more year in them if not two, but now the weather is warming up they'll be coming off shortly. The other big advantage of running the 16" wheels is cheap tyres - a set of four from a good brand comes in at only a little over £200. Marvellous
I can't see me keeping the S60 much longer, it's a great car but boredom is starting to kick in and I fancy something with an auto box next time around, although I'll probably end up with a cheap lease deal of some sort so I don't need to worry about unexpected bills. The fact it's taken me nine months to get to that point is a tribute to the car really, it usually only takes about six!
Well that didn't take long, from saying I was getting a bit bored to deciding I'm was definitely buying something else took all of a few days.
Just got to find something to replace it now. Drove a 62 plate C220 CDI the other day, very nice indeed but getting back into the S60 it does everything nearly as well as the C220 so I'm on the hunt for something a bit more entertaining - i.e. rapid
Just got to find something to replace it now. Drove a 62 plate C220 CDI the other day, very nice indeed but getting back into the S60 it does everything nearly as well as the C220 so I'm on the hunt for something a bit more entertaining - i.e. rapid
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