Going to see an S60 today
Discussion
well, thats my morning sorted. Just got off the phone to my insurer who have quoted me £82 to change the car on my insurance policy from my MX5 to a Volvo S60 2.0L Turbo. That seems fairly reasonable to me, so I'll be setting off in a bit to go and grab a mate and we're going to shoot off and go and see an S60 which I've had my eye on. If it drives as well as it is good looking, no doubt I'll end up buying it! Supreme comfort and an 'unmarked traffic car' experience beckons.
I'm pretty certain, having looked at over 40 pictures of the car that I won't be disappointed. Good service history backs up my certainty but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. Now that I know how little my insurer is asking for the change of car I can be quite relaxed in looking for the best one I can find.
I went down and viewed the car, what a referhing experience, to go to look at a car and it not be riddled with various faults! I looked at it and it was exceptionally clean, straight and in good order.
It's a metallic blue 2001 model with 65,000 miles on it through one owner. I took it for a test drive and I was very impressed. It's very quiet inside, the refinement is excellent. The seats are very comfortable with two heating functions and the seating position is good too. There are the obvious shedloads of kit too, and plenty of buttons to fiddle on with. The steering is light compared to the stiffer feel of my MX5, and it's not the most communicative but the car feels very stable and planted and inspires confidence. The turbo kicks in very smoothly with a noticeable shove of torque but never feels unruly, delivering the power in a fairly linear fashion and quickly accelerating you to some impressive speeds.
I'm just impressed with the extreme level of comfort and excellent build quality afforded, and the car drives excellently too and is exciting at the same time. Obviously I'll be able to speak properly about the car once I've got it on the drive and lived with it for a while but I was impressed. Deposit is now paid, and I'll be trading in my MX5 towards it for a very reasonable value hopefully on friday. Looking forward to getting it home and getting it photographed!
I was also very pleased with the dealer, whose website had 41 pictures of it showing the car in a lot of detail, so I knew what I was going to be looking at when I saw it. Overall, very pleased.
It's a metallic blue 2001 model with 65,000 miles on it through one owner. I took it for a test drive and I was very impressed. It's very quiet inside, the refinement is excellent. The seats are very comfortable with two heating functions and the seating position is good too. There are the obvious shedloads of kit too, and plenty of buttons to fiddle on with. The steering is light compared to the stiffer feel of my MX5, and it's not the most communicative but the car feels very stable and planted and inspires confidence. The turbo kicks in very smoothly with a noticeable shove of torque but never feels unruly, delivering the power in a fairly linear fashion and quickly accelerating you to some impressive speeds.
I'm just impressed with the extreme level of comfort and excellent build quality afforded, and the car drives excellently too and is exciting at the same time. Obviously I'll be able to speak properly about the car once I've got it on the drive and lived with it for a while but I was impressed. Deposit is now paid, and I'll be trading in my MX5 towards it for a very reasonable value hopefully on friday. Looking forward to getting it home and getting it photographed!
I was also very pleased with the dealer, whose website had 41 pictures of it showing the car in a lot of detail, so I knew what I was going to be looking at when I saw it. Overall, very pleased.
Edited by Baryonyx on Tuesday 10th May 12:36
I did think about the T5 but the petrol costs and insurance costs put me off. My mate was talking of their legendary thirst and of frequent petrol stops in his traffic car. So I looked towards the 2.0L turbo, which is more than fast enough to be great fun to drive. I'm looking forward to trying the car on some local roads, as I didn't know the roads at all round the garage. I love the fact you can touch the throttle nicely and cruise around like that or press it slightly more insistently and feel the woosh of the turbo kick in.
It's my first turbo powered car too!
It's my first turbo powered car too!
The Crack Fox said:
Great cars. The S60 T5 is a particular bargain.
Yep, chap in my office just sold one on behalf of his (sadly, unwell) father. Lovely low mileage example too - worth buttons now unfortunately.He tried a few weeks on autotrader but then just chucked it in to webuyanycar for what was actually not a bad price in the end..
There is a bloke near me who buys S60 T5's off Northumbria Police when they retire them, and he sells them on fairly cheaply too. Probably not a bad buy as the traffic cars have always been immaculately looked after (my friend babied his, and was gutted after it was written off after he left the unit, which just goes to show the attachment the drivers feel for their cars!).
epom said:
good job the dealer was a good one... or his name would have been 'blackened' on here 
I think the OP has been looking for a while. Probably thought today would be the day that never comes.OP - Is it an SE? I had a D5 one a few years ago and loved it. So comfortable, and a superb sound system.
Baryonyx said:
I did think about the T5 but the petrol costs and insurance costs put me off. My mate was talking of their legendary thirst and of frequent petrol stops in his traffic car. So I looked towards the 2.0L turbo, which is more than fast enough to be great fun to drive. I'm looking forward to trying the car on some local roads, as I didn't know the roads at all round the garage. I love the fact you can touch the throttle nicely and cruise around like that or press it slightly more insistently and feel the woosh of the turbo kick in.
It's my first turbo powered car too!
how much difference is there MPG wise between the 2.0T and the T5?It's my first turbo powered car too!
I've never owned the 2.0T but ran a T5 (albeit a 850T5)for a few years, my guess would be not much imho...not enough to stop me getting the T5 over the 2.0T if that is what I was looking for
Edited by y2blade on Tuesday 10th May 15:42
Baryonyx said:
I went down and viewed the car, what a referhing experience, to go to look at a car and it not be riddled with various faults! I looked at it and it was exceptionally clean, straight and in good order.
It's a metallic blue 2001 model with 65,000 miles on it through one owner.
My 2002 S80 has 66,680 miles on it, got it as an ex demonstrator, well pleased with it. Auto box, and I use cruise control daily. In town I get 20-25 mph, on a long motorway run, just under 30 mph.It's a metallic blue 2001 model with 65,000 miles on it through one owner.
The only fault I have, and do not intend to recitify, is the headlight wiper motors are knackered, the cost is riduculous, and bearing in mind most cars don't have them, they can stay knackered.
Incidently the indication of them being shot was when the screen washer didn't work, and I knew well I had refilled the bottle 2 days earlier, the fuse for the pump for the screen also serves for the headlignt wipers.
So had it now 7 years in Sept, and well pleased with it, enjoy yours.
Just echoing what others have said but I bought an 02 S60 2.4t last year in the aforementioned light blue with tan leather, 45K on the clock - £3400.00
Comfort and refinement is really great. I did over 500 miles in it in one day last week and got out feeling fresh.
The hifi is also really top notch, sounds fabulous, and mine isn't even the 13 speaker dynadio system. The dolby pro logic works well as well just made sure you select that modfe on the hifi.
What I also like about it is that it's pretty anonoymous, no-one gives it a second look and for me that is a major plus.
The only downside I can think of is the truly awful steering lock but you learn to drive around it..
Enjoy!
Comfort and refinement is really great. I did over 500 miles in it in one day last week and got out feeling fresh.
The hifi is also really top notch, sounds fabulous, and mine isn't even the 13 speaker dynadio system. The dolby pro logic works well as well just made sure you select that modfe on the hifi.
What I also like about it is that it's pretty anonoymous, no-one gives it a second look and for me that is a major plus.
The only downside I can think of is the truly awful steering lock but you learn to drive around it..
Enjoy!
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