P3 Volvo V70 D5 205bhp
Discussion
Having owned this car for 18 months now I thought I was overdue sharing it on here.
Rewind back to November 2018 and my wife was 3 months pregnant with our first, and our current fleet consisted of a Mazda MX5 and a Mercedes Vito with a homebrew camper conversion, the Vito was getting old and crusty and although we'd owned the old girl for many years it was time to move her on and replace her with something altogether more conducive to the impending family life.
I floated various ideas, Octavia VRS being a strong contender but the wife was adamant she wanted Volvo because in her mind they are the safest cars. We looked at a couple of V60s but decided they might be a bit small for all our stuff when camping, and also we were thinking of getting a caravan at some point in the future. Also having owned an 163bhp (EU3) S60 D5 for many years and putting over 100k miles on it I knew and respected the D5 engine and there was a much greater choice of cars available with this engine in the V70 than there was with the V60.
The wifes only 2 demands were it had to be manual and it could be any colour other than metallic gold/beige that so many V70s seem to be! We looked at a couple of ropey high-milers, a lovely well cared for car that was unfortunately an auto (majority of them are).
Anyway we went to see one for sale privately, it didn't have any real service history to mention, other than a couple of main dealer services early on in its life. It was also filthy inside, sand ingrained in the rear seats, sticky cola residue in the rear centre armrest, all standard stuff when you have kids but he hadn't bothered to clean any of it! He'd thrown a bucket of water over it as a token effort but the paint wasn't great, it had suncream marks on it from little hands and moss growing in the widow gutters but it was straight and had no real dents or dings and seemed like an 'honest car'. The seller had owned it for 6 years and had serviced it himself every year, he presented me with a handful of receipts from the local factors for oil and filters and as he was an engineer I guessed he would be able to do the basics easily enough.
I had noticed it for sale for quite some time, probably a lot people were put off by the lack of history and the overall presentation of the vehicle, and he had already dropped the price once. It needed 2 tyres and a couple of MOT advisories that hadn't been addressed so I managed to haggle a bit more off. This meant I ended up paying around £2k less than other cars of similar age, mileage and spec, it was a bit of a gamble but I felt there was a decent car there underneath it all that just needed some TLC.
So we ended up with a 2011 D5 SE, manual, in caspian blue with black leather and 74,000 miles on it. It is the 205bhp bi-turbo version of the D5 reputed to do 0-60 in 7.7s which is Golf GTD territory and reasonably impressive for a FWD diesel barge of this magnitude. It certainly shifts well, especially in the merging onto a motorway sliproad type of speeds i.e - 30-70mph. Whilst they are never going to be the most dynamic cars they are very refined and comfortable and are years ahead of the previous generation V70/S60 in terms of road manners and drivability, they just drive and ride so much better IMO. They actually share platforms with the Mondeo which Volvo purists seem to dislike but the Mondeo is a very good car so I don't see the problem, plus this one has a proper 5 cylinder Volvo engine so I like it!
Strangely there was a bit of clutch slip a few days after buying it, when doing a hard pull in 3rd or 4th that has since cleared up and never reappeared even 18 months down the line! We put some new Goodyear Vector 4 Season tyres on it and ran it for a few of months and in March 2019 it went in for its first service and MOT at the independent Volvo garage I used to take the S60 to. Bizarrely the MOT was due on the baby's due date so we thought we'd best get it in for its MOT ASAP! Taking any recent purchase in for its first MOT is always a nervous time but it passed first time with just 1 advisory. As everything was a bit of an unknown, I had a major service done, oil along with oil/air/pollen/fuel filters, there was a front n/s wheel bearing with a bit of a rumble which was replaced, along with the rear pads which were an advisory on the MOT. A pretty good result all things considered after taking a bit of a gamble I was very pleased and quite relieved with my decision to buy this car!
Some pics after some new number plates and its first thorough clean in spring 2019. The sun cream marks all came out fairly easily with some Meguiars Ultimate Compound buffing by hand, and it came up looking rather quite decent despite its previous neglect.
Rewind back to November 2018 and my wife was 3 months pregnant with our first, and our current fleet consisted of a Mazda MX5 and a Mercedes Vito with a homebrew camper conversion, the Vito was getting old and crusty and although we'd owned the old girl for many years it was time to move her on and replace her with something altogether more conducive to the impending family life.
I floated various ideas, Octavia VRS being a strong contender but the wife was adamant she wanted Volvo because in her mind they are the safest cars. We looked at a couple of V60s but decided they might be a bit small for all our stuff when camping, and also we were thinking of getting a caravan at some point in the future. Also having owned an 163bhp (EU3) S60 D5 for many years and putting over 100k miles on it I knew and respected the D5 engine and there was a much greater choice of cars available with this engine in the V70 than there was with the V60.
The wifes only 2 demands were it had to be manual and it could be any colour other than metallic gold/beige that so many V70s seem to be! We looked at a couple of ropey high-milers, a lovely well cared for car that was unfortunately an auto (majority of them are).
Anyway we went to see one for sale privately, it didn't have any real service history to mention, other than a couple of main dealer services early on in its life. It was also filthy inside, sand ingrained in the rear seats, sticky cola residue in the rear centre armrest, all standard stuff when you have kids but he hadn't bothered to clean any of it! He'd thrown a bucket of water over it as a token effort but the paint wasn't great, it had suncream marks on it from little hands and moss growing in the widow gutters but it was straight and had no real dents or dings and seemed like an 'honest car'. The seller had owned it for 6 years and had serviced it himself every year, he presented me with a handful of receipts from the local factors for oil and filters and as he was an engineer I guessed he would be able to do the basics easily enough.
I had noticed it for sale for quite some time, probably a lot people were put off by the lack of history and the overall presentation of the vehicle, and he had already dropped the price once. It needed 2 tyres and a couple of MOT advisories that hadn't been addressed so I managed to haggle a bit more off. This meant I ended up paying around £2k less than other cars of similar age, mileage and spec, it was a bit of a gamble but I felt there was a decent car there underneath it all that just needed some TLC.
So we ended up with a 2011 D5 SE, manual, in caspian blue with black leather and 74,000 miles on it. It is the 205bhp bi-turbo version of the D5 reputed to do 0-60 in 7.7s which is Golf GTD territory and reasonably impressive for a FWD diesel barge of this magnitude. It certainly shifts well, especially in the merging onto a motorway sliproad type of speeds i.e - 30-70mph. Whilst they are never going to be the most dynamic cars they are very refined and comfortable and are years ahead of the previous generation V70/S60 in terms of road manners and drivability, they just drive and ride so much better IMO. They actually share platforms with the Mondeo which Volvo purists seem to dislike but the Mondeo is a very good car so I don't see the problem, plus this one has a proper 5 cylinder Volvo engine so I like it!
Strangely there was a bit of clutch slip a few days after buying it, when doing a hard pull in 3rd or 4th that has since cleared up and never reappeared even 18 months down the line! We put some new Goodyear Vector 4 Season tyres on it and ran it for a few of months and in March 2019 it went in for its first service and MOT at the independent Volvo garage I used to take the S60 to. Bizarrely the MOT was due on the baby's due date so we thought we'd best get it in for its MOT ASAP! Taking any recent purchase in for its first MOT is always a nervous time but it passed first time with just 1 advisory. As everything was a bit of an unknown, I had a major service done, oil along with oil/air/pollen/fuel filters, there was a front n/s wheel bearing with a bit of a rumble which was replaced, along with the rear pads which were an advisory on the MOT. A pretty good result all things considered after taking a bit of a gamble I was very pleased and quite relieved with my decision to buy this car!
Some pics after some new number plates and its first thorough clean in spring 2019. The sun cream marks all came out fairly easily with some Meguiars Ultimate Compound buffing by hand, and it came up looking rather quite decent despite its previous neglect.
The next 12 months or so have rather boringly been fairly drama free. It has done its duties and it has done them admirably well, transporting precious cargo around and all the personal effects that come with small people, as well as various trips to the DIY stores carrying 8ft floor boards, paving slabs, bags of cement, sand and rubbish to the tip etc etc.
Volvo seem to do neat little design features that you don't realise how well they are thought out until you own one and use it daily. These cars are after all primarily a tool and a very practical tool, for example there are some adjustable strapping points on tracks built into the boot floor which come in useful all the time when carrying stuff, and its just little things like that that make you appreciate some of the thought that has gone into the practicalities of these cars.
A few pics from over the year.
One of the very practical design features that shows the thought they go to in Sweden. Removable headlights so you don't freeze your balls off and die in the depths of a Swedish winter whilst changing a headlight bulb, do it in the comfort of your own home instead. Replaced with Osram longlife bulbs that come with a 5 year guarantee!
OEM Volvo wing bars, by far the most easy on the eye roof bars you can fit to these cars, I keep them on permanently with no noticeable difference in wind noise or drop in MPG
One of the few things to go wrong, the badges on these and many other Volvo of this era delaminate and come off, mine fell off on the M5 somewhere.
When i came to repalce it I realised there were 2 badges on there already, one on top of the other!
|https://thumbsnap.com/TfJjcUu4[/url]
£4 to replace from Volvo, the new grille badge tidies up the front end
A road trip in December to Falmouth from West Yorkshire, almost 400 miles one way and it did 44 mpg average.
Trip to the Brecon Beacons for a week, 3 adults and 1 baby. I'm glad we didn't go with the V60 after all!
Over the Pennines that separate Yorkshire from Lancashire in February, the all season tyres perfectly suited to this kind of slushy snow
Volvo seem to do neat little design features that you don't realise how well they are thought out until you own one and use it daily. These cars are after all primarily a tool and a very practical tool, for example there are some adjustable strapping points on tracks built into the boot floor which come in useful all the time when carrying stuff, and its just little things like that that make you appreciate some of the thought that has gone into the practicalities of these cars.
A few pics from over the year.
One of the very practical design features that shows the thought they go to in Sweden. Removable headlights so you don't freeze your balls off and die in the depths of a Swedish winter whilst changing a headlight bulb, do it in the comfort of your own home instead. Replaced with Osram longlife bulbs that come with a 5 year guarantee!
OEM Volvo wing bars, by far the most easy on the eye roof bars you can fit to these cars, I keep them on permanently with no noticeable difference in wind noise or drop in MPG
One of the few things to go wrong, the badges on these and many other Volvo of this era delaminate and come off, mine fell off on the M5 somewhere.
When i came to repalce it I realised there were 2 badges on there already, one on top of the other!
|https://thumbsnap.com/TfJjcUu4[/url]£4 to replace from Volvo, the new grille badge tidies up the front end
A road trip in December to Falmouth from West Yorkshire, almost 400 miles one way and it did 44 mpg average.
Trip to the Brecon Beacons for a week, 3 adults and 1 baby. I'm glad we didn't go with the V60 after all!
Over the Pennines that separate Yorkshire from Lancashire in February, the all season tyres perfectly suited to this kind of slushy snow
A very tidy example. I can fully agree with the little touches Volvo think of - they really make a difference! I have a V60CC (there’s only two of us and a cat!) but its done all the useful wagon duties with aplomb. Love the 5cyl D5 unit, too - quite melodious for a Derv.
Keep on Ovlov-ing
Keep on Ovlov-ing
agreed on the engines.
My 2012 S80 has the 215bhp twin turbo D5 unit and 30-70 is brisk enough to dispatch most unsuspecting traffic.
I did look at getting mine remapped, which would take the power to about 260 and a shed load more torque. Apparently the 6speed autoboxes aren't a fan of all the extra torque so I havent done it yet. Mines just ticked over 50k miles
My 2012 S80 has the 215bhp twin turbo D5 unit and 30-70 is brisk enough to dispatch most unsuspecting traffic.
I did look at getting mine remapped, which would take the power to about 260 and a shed load more torque. Apparently the 6speed autoboxes aren't a fan of all the extra torque so I havent done it yet. Mines just ticked over 50k miles
Ambleton said:
agreed on the engines.
My 2012 S80 has the 215bhp twin turbo D5 unit and 30-70 is brisk enough to dispatch most unsuspecting traffic.
I did look at getting mine remapped, which would take the power to about 260 and a shed load more torque. Apparently the 6speed autoboxes aren't a fan of all the extra torque so I havent done it yet. Mines just ticked over 50k miles
Remapped my manual 180bhp C70 D5 to 220bhp. Went through two clutches, a DMF, the gearbox, and both front driveshafts over the next 80,000 miles.My 2012 S80 has the 215bhp twin turbo D5 unit and 30-70 is brisk enough to dispatch most unsuspecting traffic.
I did look at getting mine remapped, which would take the power to about 260 and a shed load more torque. Apparently the 6speed autoboxes aren't a fan of all the extra torque so I havent done it yet. Mines just ticked over 50k miles
I think remapping is best left to kids who do 2000 miles a year round and round McDonalds carpark, if you actually use your car properly and use the extra power it turns out that the OEM had a better idea of the component limits that the aftermarket tuner. Who could have guessed??
Re mapping, the only safe way to go would be the official Polestar route (IMHO). On my particular unit, the torque figure remains the same, it's just extended over a wider rpm range, plus another 30 horses and tweaks to the autobox software. Not the cheapest option, but the safest option for the car as a whole in the long term. I quite happy with how it goes as standard, thankfully
stickleback123 said:
Remapped my manual 180bhp C70 D5 to 220bhp. Went through two clutches, a DMF, the gearbox, and both front driveshafts over the next 80,000 miles.
I think remapping is best left to kids who do 2000 miles a year round and round McDonalds carpark, if you actually use your car properly and use the extra power it turns out that the OEM had a better idea of the component limits that the aftermarket tuner. Who could have guessed??
I tend to agree with you, I would like to have mine remapped, it'd take it to around 240bhp which would be very pokey indeed but really it has enough for me as it is. I believe a Polestar remap for my V70 would be something like £800 which is just ludicrous!I think remapping is best left to kids who do 2000 miles a year round and round McDonalds carpark, if you actually use your car properly and use the extra power it turns out that the OEM had a better idea of the component limits that the aftermarket tuner. Who could have guessed??
This version of the D5 returns very similar MPG as my old S60 which was a 2001 so 163bhp. Normally 37 around town and 44 on a run, you can eke 50 out of them if you really try and have the patience. So what is essentially the same engine returns the same economy but offers 40 bhp over the early example, that's progress eh!
What's interesting is by all accounts the D5 in between, the 185bhp version was a good 10 mpg down on average when compared with the old engine.
Hammerhead said:
Re mapping, the only safe way to go would be the official Polestar route (IMHO). On my particular unit, the torque figure remains the same, it's just extended over a wider rpm range, plus another 30 horses and tweaks to the autobox software. Not the cheapest option, but the safest option for the car as a whole in the long term. I quite happy with how it goes as standard, thankfully
Agreed, if I had another Volvo I'd consider biting the bullet on the Polestar map but I'd never remap it with anyone else.Hammerhead said:
Re mapping, the only safe way to go would be the official Polestar route (IMHO). On my particular unit, the torque figure remains the same, it's just extended over a wider rpm range, plus another 30 horses and tweaks to the autobox software. Not the cheapest option, but the safest option for the car as a whole in the long term. I quite happy with how it goes as standard, thankfully
& yours goes bloody well from my experience! 
Cars for the real world; one of those rare things that makes all the more sense, the longer you own it.
redandwhite said:
Looks a nice example , will watch it with interest.
The stand out feature (novelty probably) is the auto tailgate
You'd think so but the more you use it, the more you realise how useful it is. Example - you need to carry a heavy item to the car to put in the boot, a pushchair, a box, a bag - whatever. Now imagine you can open the boot in advance from a distance, and it works from inside the house, carry it to the car and put it straight in the boot. No having to faff around holding said item in one hand whilst resting it on your knee, whilst you fumble around trying to open the boot or having to set it down on a wet or dirty floor whilst you open up.The stand out feature (novelty probably) is the auto tailgate
It also means when the car is filthy in winter you don't get a dirty hand when you close the boot. It's genius!
My local main dealer Clive Brook run a 'Heritage Day' once a month to try and encourage more business from owners with cars 8 years or older. Generally I've always kept away from main dealers but I thought it would be a good opportunity to get a free half an hour on their ramps and also chat to some fellow Volvo nerds whilst taking advantage of the free coffee and pastries. To be fair to Clive Brook they were very friendly and put you under no pressure to have any of the work done so I would definitely get a price for them for any work before going to my usual specialist. The only fault they really pointed out was the rear trailing arm bushes are showing signs of deterioration. Thats fair enough they were an advisory on the MOT 2 years ago, but so far it hasn't developed into a knock so I decided to leave it for now, IIRC they quoted me around £300 for both sides including labour and parts which I didn't think was too bad, maybe someone has had this done can comment as it seems to be a common failure.
A couple of pics from the day, my car up on the ramps and a P1800 estate parked up in the showroom
Another reason I had dealings with Clive Brook was I knew the aux belt was overdue and had read online there was a recall on 2011 D5 engined cars for the auxiliary belt tensioner, I believe some had failed prematurely and taken out the timing belt in the process, which at the very least will bend a valve to 2! The recall was a redesigned tensioner that required a modification to the block and with my car being an early 2011 car I thought it would be best to check before booking it in with my usual guy. I spoke to a friendly woman on the phone who advised me my car had no outstanding recalls but she was unable to elaborate, so I took that to mean either my car was not affected, or it had already been done.
The car had been shouting at me throughout lockdown as the service was overdue, also the aux belt was overdue which was beginning to make me nervous, on cold starts it would squeak and rattle briefly before settling down. I got on the phone to my usual guy Craig at Rawse Motor Technicians in Bradford who are an independent Volvo specialist. Cue halfway through the day after dropping it off with and Craig calls to tell me my car still has the old style tensioner, so the job was going to take a little longer than originally planned. He had just spoken to Volvo as he knew it had been a recall in the past and indeed his own car had been done around 3 years ago, but Volvo had advised that unfortunately the warranty claims for this have now lapsed so were unable to help with my car. Thankfully Craig is on good terms with Volvo so was able to borrow the dealer tool supplied by the factory to carry out the mod, as it involves drilling and tapping a small hole in the engine block, something you only really get one chance to get right!
Anyway it is all sorted now and I'm very glad I had the belt done, they showed me the old one and it was cracked quite severely, it really was on its last legs, close call! They checked the cambelt whilst the covers were off but it still looked good and will be due next year at 108k miles/10 years.
That's pretty much up to date so far, the car is now on 90k miles and since taking ownership in the last 16k miles it has been drama free. Exactly what you want, and would expect from a Volvo that is less than 10 years old.
I even managed to find the time to give it a coat of wax during the lockdown period, I did it over a couple of days because I don't usually have the patience to spend all day doing it!
A couple of pics from the day, my car up on the ramps and a P1800 estate parked up in the showroom
Another reason I had dealings with Clive Brook was I knew the aux belt was overdue and had read online there was a recall on 2011 D5 engined cars for the auxiliary belt tensioner, I believe some had failed prematurely and taken out the timing belt in the process, which at the very least will bend a valve to 2! The recall was a redesigned tensioner that required a modification to the block and with my car being an early 2011 car I thought it would be best to check before booking it in with my usual guy. I spoke to a friendly woman on the phone who advised me my car had no outstanding recalls but she was unable to elaborate, so I took that to mean either my car was not affected, or it had already been done.
The car had been shouting at me throughout lockdown as the service was overdue, also the aux belt was overdue which was beginning to make me nervous, on cold starts it would squeak and rattle briefly before settling down. I got on the phone to my usual guy Craig at Rawse Motor Technicians in Bradford who are an independent Volvo specialist. Cue halfway through the day after dropping it off with and Craig calls to tell me my car still has the old style tensioner, so the job was going to take a little longer than originally planned. He had just spoken to Volvo as he knew it had been a recall in the past and indeed his own car had been done around 3 years ago, but Volvo had advised that unfortunately the warranty claims for this have now lapsed so were unable to help with my car. Thankfully Craig is on good terms with Volvo so was able to borrow the dealer tool supplied by the factory to carry out the mod, as it involves drilling and tapping a small hole in the engine block, something you only really get one chance to get right!
Anyway it is all sorted now and I'm very glad I had the belt done, they showed me the old one and it was cracked quite severely, it really was on its last legs, close call! They checked the cambelt whilst the covers were off but it still looked good and will be due next year at 108k miles/10 years.
That's pretty much up to date so far, the car is now on 90k miles and since taking ownership in the last 16k miles it has been drama free. Exactly what you want, and would expect from a Volvo that is less than 10 years old.
I even managed to find the time to give it a coat of wax during the lockdown period, I did it over a couple of days because I don't usually have the patience to spend all day doing it!
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