Volvo S80 D5 - bought sight unseen
Discussion
As promised in my C30 thread ( here for those who haven't seen it), here's the post for my recently acquired S80 daily driver.
Previously to this, I've used Honda Civic 2.2 diesels as my daily drivers but an MOT failure and impending clutch replacement made it uneconomical for me to repair. So the search was on. After trawling through eBay, Auto Trader and Gumtree, I wasn't finding anything that looked appealing. During a break from this, I was scrolling through the VolvoTuning.net Facebook group and found a rather long, well-written (I'd later find out why) advert for a Volvo S80 with the 5-pot diesel engine and five speed manual 'box. The mileage of 203,000 concerned me a little, but I had a think about it and came to the conclusion that the C30 had never let me down, so another Volvo was likely to be equally reliable. At least I know where to go for parts if it does go wrong!
A few messages along with a phone call with the seller and a trip to Peterborough later, the deal was done and the S80 was mine. Sight unseen, naturally.
I found out while talking to the seller that he's the deputy editor of Practical Classics magazine - if you're reading this James, hello! This, along with the history file that came with the car (pretty much all the work that's ever been done to the car has been at a Volvo dealer - not cheap!) put my mind at rest that the car was unlikely to be a bag of bolts.
The journey home was uneventful, and the car handled the motorways and A-roads with aplomb - as one would expect for what was at the time, Volvo's flagship model to take on the finest the Germans could produce.
As any readers' cars thread is useless without photos, here are a few from the advert and when I introduced it to its younger, faster cousin:
[img]https://i.imgur.com/eZEbAXq.jpg/img]
So, the car was home, and it was fairly tidy for its age and in particular, mileage. That said, there are always things that are going to need addressing on any £850 car. First up was replacing the wiper blades on the headlights - such a cool little retro feature:
Then I replaced an indicator that was letting in water - the offside headlight needs a replacement too, but that will come - I can get used to the parts prices on these older Volvos:
The offside mirror was in a bit of a state and shook at low revs; so that was replaced:
Finally, a decent wash and polish brought back a decent shine:
Oh, one final change - the wheel center caps were letting the side down a little, and there was one missing. One eBay purchase later:
This thread will be a more of an ownership log than a build thread, as I'm only planning to keep this one tidy and presentable - I'm loving the car so far and I'm looking forward to many more miles in it!
Previously to this, I've used Honda Civic 2.2 diesels as my daily drivers but an MOT failure and impending clutch replacement made it uneconomical for me to repair. So the search was on. After trawling through eBay, Auto Trader and Gumtree, I wasn't finding anything that looked appealing. During a break from this, I was scrolling through the VolvoTuning.net Facebook group and found a rather long, well-written (I'd later find out why) advert for a Volvo S80 with the 5-pot diesel engine and five speed manual 'box. The mileage of 203,000 concerned me a little, but I had a think about it and came to the conclusion that the C30 had never let me down, so another Volvo was likely to be equally reliable. At least I know where to go for parts if it does go wrong!
A few messages along with a phone call with the seller and a trip to Peterborough later, the deal was done and the S80 was mine. Sight unseen, naturally.
I found out while talking to the seller that he's the deputy editor of Practical Classics magazine - if you're reading this James, hello! This, along with the history file that came with the car (pretty much all the work that's ever been done to the car has been at a Volvo dealer - not cheap!) put my mind at rest that the car was unlikely to be a bag of bolts.
The journey home was uneventful, and the car handled the motorways and A-roads with aplomb - as one would expect for what was at the time, Volvo's flagship model to take on the finest the Germans could produce.
As any readers' cars thread is useless without photos, here are a few from the advert and when I introduced it to its younger, faster cousin:
[img]https://i.imgur.com/eZEbAXq.jpg/img]
So, the car was home, and it was fairly tidy for its age and in particular, mileage. That said, there are always things that are going to need addressing on any £850 car. First up was replacing the wiper blades on the headlights - such a cool little retro feature:
Then I replaced an indicator that was letting in water - the offside headlight needs a replacement too, but that will come - I can get used to the parts prices on these older Volvos:
The offside mirror was in a bit of a state and shook at low revs; so that was replaced:
Finally, a decent wash and polish brought back a decent shine:
Oh, one final change - the wheel center caps were letting the side down a little, and there was one missing. One eBay purchase later:
This thread will be a more of an ownership log than a build thread, as I'm only planning to keep this one tidy and presentable - I'm loving the car so far and I'm looking forward to many more miles in it!
Time for an update, a couple of months into barge ownership now.
The car has been largely faultless, although with Covid forcing working from home for the foreseeable, I do find myself questioning why I keep it when I'm not doing the mileage to warrant it. The next daily has already been decided, but I'll wait until the S80 becomes uneconomical to repair before changing it.
I've done a run from Oxford to Eastbourne and back, which it took in its stride - I suspect it would've kept right on going across the continent if the mood had taken me! This drive did highlight a few small problems though. It became quite difficult to maintain speed on the motorway at one point as 3 of the 4 calipers were sticking badly; these have now been replaced. Hopefully the video below will embed properly, but this shows how bad the OSR was - this was after a 20 minute drive to my friendly mechanic:
Gratutitous ramp shot:
The only other problem I've had has been the OS headlight. I suspect that it's had a knock in the past as all the clips were broken, most of the bolts were missing and the light was letting water in badly. This has been replaced, the first job I've really done on the care myself.
That's about it - the barge continues to plod on slowly (VERY slowly...) and rack up the miles. Despite not really needing to go out much these days, I've somehow clocked up just over 2000 miles on it since the last update. It just needs to continue working now, as the C30 will hopefully be getting some time and money thrown at it soon!
The car has been largely faultless, although with Covid forcing working from home for the foreseeable, I do find myself questioning why I keep it when I'm not doing the mileage to warrant it. The next daily has already been decided, but I'll wait until the S80 becomes uneconomical to repair before changing it.
I've done a run from Oxford to Eastbourne and back, which it took in its stride - I suspect it would've kept right on going across the continent if the mood had taken me! This drive did highlight a few small problems though. It became quite difficult to maintain speed on the motorway at one point as 3 of the 4 calipers were sticking badly; these have now been replaced. Hopefully the video below will embed properly, but this shows how bad the OSR was - this was after a 20 minute drive to my friendly mechanic:
Gratutitous ramp shot:
The only other problem I've had has been the OS headlight. I suspect that it's had a knock in the past as all the clips were broken, most of the bolts were missing and the light was letting water in badly. This has been replaced, the first job I've really done on the care myself.
That's about it - the barge continues to plod on slowly (VERY slowly...) and rack up the miles. Despite not really needing to go out much these days, I've somehow clocked up just over 2000 miles on it since the last update. It just needs to continue working now, as the C30 will hopefully be getting some time and money thrown at it soon!
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