19 y/o with an S60 T5 - my car history and a belated intro..
Discussion
A friend of mine has an S70 classic T5 and it's pretty good on track and has certainly suprised a few people with its pace. It's an ex police car though so upgraded suspension and brakes.
My V70 T5 will be hitting Cadwell soon and I'm hoping the grunt down the straights will make up for the cornering ability. I am fitting upgraded suspension first though so that should improve things. Having driven Cadwell in an e36 m3, vx220 and a mk1 Escort it'll be interesting to see how it compares.
My V70 T5 will be hitting Cadwell soon and I'm hoping the grunt down the straights will make up for the cornering ability. I am fitting upgraded suspension first though so that should improve things. Having driven Cadwell in an e36 m3, vx220 and a mk1 Escort it'll be interesting to see how it compares.
Stedman said:
Volvo's just aren't comfortable-nor meant to be- driven at anything more than 7/10ths.
Still a nice daily driver though that you can have a fun drive in on Monday and 600 miles in on Tuesday. (Well, maybe a D5
)
Very true, as I found out. It really was in its natural habitat on the 600 mile round trip to Lille I took it on a few months back. And please don't mention the dirty D word Still a nice daily driver though that you can have a fun drive in on Monday and 600 miles in on Tuesday. (Well, maybe a D5
)muckymotor said:
A friend of mine has an S70 classic T5 and it's pretty good on track and has certainly suprised a few people with its pace. It's an ex police car though so upgraded suspension and brakes.
My V70 T5 will be hitting Cadwell soon and I'm hoping the grunt down the straights will make up for the cornering ability. I am fitting upgraded suspension first though so that should improve things. Having driven Cadwell in an e36 m3, vx220 and a mk1 Escort it'll be interesting to see how it compares.
Don't forget the S60T5 is only about 175bhp/ton, so the the V70 will be worse still, so you won't be catching much up, even on the straights. Still, it's nice to know your own car at its limits.My V70 T5 will be hitting Cadwell soon and I'm hoping the grunt down the straights will make up for the cornering ability. I am fitting upgraded suspension first though so that should improve things. Having driven Cadwell in an e36 m3, vx220 and a mk1 Escort it'll be interesting to see how it compares.
I'm sad to report that the T5 will be leaving me on Sunday. I'm moving to London, meaning it's not going to be practical to bring a car with me, to begin with at least. After six months of realising it's nicer than his own car, my father made me an offer on it - not quite as much as I paid for it seven months ago, but it saves me the hassle of advertising it and dealing with buyers. He's decided to spend a bit of money getting it into shape, so it's had new rear discs and pads, and is heading off to MRG in Chippenham for it's MOT and a service tomorrow. I'll report back in due course.
In other news, I've put on another thousand miles in the last few days. The weekend saw a trip to London and Sussex, while I've spent Monday and Tuesday doing another 500 miles round Wales. It's earning its keep. End of term report to follow.
In other news, I've put on another thousand miles in the last few days. The weekend saw a trip to London and Sussex, while I've spent Monday and Tuesday doing another 500 miles round Wales. It's earning its keep. End of term report to follow.
Baryonyx said:
And what will replace it?
Primarily my legs, my bike and my Oyster card.If you look in my garage you'll also see I'm a member of the City Car Club, so if I'm getting withdrawal symptoms, I can always take one of their cars for a run.
I will get something of my own in due course, but it'll be leaning towards the fun end of the spectrum rather than the fast or practical - currently thinking along the lines of an mk1 MX5, mk2 MR2, and GTV6 or E36 328i, but we shall see.
Stedman said:
Next time you're in Sussex, give me a bell. We have some great roads!
Should've mentioned earlier. I go down quite a bit to see family but I'll be carless from Sunday.Synchromesh said:
I'm sad to report that the T5 will be leaving me on Sunday. I'm moving to London, meaning it's not going to be practical to bring a car with me, to begin with at least. After six months of realising it's nicer than his own car, my father made me an offer on it - not quite as much as I paid for it seven months ago, but it saves me the hassle of advertising it and dealing with buyers. He's decided to spend a bit of money getting it into shape, so it's had new rear discs and pads, and is heading off to MRG in Chippenham for it's MOT and a service tomorrow. I'll report back in due course.
In other news, I've put on another thousand miles in the last few days. The weekend saw a trip to London and Sussex, while I've spent Monday and Tuesday doing another 500 miles round Wales. It's earning its keep. End of term report to follow.
Glad to here your Father is having it, these cars generally stay in the family.In other news, I've put on another thousand miles in the last few days. The weekend saw a trip to London and Sussex, while I've spent Monday and Tuesday doing another 500 miles round Wales. It's earning its keep. End of term report to follow.
All the best with your new life in London.
y2blade said:
Synchromesh said:
I'm sad to report that the T5 will be leaving me on Sunday. I'm moving to London, meaning it's not going to be practical to bring a car with me, to begin with at least. After six months of realising it's nicer than his own car, my father made me an offer on it - not quite as much as I paid for it seven months ago, but it saves me the hassle of advertising it and dealing with buyers. He's decided to spend a bit of money getting it into shape, so it's had new rear discs and pads, and is heading off to MRG in Chippenham for it's MOT and a service tomorrow. I'll report back in due course.
In other news, I've put on another thousand miles in the last few days. The weekend saw a trip to London and Sussex, while I've spent Monday and Tuesday doing another 500 miles round Wales. It's earning its keep. End of term report to follow.
Glad to here your Father is having it, these cars generally stay in the family.In other news, I've put on another thousand miles in the last few days. The weekend saw a trip to London and Sussex, while I've spent Monday and Tuesday doing another 500 miles round Wales. It's earning its keep. End of term report to follow.
All the best with your new life in London.
Enjoy London! Thanks everyone for the kind messages. Owning the S60 has been a great experience, the only downside being that every car I have in future will be disappointing in comparison. Hopefully my car progression hasn't peaked too early!
Stedman said:
Oh damn. Where do they live near, out of curiosity.
Balcombe. I'll let you know next time I'm going to be down there. 
Well it's now been two weeks since the car went, so perhaps time I scribbled a few words on it.
My justification for buying this car will be one familiar to most on here: man-maths. Well, best laid plans and all that…but in reality OWK wasn't going to be an expensive proposition. I mean the book said it would do 30 to the gallon, and my Polo wasn't bettering that by any tangible margin. Anyway, I could always offset this my doing fewer miles. I did my research and knew they were regarded as reliable things - a few known faults but all easily identifiable. My biggest hit would be insurance (£930 for the 7 months I had it), costing twice what the Polo would have, but that could be paid off then erased from my conscience.
In all, and after 7 months and 10,400 miles (so much for doing fewer miles then), total costs came in at just 43ppm, handily beating the mental barrier of the HMRC approved mileage rate by a mere 2 pence. This has been in part thanks to the car living up to its reliable reputation, only needing a pair of coil packs with new plugs for good measure (£192). By owning the car between scheduled services and MOTs I limited the necessary maintenance to a cam belt and water pump at £280, and consumables to a pair of tyres (Falken ZE912s at £192 for the pair), while six months tax came in at £143. Depriciation-wise, I lost £500 over 7 months, making the proprietorship of the vehicle less expensive than the cheapest lease available on a Citroen C1! Yes, the hit on capital was bigger than it could've been, but this was made up for by low ownership costs in aforementioned departments.
Earlier I mentioned fuel consumption, but I should say I've never been concerned for it being a comparatively thirsty beast. I see using petrol as getting something for your money (namely motive power and a nice noise, but more of that later), whereas depreciation looks like money down the drain. Having said that, OWK wasn't a binger, and came remarkably close to its claimed consumption. Around town I could expect to see mid-20s, while a pacey cross-country run would bring that up to the high-20s. Fast-lane motorway running would see low-30s, but a more restrained (and dare I say legal) pace could yield mid-to-high-30s. My best ever was 40 to the gallon, achieved by crawling along with the heavies in lane one, but my low patience threshold meant this wasn't a regular occourance.
I've done the obligatory pounds and pence bit now so let's get to the interesting part - the car itself. Where to start? Well, perhaps I should preface this by saying I've only held my licence less than three years, so my opinion shouldn't really count for much. Given right now you're probably trying to imagine how it drives we'll start there, and in particular with where you'll be right in your assumptions. To my untrained senses, steering feel was virtually absent. I think this can be put down to an over servo'd PAS system, although this did mean turning the wheel was never strenuous. Contradictorily, the clutch and gearbox were both very heavy, requiring much greater input efforts, and this mismatch and disconnect between control weights always felt like a barrier to having a true connection with the car. One element of the control interface that did excel, though, were the brakes - progressive, confidence inspiring and quite unlike the grabby items on the Polo.
Given the width of the tyres it's no surprise that, on the road, grip wasn't an area where the car was felt wanting. The firmer setup of the T5 meant it could be hustled along quite briskly, and direction changes didn't trouble it, so long as they weren't rushed. While the car felt so at home on the motorway or primary A-road, this composure fell to pieces in town or on a neglected B-road, and this was the one area where the greater development budgets of its german cousins made themselves known. On track, it's mass couldn't be hidden so easily - it's road-orientated setup meaning it couldn't hang on like the more focused saloons, and it defaulted to its natural understeer bias. I didn't discover until close to the end of my ownership period, that it was fitted with Nivomat self-levelling rear suspension, keeping the car's geometry constant whether empty or fully loaded.
Perhaps this car's 'killer-app' though, was it's engine. The revered T5 unit was characterful, and gave me the one feature I was wanting after the Polo - mid-range punch. And in that department, it shone, with a strong linear delivery from under two-thousand revs all the way to the redline.. As I said before, changing gear was never a pleasure in this car, but this was offset by the fact you didn't need to change gear. Third pulled convincingly from 30 to triple figures, making it the default cog for progress. The offbeat idle turning into a crescendo of 'warbbb', overlaid by the harmony of the turbo whistle. Despite the flexibility and noise though, the big turbo meant lag was quite perceptible, and for me this was another barrier to connection between car and driver.
While the ride couldn't match its Bavarian brothers, the interior trounced them into submission. An ergonomic and tidy looking cabin was brought to life with a little Scandinavian flair. Fit and finish were as good as anything I've seen, while little touches like the parking ticket holder showed a thoughtfulness in its design. Gizmos included the standard fare of cruise control, dual zone climate control and an auto-dimming mirror, but also extras including the integrated car phone and a sunroof, and although the former was more of a novelty than anything else, opening to roof on a fine day was something I wished I'd discover sooner. One small gripe was that dual zone controls had to be altered individually, and as my OCD wouldn't let them sit on different settings (I feel this works the HVAC harder than necessary), this meant two adjustments needed to be made rather than one every time I wanted to change the temperature. The 'piece de resistance' of the interior though, were the seats. Heated leather of course, but the most comfortable I've ever sat in - not just in a car, but ever. Coupled to this, the good cabin insulation and the clarity and punch of the Dolby Pro-Logic system made long journeys effortless, but also made me wonder how good the 'Premium' sound system must have to be to justify itself as an upgrade...
Overall thoughts then - a good car but not a great one. In truth, I felt the car was confused about what it wanted to be - neither the supple barge the seats and steering suggested, nor the hot hatch it's engine so adamantly wanted to tell me it'd escaped from. With a more compliant ride (perhaps non-T5 suspension and smaller wheels would do it?) and an auto box, it would make a fine cruiser indeed. Alternatively, adding some steering feel and removing that lag would turn it great sports saloon. Either way, I'm probably being too harsh on it. Subtle yet neat design inside and out (think IKEA, but without the bit where it's built by an enthusiastic yet inept bloke with an Allen key), an unparalleled interior, capable chassis and a flexible engine meant this was a car I knew I'd enjoy owning. I did of course, so much so that it was taken on numerous trip to South Wales' finest bits of tarmac (B4560, A4059, A4069, etc.), abroad (France) and on track (Castle Combe), but after nearly half a circumference of the globe, it was time to see it go. I wasn't the only one seduced by it's capability and design, so it's staying in the family, where I'm sure it'll perform its next 200k miles with aplomb.
Hope you've all enjoyed this thread. Don't hold your breath, but there will be a replacement in due course...
My justification for buying this car will be one familiar to most on here: man-maths. Well, best laid plans and all that…but in reality OWK wasn't going to be an expensive proposition. I mean the book said it would do 30 to the gallon, and my Polo wasn't bettering that by any tangible margin. Anyway, I could always offset this my doing fewer miles. I did my research and knew they were regarded as reliable things - a few known faults but all easily identifiable. My biggest hit would be insurance (£930 for the 7 months I had it), costing twice what the Polo would have, but that could be paid off then erased from my conscience.
In all, and after 7 months and 10,400 miles (so much for doing fewer miles then), total costs came in at just 43ppm, handily beating the mental barrier of the HMRC approved mileage rate by a mere 2 pence. This has been in part thanks to the car living up to its reliable reputation, only needing a pair of coil packs with new plugs for good measure (£192). By owning the car between scheduled services and MOTs I limited the necessary maintenance to a cam belt and water pump at £280, and consumables to a pair of tyres (Falken ZE912s at £192 for the pair), while six months tax came in at £143. Depriciation-wise, I lost £500 over 7 months, making the proprietorship of the vehicle less expensive than the cheapest lease available on a Citroen C1! Yes, the hit on capital was bigger than it could've been, but this was made up for by low ownership costs in aforementioned departments.
Earlier I mentioned fuel consumption, but I should say I've never been concerned for it being a comparatively thirsty beast. I see using petrol as getting something for your money (namely motive power and a nice noise, but more of that later), whereas depreciation looks like money down the drain. Having said that, OWK wasn't a binger, and came remarkably close to its claimed consumption. Around town I could expect to see mid-20s, while a pacey cross-country run would bring that up to the high-20s. Fast-lane motorway running would see low-30s, but a more restrained (and dare I say legal) pace could yield mid-to-high-30s. My best ever was 40 to the gallon, achieved by crawling along with the heavies in lane one, but my low patience threshold meant this wasn't a regular occourance.
I've done the obligatory pounds and pence bit now so let's get to the interesting part - the car itself. Where to start? Well, perhaps I should preface this by saying I've only held my licence less than three years, so my opinion shouldn't really count for much. Given right now you're probably trying to imagine how it drives we'll start there, and in particular with where you'll be right in your assumptions. To my untrained senses, steering feel was virtually absent. I think this can be put down to an over servo'd PAS system, although this did mean turning the wheel was never strenuous. Contradictorily, the clutch and gearbox were both very heavy, requiring much greater input efforts, and this mismatch and disconnect between control weights always felt like a barrier to having a true connection with the car. One element of the control interface that did excel, though, were the brakes - progressive, confidence inspiring and quite unlike the grabby items on the Polo.
Given the width of the tyres it's no surprise that, on the road, grip wasn't an area where the car was felt wanting. The firmer setup of the T5 meant it could be hustled along quite briskly, and direction changes didn't trouble it, so long as they weren't rushed. While the car felt so at home on the motorway or primary A-road, this composure fell to pieces in town or on a neglected B-road, and this was the one area where the greater development budgets of its german cousins made themselves known. On track, it's mass couldn't be hidden so easily - it's road-orientated setup meaning it couldn't hang on like the more focused saloons, and it defaulted to its natural understeer bias. I didn't discover until close to the end of my ownership period, that it was fitted with Nivomat self-levelling rear suspension, keeping the car's geometry constant whether empty or fully loaded.
Perhaps this car's 'killer-app' though, was it's engine. The revered T5 unit was characterful, and gave me the one feature I was wanting after the Polo - mid-range punch. And in that department, it shone, with a strong linear delivery from under two-thousand revs all the way to the redline.. As I said before, changing gear was never a pleasure in this car, but this was offset by the fact you didn't need to change gear. Third pulled convincingly from 30 to triple figures, making it the default cog for progress. The offbeat idle turning into a crescendo of 'warbbb', overlaid by the harmony of the turbo whistle. Despite the flexibility and noise though, the big turbo meant lag was quite perceptible, and for me this was another barrier to connection between car and driver.
While the ride couldn't match its Bavarian brothers, the interior trounced them into submission. An ergonomic and tidy looking cabin was brought to life with a little Scandinavian flair. Fit and finish were as good as anything I've seen, while little touches like the parking ticket holder showed a thoughtfulness in its design. Gizmos included the standard fare of cruise control, dual zone climate control and an auto-dimming mirror, but also extras including the integrated car phone and a sunroof, and although the former was more of a novelty than anything else, opening to roof on a fine day was something I wished I'd discover sooner. One small gripe was that dual zone controls had to be altered individually, and as my OCD wouldn't let them sit on different settings (I feel this works the HVAC harder than necessary), this meant two adjustments needed to be made rather than one every time I wanted to change the temperature. The 'piece de resistance' of the interior though, were the seats. Heated leather of course, but the most comfortable I've ever sat in - not just in a car, but ever. Coupled to this, the good cabin insulation and the clarity and punch of the Dolby Pro-Logic system made long journeys effortless, but also made me wonder how good the 'Premium' sound system must have to be to justify itself as an upgrade...
Overall thoughts then - a good car but not a great one. In truth, I felt the car was confused about what it wanted to be - neither the supple barge the seats and steering suggested, nor the hot hatch it's engine so adamantly wanted to tell me it'd escaped from. With a more compliant ride (perhaps non-T5 suspension and smaller wheels would do it?) and an auto box, it would make a fine cruiser indeed. Alternatively, adding some steering feel and removing that lag would turn it great sports saloon. Either way, I'm probably being too harsh on it. Subtle yet neat design inside and out (think IKEA, but without the bit where it's built by an enthusiastic yet inept bloke with an Allen key), an unparalleled interior, capable chassis and a flexible engine meant this was a car I knew I'd enjoy owning. I did of course, so much so that it was taken on numerous trip to South Wales' finest bits of tarmac (B4560, A4059, A4069, etc.), abroad (France) and on track (Castle Combe), but after nearly half a circumference of the globe, it was time to see it go. I wasn't the only one seduced by it's capability and design, so it's staying in the family, where I'm sure it'll perform its next 200k miles with aplomb.
Hope you've all enjoyed this thread. Don't hold your breath, but there will be a replacement in due course...
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff