Comfy Volvo Content

[S100HP]

Its not my photo, but a local example

[S100HP]

Little to report here in Volvo land. Nothing has happened or needed doing to the car, which is quite boring really. I did dig the roof rails out which I kept from my original XC70 and fitted them this week. I then decided to build some decking, so several trips to the local builders yard like this and I'm ready to build stuff.

[S100HP]

I need some help from those that know as I'm drawing a blank when searching via google. I've nothing to suggest the suspension has been refreshed at any point on this car. Are there any kits out there that I can buy that will give me the bits I need to carry this out?

It does wallow in the corners as expected, but more than my previous one, so I had been toying with fitting S60/V70 AWD springs to lower it slightly, but I'll be dammed if I can find anything, which made me consider a full overhall with OEM, hence the question.

[S100HP]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

Has it got Nivomats?

Nope, well I don't think so. Need to check...

[S100HP]

You may have seen that I've purchased a shonky Impreza recently. Thus the Volvo is up for sale. It's been on eBay 2 weeks and I had only had one person contact me and view the car, but he offered too little for me to accept. Undecided on what to do at the moment but my gut feeling is the Impreza won't last too long, so I might stick this in my dad's barn for a few months.

Anything I need to check before it goes away?

[S100HP]

Not sure that's a box issue. Feels more like a calibration of the throttle position. Something like that anyway.

[S100HP]

Yogioes said:

Hi, is your car still on eBay?
I had a look but could not find it. Not really a serious buyer but keeping an eye out.
I had a 2007 V70 D5 Sport. I liked the car but did not get on well with the 6 speed manual. After 3 years I traded it for an Avensis tourer which was ok but nothing special.
After 3 years with the Avensis I decided an xc70 was the car for me. I went to view a 2012 or 2013 D5 auto but when I sat in it I was underwhelmed. It did not feel as good as my P1 or P2 V70's.
I didn't even take a test drive and it left me a bit scunnered as what to go for next.
I have sold the Avensis and have been using my wife's car while considering my options and still think an XC70 might suit me.

My old V70 Sport is on eBay at a dealer in Preston for just under £4K
I think that is more than I got trading it over 3 years ago and with about 90k miles. Such is the financial pain of trading a car in.]

It finished on Sunday morning, so no longer on eBay. I think it is going into a barn for a while till I decide how to proceed with the shonky Impreza. I'm feeling like I've made a mistake at the moment, and I don't want to compound that by selling a good car (this one).

I've heard a few people say similar about the newer XC70's. I really like them to look at and assumed it was a natural progression but I'm not so sure now..

[S100HP]

Searider said:

Who do you use for Volvo servicing?
I’ve been using a “specialist” in the Southampton area for 10 years now and feel that they’ve lost their expertise somewhat.

https://amc-carrepairs.co.uk

Guy called Aaron. We are both over the waterside area tho. Not sure where you are?

[S100HP]

Searider said:

I'm over in Warsash - only about 3 miles as the crow flies - but about 40 mins drive!

He is mobile if that helps. Not sure he'd head over there however.

Anyway, back to the Volvo. I cracked. I've just removed it from the barn and driven it back home. I really don't like the shonky Impreza.

It's only been parked up for two weeks but as usual started on the button. It ticked over 146k on the way home then rewarded me for parking it up by requiring fuel. Nearly £80 worth! I left it pretty empty then.



Back to Volvo land for me.

[S100HP]

Joey Deacon said:

S100HP said:

Anyway, back to the Volvo. I cracked. I've just removed it from the barn and driven it back home. I really don't like the shonky Impreza.

If it is any consolation, I didn't really like my brand new, non shonky Impreza back in 2000 either.

So what next for shonky Impreza?

Is fire an option?

[S100HP]

Joey Deacon said:

Killing it with fire is always an option.

Maybe you should offer it back to the dealer who sold it to you as his wife "didn't want to give it back" and he drove "over 500 miles in it" without noticing the massive coolant leak and punctured tyre.

Tyres x2, plus the one that was so out of balance it caused a massive wheel wobble. Yet I got a bit of a pasting in that thread! It's up for sale currently, reckon I'm going to lose £1000 all in, albeit £350 was transport costs. Gutted but you win some you lose some. I sold the silver V70R for £500 more than I paid for it and ran the Panda for 6 months and sold it for the same as I paid.

However its made me appreciate the XC70 more than I've ever done. I'm genuinely happier than I've ever been (with this car) just trundling around. It just makes life with 2 kids so easy. It's comfortable and smooth and I love automatics. Don't care if people think it's beige. I love it.

We are off to Birdworld tomorrow which was the main motivation for getting it back out yesterday, along with not wanting to pay for another months tax on the shonky Impreza (£45). Lining up a trip to Disney Paris in October too which should be fun.

[S100HP]

100 miles covered yesterday to and from Birdworld in comfort makes me even more sure I've made the right decision. Bloody hot however and the aircon wasn't blowing cold air, so had it re-gassed today. Good job as it hit 33deg down here! Blower motor is a bit noisy now, have never noticed it before?

[S100HP]

When I purchased the comfy Volvo I didn't check the sat nav was actually working. The unit popped out of the dash, but couldn't read the disc. I assumed there was no disc in the unit and then forgot to check (I did actually go and see this car before purchase you may recall)

Anyway, back in May time I took the sat nav unit apart to clean it.



I plugged it back in but wasn't fixed. I then in a fit of rage chucked the broken unit, I wrongly assumed a replacement would just plug and play. I then found out they are coded to the car. you might get lucky and it just works, but re-coding is between £100/£250 depending where you go. FML.

I ordered a used unit from eBay, which came from Lithuania. I fitted this, but it was faulty. It wouldn't swallow the discs entirely. That got posted back to Lithuania and I got all my money back plus postage (these units are circa £90/£100).

This week I purchased another unit (from someone in the UK). I've fitted this in the car today. The screen pops up, it took a while to read the disc and seemed to get stuck on the "please wait" screen. I turned the car off and back on again and we have a partial success. Success in the sense that the unit works and it knows where I am on the map. Not a success in the fact the buttons on the remote or steering wheel don't seem to do anything, ie I cannot bring up the menu or close the unit down.

What do we think, a coding issue? It's odd that it seems to work, partially.

[S100HP]

E36Dan said:

You sure you really want to be that financially invested in a 10 year old satnav?

With how phones etc have come on recently, I find these early sat nav units to be only slightly more than useless.

I get that, but if you apply a bit of common sense it still works reasonably well. Plus if something is fitted I want it to work. I had it in the V70R and it was perfectly serviceable. I'm in now anyway as I have a working unit. If only I hadn't wasted a grand on a shonky Impreza....

Anyway, took the boys to the beach today. That's the IOW in the distance.

[S100HP]

Found a ford this evening. Turns out it was deeper than I expected. The bow wave came over the bonnet.



Several minutes later it was still leaking so I turned it off and went for a leak too.



Another few minutes and i set on my way. Hmmm, something wasn't happy. Bit of stuttering and then..



Turns out they don't like deep fords then.

[S100HP]

TheJimi said:

Dude, fk me, are you in self destruct mode?!

Between the scoob shenanigans and trying to drown your poor Volvo...

On the plus side I did 250 miles today before this happened. I'm sure it'll be fine once dry..

[S100HP]

Joey Deacon said:

Greg_D said:

where's the air intake on these? i have a horrible feeling it is nice and low.......

Hmmmmm, maybe you will have to put the shony Impreza back into service assuming it has not been sold to WBAC or been made into tin cans by now.

It drove home alright, just in limp home mode. Was due a service Tuesday anyway, so have moved that forwards to Thursday. He'll plug it into VIDA/DICE and hopefully will give us a clue what to look at.

[S100HP]

Tony427 said:

The air intake is above the radiator so would be below the" bow wave". It funnels air through a 1" x 12"( thin but wide) aperture into the bottom of the airbox, about 8 inches above that near the top of the airbox sits the the air filter.

Again this would have been below the level of the bow wave.

Hopefully the OP has been lucky and its just an electrical gremlin caused by water getting into connectors.

Cheers,

Tony

Given it drove 10 miles home in limp mode I'd hope it nothing more serious...

[S100HP]

jamesbilluk said:

That looks lovely, I’ve since started to want one of these my self recently! Something comfortable, with good load carrying capacity!
Sorry for the thread hijack, I found this one close to me, would 240k be a lot of miles for one of these?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

I think that's pretty strong money for that age and milage combined with the colour scheme, however they'll eat that milage without issue. Plenty in America with 300k plus. Especially if you don't drive them through fords.

[S100HP]

Well, codes were read. One to do with aircon, one to do with a dicky injector (2670) and 135F, which is Maf sensor faulty signal. Guess that's because it was wet then! All faults cleared and seems to be okay just now. Need to take it for a run later, but hopefully it's no longer sick. The fog lamps seem to have been a casualty too, as they are no longer working.

Update: fogs work again

Edited by S100HP on Thursday 23 August 20:32