2018 Volvo XC90 T5 - The scruffy barge gets an extension
Discussion
This is a continuation of a thread I started back in 2021 when I bought a scruffy 2010 XC70 as a chip-shortage stop gap to replace a recently returned leased 2019 V90 CC...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The XC70 stuck around for longer than I originally expected, but we increasingly seem to have a sporadic need for a car with more seats, so I set about looking for a replacement. I pondered some non-Volvo alternatives for a while, but having already had one 'SPA' platform Volvo I knew that another would work well for us.
I've always liked the second generation XC90, as massive SUVs go it's somehow one of the least objectionable. I maybe have a bit of an affinity for them as I was doing some work as a supplier for Volvo when it launched in 2015. I helped with a web platform where 1927 lucky customers could reserve their fully-loaded 'launch edition' model online. Quite a cool concept at the time. Amusingly, this ended up being 1926 customers as someone on the Volvo side forgot to remove a test order that I'd placed on an internal pre-production website at the 11th hour. This apparently caused a bit of drama in Stockholm when the selected dealerships came to process the orders.
The Volvo wouldn't be our main car, an EV does the school run and the bulk of our annual mileage. It will be called upon when we need something more practical. As a result I wasn't too concerned about fuel economy or looking at higher mileage examples, as we will soon bring the annual average down. The SPA platform offers a confusing array of 4cyl turbo/turbo-supercharged/hybrid/partial-EV options. I knew the early Electric Rear Axle Drive/ERAD could throw up some expensive repairs, and the supercharged options also looked a bit dicey at higher mileage. I concluded that the turbo petrol or diesel (T5/D5) seemed to be the safest choice at the price-point I was shopping at.
Some internet research seemed to suggest the earlier 2015/16 cars had a few common issues like sticky piston rings that were addressed in later cars. I also wanted a car that had the 'Sensus' navigation system, rather than the Google-powered system that appeared in 2020/21. My father had an XC60 with the updated infotainment and it seemed very half-baked. Sensus is a bit sluggish, but I always found it reliable in the V90.
I wanted a car with a factory tow bar, I like the integration with cameras/parking sensors and so on that a factory fitted bar brings. I have a couple of small trailers and a bike carrier that I wanted to still be able to use. I was on the fence about the optional air suspension, it would be good for towing, but possibly a headache as it aged. Shopping for a used car with a particular set of options isn't a great experience on any of the major car buying sites. The keyword search on Autotrader seems to produce different results for the same search criteria if you reload a few times.
The XC70 was one of my first experiments with running an older car. I kept track of my expenditure on servicing and repairs over the 58 months I've owned it, I also tracked what a car we nearly leased instead of the XC70 would have cost. The 'profit' from running an older car rather than leasing for that time was my budget for the replacement.
The car I ended up buying was provisionally sold when I first found it and enquired. A week or so later we were away on holiday and the trader got in touch to say the buyer had been unable to arrange finance and had dropped out. He was straightforward to deal with, unlike a lot of small traders his business had been trading under the same name for a number of years and seemed well-reviewed. He'd recently taken the XC90 as a part-exchange against a 5 series in an unusual spec. He sent over some walk-around videos and agreed to hold the vehicle for a week until I could go and view it.
Back from holiday we drove up to Loughborough to see it. It's a bit of a curious spec, originally a Volvo UK car it's a middling-trim 'Momentum Pro' but it's then had quite a lot of options added. Not being a top trim 'Inscription' means it's missing the leather dash and doorcard tops and a few other little niceties, but this didn't seem like a reason to discount it. I also prefer the slightly reduced amount of exterior chrome trim compared to the top models. I liked the colour a lot, it's called 'Pine Grey', it appears to be a regular grey but goes a nice green when the sun hits it. The light 'blonde' interior is a bold choice with two small children, but it does look nice against the green. The mileage was high for the age at 103k, but the price reflected this. The condition was better than I'd expected for the mileage, but not so clean that it seemed suspicious. It appeared to have been looked after. The paint appears to be original apart from the lower tailgate, I suspect it's been opened onto the roof of a car park as the rear bumper hasn't been painted. When you start looking you see a lot of XC90s with dents in that area.
It's the T5 engine, which is a 250bhp turbo petrol, it's the same engine I had in my V90, albeit with a dealer-fit Polestar remap. The torquey diesel might have been a better choice for towing, but I didn't want to base the purchase around something I do relatively infrequently. I was also on the fence about the appeal of a higher mileage Euro 6 diesel. I was worried the 'T5' might seem underpowered in something so heavy, but it drove ok, the 8 speed auto does a reasonably good job of masking the lack of displacement and torque. It doesn't have air suspension, again possibly a tick towards keeping things simple.
Less promising was the included paperwork. There was a photograph of the original service book from the time when the previous owner acquired it(!?) but the book pack was missing. There were some receipts for recent services and the seller had managed to pull a digital record, it appeared to have been serviced on schedule but one of the services was missing mileage details. After some back and forth the seller offered to extend the third-party warranty to two years, refurbish the wheels to remove some minor kerbing and corrosion, address some marks on the interior trim and see if the previous owner could produce the missing book pack, invoices and parcel shelf. If he could get that sorted the following week we'd have a deal.
True to his word by Thursday the following week the car had been through his wheel and trim guys and the previous owner had located the book pack, parcel shelf and some more invoices and delivered them from Lincoln to Loughborough. Prior to this the trader had phoned up the independents who'd serviced it and validated the history. It now appeared to be on me to uphold my side of our deal, so I bought an insurance policy and booked a one-way train ticket to Loughborough for the next day.
Quite a curious train journey, it was only 2hrs but I had to change multiple times. Amazingly all four(!!) of the trains I used were on time. The seller met me at the station in a lovely 996.
After a quick inspection of what he'd done that week I transferred him the cash, bought some tax and was on my way home. The journey back was wafty and relaxing. I love a Volvo seat, the HK stereo sounds pretty good and the 'Auto Pilot' cruise control is better than I remember it being in my V90. Maybe it's received some updates. Unlike the Tesla I drive some of the time it makes no annoying bongs on activation and nags for steering input a lot less.
I haven't rushed to do anything with the XC70, if the XC90 proves to be reliable I'll probably move it on, but it's tempting to keep it around through the coming winter.
My kids love the boot seats and have so far refused to sit anywhere else. Now I just need to fashion a sound-proof partition.
The V90 was the first car that we'd had with the ability to remotely heat or cool the cabin, it's a feature my wife loves so I was keen to try and get the Volvo app setup. I seem to remember this was a pain on the V90 and required a visit to two different main dealers to get the On Call service correctly activated.
Linking the XC90 to the app was quite straightforward using the VIN. Happily, it appears that this car has never previously been setup so I didn't have the hassle of releasing it from a previous owners account. This also appears to mean that the initial 3 years of free On Call subscription had never been applied, so I was able to claim it.
The app was linked, but the car wasn't communicating and nothing was updating. You need to get a PIN from Volvo to activate the telematics module within the car. I think this was possibly what required multiple dealership visits with my new V90, I assumed I'd have to do the same again, and this time probably pay some out of warranty labour costs.
(Excuse the state of the touchscreen, the anti-fingerprint coating on this generation seems to be non-existent)
Volvo now has a WhatsApp customer support service, I started a chat to see if they'd be able to provide the PIN but fully expecting to be told to schedule an appointment. Amazingly, it appears to be staffed by actual humans with the correct level of access to do useful things. Within a few minutes they'd sent over the PIN, all very low-hassle and no charge. Well done Volvo.
With the PIN entered in the car it started communicating with the app, compared to a modern EV the app is a bit primitive, but remotely starting the engine for a set period of time will also result in the cabin being cooled or heated. Or you can just run the fans or open windows. Notifications for leaving doors open or the car unlocked are quite handy too.
Adding the car to my Volvo account also gave me a way to retrieve the original build options, here are some of the bits worth mentioning...
I have a few things I want to address in the coming months...
I'm a bit of a tyre snob, it's come with Uniroyal Rainsport 5s with a 2025 date stamp on the front, this is ok. On the back there are a pair of Davanti somethings, this offends my tyre snobbery. Looking at the receipts the previous owner appears to have been running it on Rainsports front and back, but then had an alignment performed all around a few months ago with notes that the inner edges at the rear were feathered. The rear tyres are brand new in terms of tread, but have a curiously old date stamp of 2023. There's no receipt from the time of the alignment for tyres, so I suspect the trader sourced them to sell it. I wasn't concerned about the tyres at purchase as I'd like to move it onto a decent set of all seasons. I'm flip-flopping about what to order though as there are some tempting 'all terrain' all season options in this size such as the Falken Wildpeak AT3WA, but I'm undecided on if they would look a bit silly and ruin the ride.
It's not had a cambelt change, nor is it due as Volvo moved to some sort of wonder material that's good for 150k and 10yrs. Beyond buying the appropriate timing tool it doesn't look particularly unpleasant, so I'll look to do this early. Usefully, FCP Euro have an excellent series of detailed service videos on a T5 XC90.
A gearbox and Haldex service/flush are also not 'required' but can't hurt.
Keeping the sunroof drains clear seems to be a good way to avoid water ingress, I'll have to find my trombone brush.
The main battery is Volvo branded, this car has been serviced at specialists and independent garages, so there's a high chance it's original. The car doesn't start-stop as often as I'd expect. Connecting the car to VDASH revealed some stored communication and voltage errors across various modules. Nothing immediately came back after clearing them but this all points towards a battery that's getting towards the end of its life.
Then there are some smaller bits and pieces that I've already addressed, I'll cover those in some follow-up posts.
I think it's quite a handsome thing, hard to capture on camera but it gets very green on a sunny day...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The XC70 stuck around for longer than I originally expected, but we increasingly seem to have a sporadic need for a car with more seats, so I set about looking for a replacement. I pondered some non-Volvo alternatives for a while, but having already had one 'SPA' platform Volvo I knew that another would work well for us.
I've always liked the second generation XC90, as massive SUVs go it's somehow one of the least objectionable. I maybe have a bit of an affinity for them as I was doing some work as a supplier for Volvo when it launched in 2015. I helped with a web platform where 1927 lucky customers could reserve their fully-loaded 'launch edition' model online. Quite a cool concept at the time. Amusingly, this ended up being 1926 customers as someone on the Volvo side forgot to remove a test order that I'd placed on an internal pre-production website at the 11th hour. This apparently caused a bit of drama in Stockholm when the selected dealerships came to process the orders.
The Volvo wouldn't be our main car, an EV does the school run and the bulk of our annual mileage. It will be called upon when we need something more practical. As a result I wasn't too concerned about fuel economy or looking at higher mileage examples, as we will soon bring the annual average down. The SPA platform offers a confusing array of 4cyl turbo/turbo-supercharged/hybrid/partial-EV options. I knew the early Electric Rear Axle Drive/ERAD could throw up some expensive repairs, and the supercharged options also looked a bit dicey at higher mileage. I concluded that the turbo petrol or diesel (T5/D5) seemed to be the safest choice at the price-point I was shopping at.
Some internet research seemed to suggest the earlier 2015/16 cars had a few common issues like sticky piston rings that were addressed in later cars. I also wanted a car that had the 'Sensus' navigation system, rather than the Google-powered system that appeared in 2020/21. My father had an XC60 with the updated infotainment and it seemed very half-baked. Sensus is a bit sluggish, but I always found it reliable in the V90.
I wanted a car with a factory tow bar, I like the integration with cameras/parking sensors and so on that a factory fitted bar brings. I have a couple of small trailers and a bike carrier that I wanted to still be able to use. I was on the fence about the optional air suspension, it would be good for towing, but possibly a headache as it aged. Shopping for a used car with a particular set of options isn't a great experience on any of the major car buying sites. The keyword search on Autotrader seems to produce different results for the same search criteria if you reload a few times.
The XC70 was one of my first experiments with running an older car. I kept track of my expenditure on servicing and repairs over the 58 months I've owned it, I also tracked what a car we nearly leased instead of the XC70 would have cost. The 'profit' from running an older car rather than leasing for that time was my budget for the replacement.
The car I ended up buying was provisionally sold when I first found it and enquired. A week or so later we were away on holiday and the trader got in touch to say the buyer had been unable to arrange finance and had dropped out. He was straightforward to deal with, unlike a lot of small traders his business had been trading under the same name for a number of years and seemed well-reviewed. He'd recently taken the XC90 as a part-exchange against a 5 series in an unusual spec. He sent over some walk-around videos and agreed to hold the vehicle for a week until I could go and view it.
Back from holiday we drove up to Loughborough to see it. It's a bit of a curious spec, originally a Volvo UK car it's a middling-trim 'Momentum Pro' but it's then had quite a lot of options added. Not being a top trim 'Inscription' means it's missing the leather dash and doorcard tops and a few other little niceties, but this didn't seem like a reason to discount it. I also prefer the slightly reduced amount of exterior chrome trim compared to the top models. I liked the colour a lot, it's called 'Pine Grey', it appears to be a regular grey but goes a nice green when the sun hits it. The light 'blonde' interior is a bold choice with two small children, but it does look nice against the green. The mileage was high for the age at 103k, but the price reflected this. The condition was better than I'd expected for the mileage, but not so clean that it seemed suspicious. It appeared to have been looked after. The paint appears to be original apart from the lower tailgate, I suspect it's been opened onto the roof of a car park as the rear bumper hasn't been painted. When you start looking you see a lot of XC90s with dents in that area.
It's the T5 engine, which is a 250bhp turbo petrol, it's the same engine I had in my V90, albeit with a dealer-fit Polestar remap. The torquey diesel might have been a better choice for towing, but I didn't want to base the purchase around something I do relatively infrequently. I was also on the fence about the appeal of a higher mileage Euro 6 diesel. I was worried the 'T5' might seem underpowered in something so heavy, but it drove ok, the 8 speed auto does a reasonably good job of masking the lack of displacement and torque. It doesn't have air suspension, again possibly a tick towards keeping things simple.
Less promising was the included paperwork. There was a photograph of the original service book from the time when the previous owner acquired it(!?) but the book pack was missing. There were some receipts for recent services and the seller had managed to pull a digital record, it appeared to have been serviced on schedule but one of the services was missing mileage details. After some back and forth the seller offered to extend the third-party warranty to two years, refurbish the wheels to remove some minor kerbing and corrosion, address some marks on the interior trim and see if the previous owner could produce the missing book pack, invoices and parcel shelf. If he could get that sorted the following week we'd have a deal.
True to his word by Thursday the following week the car had been through his wheel and trim guys and the previous owner had located the book pack, parcel shelf and some more invoices and delivered them from Lincoln to Loughborough. Prior to this the trader had phoned up the independents who'd serviced it and validated the history. It now appeared to be on me to uphold my side of our deal, so I bought an insurance policy and booked a one-way train ticket to Loughborough for the next day.
Quite a curious train journey, it was only 2hrs but I had to change multiple times. Amazingly all four(!!) of the trains I used were on time. The seller met me at the station in a lovely 996.
After a quick inspection of what he'd done that week I transferred him the cash, bought some tax and was on my way home. The journey back was wafty and relaxing. I love a Volvo seat, the HK stereo sounds pretty good and the 'Auto Pilot' cruise control is better than I remember it being in my V90. Maybe it's received some updates. Unlike the Tesla I drive some of the time it makes no annoying bongs on activation and nags for steering input a lot less.
I haven't rushed to do anything with the XC70, if the XC90 proves to be reliable I'll probably move it on, but it's tempting to keep it around through the coming winter.
My kids love the boot seats and have so far refused to sit anywhere else. Now I just need to fashion a sound-proof partition.
The V90 was the first car that we'd had with the ability to remotely heat or cool the cabin, it's a feature my wife loves so I was keen to try and get the Volvo app setup. I seem to remember this was a pain on the V90 and required a visit to two different main dealers to get the On Call service correctly activated.
Linking the XC90 to the app was quite straightforward using the VIN. Happily, it appears that this car has never previously been setup so I didn't have the hassle of releasing it from a previous owners account. This also appears to mean that the initial 3 years of free On Call subscription had never been applied, so I was able to claim it.
The app was linked, but the car wasn't communicating and nothing was updating. You need to get a PIN from Volvo to activate the telematics module within the car. I think this was possibly what required multiple dealership visits with my new V90, I assumed I'd have to do the same again, and this time probably pay some out of warranty labour costs.
(Excuse the state of the touchscreen, the anti-fingerprint coating on this generation seems to be non-existent)
Volvo now has a WhatsApp customer support service, I started a chat to see if they'd be able to provide the PIN but fully expecting to be told to schedule an appointment. Amazingly, it appears to be staffed by actual humans with the correct level of access to do useful things. Within a few minutes they'd sent over the PIN, all very low-hassle and no charge. Well done Volvo.
With the PIN entered in the car it started communicating with the app, compared to a modern EV the app is a bit primitive, but remotely starting the engine for a set period of time will also result in the cabin being cooled or heated. Or you can just run the fans or open windows. Notifications for leaving doors open or the car unlocked are quite handy too.
Adding the car to my Volvo account also gave me a way to retrieve the original build options, here are some of the bits worth mentioning...
- Four-zone climate system
- Third row air conditioning
- Panoramic roof
- 360° camera
- Head-up display
- IntelliSafe Surround
- BLIS™ Blind Spot Information and Cross Traffic Alert
- Park Assist Pilot
- Smartphone integration
- Harman Kardon Premium Sound
- Power operated passenger seat with memory function
- Power side bolsters
- Power-operated multi-directional 4-way lumbar support
- Heated steering wheel
- LED headlights with Active Bending Lights
- Foglights with cornering lights
- Interior high level illumination
- Illuminated sill moulding
- Fine Nappa Leather Blond in Blond/Charcoal interior with Charcoal details
I have a few things I want to address in the coming months...
I'm a bit of a tyre snob, it's come with Uniroyal Rainsport 5s with a 2025 date stamp on the front, this is ok. On the back there are a pair of Davanti somethings, this offends my tyre snobbery. Looking at the receipts the previous owner appears to have been running it on Rainsports front and back, but then had an alignment performed all around a few months ago with notes that the inner edges at the rear were feathered. The rear tyres are brand new in terms of tread, but have a curiously old date stamp of 2023. There's no receipt from the time of the alignment for tyres, so I suspect the trader sourced them to sell it. I wasn't concerned about the tyres at purchase as I'd like to move it onto a decent set of all seasons. I'm flip-flopping about what to order though as there are some tempting 'all terrain' all season options in this size such as the Falken Wildpeak AT3WA, but I'm undecided on if they would look a bit silly and ruin the ride.
It's not had a cambelt change, nor is it due as Volvo moved to some sort of wonder material that's good for 150k and 10yrs. Beyond buying the appropriate timing tool it doesn't look particularly unpleasant, so I'll look to do this early. Usefully, FCP Euro have an excellent series of detailed service videos on a T5 XC90.
A gearbox and Haldex service/flush are also not 'required' but can't hurt.
Keeping the sunroof drains clear seems to be a good way to avoid water ingress, I'll have to find my trombone brush.
The main battery is Volvo branded, this car has been serviced at specialists and independent garages, so there's a high chance it's original. The car doesn't start-stop as often as I'd expect. Connecting the car to VDASH revealed some stored communication and voltage errors across various modules. Nothing immediately came back after clearing them but this all points towards a battery that's getting towards the end of its life.
Then there are some smaller bits and pieces that I've already addressed, I'll cover those in some follow-up posts.
I think it's quite a handsome thing, hard to capture on camera but it gets very green on a sunny day...
Thank you.
I did consider a pair of Rainsports for the rear, but despite the 2025 date codes the fronts are down to about 5mm already, so I feel like I'd probably find myself replacing them sooner than I'd like anyway. They're a good tyre, I've had older generations in the past and liked them, but they are known for being quite soft and wearing quickly. I think I'd rather start again, and ideally get some all seasons with the 3PMSF logo in case I fancy a winter European adventure at some point.
I did consider a pair of Rainsports for the rear, but despite the 2025 date codes the fronts are down to about 5mm already, so I feel like I'd probably find myself replacing them sooner than I'd like anyway. They're a good tyre, I've had older generations in the past and liked them, but they are known for being quite soft and wearing quickly. I think I'd rather start again, and ideally get some all seasons with the 3PMSF logo in case I fancy a winter European adventure at some point.
The start stop on my V60CC doesn't come on that often either. I got the Volvo dealer to replace the start stop battery a couple of years ago (about 5 years old), which was surprisingly cheap at under £100 fitted. I think it needed replacing as the car has been sitting for a bit. The main reason I bothered replacing it wasn't for stop start, but when it is low it also takes out the park sensors.
I keep forgetting that these have a separate small start-stop battery in the engine bay in addition to the main battery in the boot. I haven't removed the cover to see if that one also appears to be original. I do have a battery tester so I should probably test them before I start throwing parts at it.
Very handsome thing, looks like a great buy!
My V60CC T5 was throwing up all sorts of errors especially a power steering fault when the stop start occasionally worked which a new aux battery and a dealer service helped out a lot with.
Mines done 80k miles on a 70 plate so am also thinking gearbox/haldex oil change. Luckily I have a specialist very close by. Be interested to see how you get on with the economy in your usage
My V60CC T5 was throwing up all sorts of errors especially a power steering fault when the stop start occasionally worked which a new aux battery and a dealer service helped out a lot with.
Mines done 80k miles on a 70 plate so am also thinking gearbox/haldex oil change. Luckily I have a specialist very close by. Be interested to see how you get on with the economy in your usage
Whilst fiddling with getting the On Call service working, I'd connected the car to WiFi, which led to it prompting me that there were some map updates available. I seem to remember being able to download these over WiFi on my V90, but the XC90 was complaining that they were too large and they needed to be installed over USB - maybe it had been left too long without an update.
I don't really know why I felt compelled to do this, I'll never use the built in nav on a car with CarPlay/AA, but I can't leave stuff like this alone.
Volvo provide a series of utilities that will download and copy the update files to a USB device. I had some fun to start with as the car didn't detect the USB stick I initially wrote the files to. It turns out the Sensus system doesn't play nicely with USB 3.0 devices. With a 128GB USB 2.0 stick purchased, it worked just fine, although the download speed of the 60GB update is then limited by the write speed of the slow USB device. It took a while to download and upgrade, but it got there.
The wipers were a bit noisy, so I ordered replacements for the front and back. A full set of Bosch wipers from Parts in Motion was only £20 as there was an eBay discount code running at the time. The wiper arms were a bit grey so they got a coat of Owatrol colour restorer. I was amused to find that there are no fewer than eight nozzle jets for screenwash mounted on the wiper arms.
The rear blade was so hard it bounced across the screen making a particularly shrill sound. It was Volvo branded, so probably original.
I picked up a cheap data SIM to add to the 4G modem in the boot. Volvos of this era can create their own WiFi network for passengers either by repeating a Bluetooth connection to your phone's data service or using the built-in modem.
It works!
The rear bumper had quite a few small marks on the lip...
I picked up some Pine Grey touchup and set about dabbing paint into them with a cocktail stick. They look a lot better. I could improve them further by building the paint up higher and then wet sanding and polishing, but they look acceptable as they are. I need to avoid the folly of trying to keep a family car pristine.
My daughter was in need of a larger wardrobe, so the Volvo owner ritual of taking your Swedish car to the Swedish shop and taking photos was conducted with a trip to IKEA in Reading.
Just over 2m of PAX wardrobe went in fine. Although the trim on the inside of the tailgate is quite chunky, so things have to be slid a bit further into the boot than I'm used to on the XC70.
I was curious to see how it towed, so I dragged my car transporter back to the house so I could carry out a couple of jobs on it.
It offers to do a lamp check when it detects that something is connected to the 13-pin plug on the towbar, which is a nice touch. I was a little surprised that the blind spot warning system is also disabled whilst towing; I guess a trailer would constantly be detected as in the way.
Having a tow car with cameras is also a nicety, although not as useful as I expected...
...reversing a trailer onto my driveway is a little challenging. The road and driveway entrance makes for quite a tight turn, the mouth of the drive also slopes up quite a lot, and once you're onto the driveway there are a few house and wall shaped obstacles to avoid. I thought a camera might make this easier, but the slope is so severe that the rear of the trailer is completely out of shot whilst reversing. There's also less vision out of the mirrors than in my XC70 - I'm not sure if that's because of the ride height or the higher glass line on a modern vehicle - but I can't see the rear of the trailer until the driveway flattens out. I guess I'll get used to it.
I don't really know why I felt compelled to do this, I'll never use the built in nav on a car with CarPlay/AA, but I can't leave stuff like this alone.
Volvo provide a series of utilities that will download and copy the update files to a USB device. I had some fun to start with as the car didn't detect the USB stick I initially wrote the files to. It turns out the Sensus system doesn't play nicely with USB 3.0 devices. With a 128GB USB 2.0 stick purchased, it worked just fine, although the download speed of the 60GB update is then limited by the write speed of the slow USB device. It took a while to download and upgrade, but it got there.
The wipers were a bit noisy, so I ordered replacements for the front and back. A full set of Bosch wipers from Parts in Motion was only £20 as there was an eBay discount code running at the time. The wiper arms were a bit grey so they got a coat of Owatrol colour restorer. I was amused to find that there are no fewer than eight nozzle jets for screenwash mounted on the wiper arms.
The rear blade was so hard it bounced across the screen making a particularly shrill sound. It was Volvo branded, so probably original.
I picked up a cheap data SIM to add to the 4G modem in the boot. Volvos of this era can create their own WiFi network for passengers either by repeating a Bluetooth connection to your phone's data service or using the built-in modem.
It works!
The rear bumper had quite a few small marks on the lip...
I picked up some Pine Grey touchup and set about dabbing paint into them with a cocktail stick. They look a lot better. I could improve them further by building the paint up higher and then wet sanding and polishing, but they look acceptable as they are. I need to avoid the folly of trying to keep a family car pristine.
My daughter was in need of a larger wardrobe, so the Volvo owner ritual of taking your Swedish car to the Swedish shop and taking photos was conducted with a trip to IKEA in Reading.
Just over 2m of PAX wardrobe went in fine. Although the trim on the inside of the tailgate is quite chunky, so things have to be slid a bit further into the boot than I'm used to on the XC70.
I was curious to see how it towed, so I dragged my car transporter back to the house so I could carry out a couple of jobs on it.
It offers to do a lamp check when it detects that something is connected to the 13-pin plug on the towbar, which is a nice touch. I was a little surprised that the blind spot warning system is also disabled whilst towing; I guess a trailer would constantly be detected as in the way.
Having a tow car with cameras is also a nicety, although not as useful as I expected...
...reversing a trailer onto my driveway is a little challenging. The road and driveway entrance makes for quite a tight turn, the mouth of the drive also slopes up quite a lot, and once you're onto the driveway there are a few house and wall shaped obstacles to avoid. I thought a camera might make this easier, but the slope is so severe that the rear of the trailer is completely out of shot whilst reversing. There's also less vision out of the mirrors than in my XC70 - I'm not sure if that's because of the ride height or the higher glass line on a modern vehicle - but I can't see the rear of the trailer until the driveway flattens out. I guess I'll get used to it.
Sargeant Orange said:
Love that colour, it's a handsome beast.
I feared I was going to scroll down to see that putrid tan colour interior that seems so popular, so pleased it's that lovely beige.
Great spec
Thanks - although I will confess to ordering my V90 CC with the amber leather, and poo-brown paintwork I feared I was going to scroll down to see that putrid tan colour interior that seems so popular, so pleased it's that lovely beige.
Great spec
Chrispee said:
Very handsome thing, looks like a great buy!
My V60CC T5 was throwing up all sorts of errors especially a power steering fault when the stop start occasionally worked which a new aux battery and a dealer service helped out a lot with.
Mines done 80k miles on a 70 plate so am also thinking gearbox/haldex oil change. Luckily I have a specialist very close by. Be interested to see how you get on with the economy in your usage
Interesting, no obvious dash errors in my ownership, but I'll have to rescan with VDASH at some point as see if anything has returned.My V60CC T5 was throwing up all sorts of errors especially a power steering fault when the stop start occasionally worked which a new aux battery and a dealer service helped out a lot with.
Mines done 80k miles on a 70 plate so am also thinking gearbox/haldex oil change. Luckily I have a specialist very close by. Be interested to see how you get on with the economy in your usage
So far it seems to return 30mpg on a longer run, 26-28mpg on shorter trips. My particular variant of D5 XC70 isn't amazingly frugal, it's been a 33-35mpg car in my ownership, given the higher cost of diesel I don't think they'll be massively different to fuel
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff