Discussion
Since I put the LS400 up on here and it was a great day to take some photos I thought I'd put my other car up on PH too. I've always had a bit of a thing for the Volvo T5 engine - I love the 5-pot warble/growl, the fact it takes so well to a bit of tuning and the sheer un-burstability of the things.
I've owned five T5's in total over the years and this is the latest and by far the best.
It was owned for three years by a friend of mine and when I was offered it I grabbed it with both hands. Knowing the previous owner I knew it would be a good one because just like me he doesn't do niggles with cars and fixes everything mechanical that needs fixing.
She's a Volvo S70R manual in nautic blue pearl with some very nice and almost completely invisible mods - a bit of a Q car. The exhaust and the anthracite alloys do give the game away a bit I guess. I'm only the fourth owner and it's covered 109k miles.
They were always rare but it's now positively endangered, at it's peak there were only 59 manual S70Rs registered with DVLA and only just over half are left.
In terms of modifications the car has:
Full stainless steel Ferrita exhaust system including downpipe and 100cel race cat.
Upgraded, thicker intercooler with reverse flow pipework.
MTE Stage 2 remap.
Bilstien shock absorbers and KW springs.
IPD thicker anti-roll bars front and rear.
Stack electronic boost gauge.
It's a lovely thing to drive, properly old-school high pressure turbo but with the standard front diff and the mods it puts the power down very well and corners far beyond the level I want to drive at on the public road. The IPD anti-roll bars mean very neutral cornering and next to no roll.
The interior is in great condition, a little wear to switches here and there and the steering wheel alcantara is flat but other than that it's all very good. The car has the newer vents from the C70 fitted which give the cabin a nice lift - it's surprising the difference they make.
The car came with a three inch thick wad of paperwork in an arch file. Everything is there including the original PDI from when the car was new, the newspaper advert for the car when the second owner bought it for 25,000 (and this was back in 1999 when 25k was a lot of money
), the sales invoice, service invoices and check sheets, every MoT, old tax discs, repair invoices, tyre invoices, the lot.
Bad bits? Exterior cosmetics.
The rear bumper has a couple of corner scuffs, the front end could really do with re-painting as the on the bumper the lacquer is failing and the paint is heavily stone chipped (the bumper itself is undamaged, just needs rubbing back and painting) and the bonnet also has a lot of stone chips. It was something I was considering getting around to, but I'm really not that into the external cosmetics of a car that much. As long as it's not rusting and it looks decent after a wash that's good enough for me!
The idea was always to use this as a daily driver and occasional track day car as it's set up for fast road/track use. Unfortunately the only way I could wear a helmet in the car would be to replace the driver's seat or get the sunroof removed - I just couldn't bring myself to do either of them as the interior is in such good condition. So for the last year it's been my daily and I've really enjoyed having it, but I've decided to get myself a comfortable cruiser for the commute (hence the LS400) and something cheap as a "starter car" for trackdays as I really want to try my hand at them.
It looks very much like the previous owner will be buying my S70R back, so for the moment she's going into hibernation on a SORN until I find out if that's going to happen or not.
I've owned five T5's in total over the years and this is the latest and by far the best.
It was owned for three years by a friend of mine and when I was offered it I grabbed it with both hands. Knowing the previous owner I knew it would be a good one because just like me he doesn't do niggles with cars and fixes everything mechanical that needs fixing.
She's a Volvo S70R manual in nautic blue pearl with some very nice and almost completely invisible mods - a bit of a Q car. The exhaust and the anthracite alloys do give the game away a bit I guess. I'm only the fourth owner and it's covered 109k miles.
They were always rare but it's now positively endangered, at it's peak there were only 59 manual S70Rs registered with DVLA and only just over half are left.
In terms of modifications the car has:
Full stainless steel Ferrita exhaust system including downpipe and 100cel race cat.
Upgraded, thicker intercooler with reverse flow pipework.
MTE Stage 2 remap.
Bilstien shock absorbers and KW springs.
IPD thicker anti-roll bars front and rear.
Stack electronic boost gauge.
It's a lovely thing to drive, properly old-school high pressure turbo but with the standard front diff and the mods it puts the power down very well and corners far beyond the level I want to drive at on the public road. The IPD anti-roll bars mean very neutral cornering and next to no roll.
The interior is in great condition, a little wear to switches here and there and the steering wheel alcantara is flat but other than that it's all very good. The car has the newer vents from the C70 fitted which give the cabin a nice lift - it's surprising the difference they make.
The car came with a three inch thick wad of paperwork in an arch file. Everything is there including the original PDI from when the car was new, the newspaper advert for the car when the second owner bought it for 25,000 (and this was back in 1999 when 25k was a lot of money
), the sales invoice, service invoices and check sheets, every MoT, old tax discs, repair invoices, tyre invoices, the lot. Bad bits? Exterior cosmetics.
The rear bumper has a couple of corner scuffs, the front end could really do with re-painting as the on the bumper the lacquer is failing and the paint is heavily stone chipped (the bumper itself is undamaged, just needs rubbing back and painting) and the bonnet also has a lot of stone chips. It was something I was considering getting around to, but I'm really not that into the external cosmetics of a car that much. As long as it's not rusting and it looks decent after a wash that's good enough for me!
The idea was always to use this as a daily driver and occasional track day car as it's set up for fast road/track use. Unfortunately the only way I could wear a helmet in the car would be to replace the driver's seat or get the sunroof removed - I just couldn't bring myself to do either of them as the interior is in such good condition. So for the last year it's been my daily and I've really enjoyed having it, but I've decided to get myself a comfortable cruiser for the commute (hence the LS400) and something cheap as a "starter car" for trackdays as I really want to try my hand at them.
It looks very much like the previous owner will be buying my S70R back, so for the moment she's going into hibernation on a SORN until I find out if that's going to happen or not.
Thanks 
In my case it was a bit of luck and knowing people with nice cars through forums and meets. The guy I bought it from had two really excellent examples and I asked him years ago for first refusal if he ever sold them. He was good enough to honour the request and although I wasn't in a position to buy the first one when it came up for sale I was able to pounce on the S70R.
Also it's being prepared to pay a premium for the right car, values are flat or rising for good R's at the moment as there just aren't many left. Tatty ones have been worth more in bits for a while now - turbos, bumpers, interiors and wheels are all desirable upgrades for the non-R cars.
Definitely worth watching the for sale forums on the Volvo owners club forum and T5D5 is a great place to find modded cars.
In my case it was a bit of luck and knowing people with nice cars through forums and meets. The guy I bought it from had two really excellent examples and I asked him years ago for first refusal if he ever sold them. He was good enough to honour the request and although I wasn't in a position to buy the first one when it came up for sale I was able to pounce on the S70R.
Also it's being prepared to pay a premium for the right car, values are flat or rising for good R's at the moment as there just aren't many left. Tatty ones have been worth more in bits for a while now - turbos, bumpers, interiors and wheels are all desirable upgrades for the non-R cars.
Definitely worth watching the for sale forums on the Volvo owners club forum and T5D5 is a great place to find modded cars.
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