Shed of the Week | Volvo V70
Shed thinks the capacious V70 can save lives come October - and he's found a brace of them to prove it
According to roughly half of our politicians, there are just four months or so to go until the Apocalypse. Shed therefore believes it to be his civic duty to root out a large, functional vehicle, something you can buy now for threepence or thereabouts to move your family and possessions to higher ground when it all kicks off. Then the value of your apocalypsemobile will rise when less far-sighted people than you realise they should have bought it before you did, at which point you will need plenty of guns and ammo. For free advice on this please click through to Shed's Shooter of the Week column, on Firingpin.com.
Shed has a secret love for Volvo estates. It all started in the late 1960s when, as a young lad with a flat cap, a Fair Isle pullover and a black bicycle he bolstered his pocket money by cleaning the local pie magnate's white 144. A lovely thing, or so it seemed until Shed began his own motoring career on two wheels. That's when he came to hate Volvos as the dumb choice of dopey drivers who thought a Volvo would keep them sleeping soundly on in the event of a crash.
Many decades later, the circle of life has reborn Shed as an admirer of the Swedish battlewagons. Having said that, there are V70s and there are V70s. The D5 diesels are strong and reliable, but a bit dull. The 300bhp second-gen V70 Rs and even the first-gen 260bhp Rs are anything but dull, but they're also well out of Shed range.
Luckily, characterful V70s are still available at Shed money, despite the peculiar hoisting of Volvo estate prices that seems to be going on in the auction houses these days. Having focused his search on the 140bhp 2.4 petrol versions - if only because they have inline fives that sound a bit like Audi quattros even if they don't go like them - Shed was delighted to find not just one but two very worthy examples. Both are the curvier gen-two models, both are autos, both were first registered in 2001 and both are in the same colour - but one's twice the price of the other. Rather than picking one and abandoning the other Shed has generously decided to present you with both.
The first V70 2.4 is a privately owned 137,000 miler bought for a single job - a house move - and then retained for two years when the family grew to like it. That's a commonly heard story with these Volvo wagons. As the vendor says, it's got the best part of a full MOT on it, the only advisories mentioned in March being some wear to the steering rack inner joint and to the front suspension bush, both on the nearside. Weak front suspension drop links are a generic V70 problem that can lead to uneven wear elsewear, sorry elsewhere. Volvo seats are great even in cloth and the car has a nice set of alloys on it. The whole thing looks honest, straight, and very tempting at £750.
Our second V70 2.4 is a bit more expensive at £1499, but it does come from a dealer, which automatically adds 50% to the price, and it does have under 100,000 miles, which is unusual for an 18-year-old Volvo estate. It looks just as clean as the private car but there are a couple of slightly jarring notes. The first one is that it is a Torslanda, which sounds like it should be posh but which actually means it's the base model. Fortunately, on gen-two cars it appears that even the base V70 could come with half-leather seats, but apparently not the headlamp washers that you can see on the cheaper of our two cars (does that make it an SE?). If those washers are anything like the ones you get on old Mercs, which tend to gum up and conk out over time, maybe that's not such a terrible loss.
The other possible glitch with the dearer car is its odd bonnet shut line. Shed's investigations don't go as far as checking possible crash damage but the MOT history is full and clean bar an advisory for a bust reversing light. The failed test that preceded its pass in April mentioned excessive CO content. This and the wonky bonnet may or may not mean that the previous owner was a stereotypical Volvo owner, i.e. nearly as old as Shed with even worse parking skills and a considerably weaker right foot. Given the 95,000 mileage and the fact that the recommended timing belt change interval is 8 years or 80,000 miles, you might want to make sure the cambelt isn't as ancient as the last driver could have been, as a bust one of them will bust a lot more stuff on its way out.
Other generic V70 faults are sticky locks, transmission troubles (especially if you don't use the right tranny fluid), clogged ETMs (electronic throttle modules), driver information modules, ABS modules and module modules. Exhaust shields and handbrake shoes work loose. Ironically, the electric cooling fans overheat. On the plus side, because both of these are straight 2.4 petrols, they're not going to ruin your life with turbocharger, intercooler, high-pressure injection or DPF issues. Happy apocalypse.
Haha that rings a bell. In the late 80's, early 90's mum would always buy old 1970's Volvo tanks such as the 245. Once we had run that into the ground, straight to the auctions to buy a 264 and on it went. Think we had about 8 in total. The reason, "it's built like tank son, very safe". She was right, everything about it felt meaty and rock solid.
Never really felt much for any Volvo's since...
A D5 V70 is comfy, reliable, great on fuel (45-50 mpg) with decent performance (160 bhp) (but no driver feedback its just a long distance armchair).
This model is a dud.
I sold my last D5 2005 model for £800, we took it from 140k to 165k miles and it never needed much, took lots of abuse, towing, sliding around in the snow, long trips above 100 - nothing affected that D5.
These 2.4 140 petrols are extremely dull with a very flat engine.
I’m on my 3rd V70. The 2.4t was a peach, went well but drank petrol for fun.
Then a D5 163 manual which was a great car. Low 50s mpg all day long, comfy and utterly reliable.
Currently in a D5 185 AWD manual which is fantastic. The power is really willing, mpg is ok at low 40s, a brilliant cruiser and does all I could ever want it to.
Autos in shed budget are best avoided due to Volvo’s misguided ‘sealed for life’ policy which saw a lot of autos failing around the 100k mark.
So the V70 is a worthy shed, just not these two choices.
They chew through ARB drop links and wish bones like any other FWD saloon, no worse. 2 near side front wheel bearings in 117K miles. 1 nearside bottom ball joint. The instrument clusters tend to die intermittently at this age but can be cheaply repaired as its just a dry joint. Other than that its just routine servicing. Also worth mentioning that the seats are supremely comfortable and S60's / V70's do not rust... anywhere! mine is still on the original exhaust. The under side is immaculate.
Ah yes. Belongs to PHer Major Fallout.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Front arches, rear arches and more worryingly, front strut towers can disintegrate begore your eyes so it's worth checking.
Like others, I've had a few P2 V70's over the years including an early 2001 T5 Geartronic which didn't deserve the badge, a 2005 V70R manual which was just glorious if a little highly strung and expensive, a 2005 D5 163 manual which was easily the best all rounder until it rusted then latterly a 2006 D5 185 Geartronic which was a nice engine but horrid gearbox and nowhere as reliable, lovable or economical as the 163, thus a manual 163 would be my choice however, petrol ones do offer a lot of value for money I guess.
The biggest issue with these is the rear side hop over potholes at speed... the multilingual rear end and years of wear plus tired shocks and geometry that'll be miles out all contribute and make them a) pretty nasty to drive and b) pretty dear to put right.
I'm moving away from them for that reason (plus a few others) but they really are very good all rounders and not just for Henry and Rupert to use as a tip car to avoid soiling the Bentley...
Everything works, ice cold AC, electric sunroof (no leaking at all). Leather seats more comfortable than my living room couch. Put it to 70 on cruise control, and it feels effortless, smooth and quiet, totally unlike a 17 year old car.
I love the fact that there is a massive space between where my kids sit in the back and the part of the car exposed to a rear end shunt. I love the steel bars designed to stop luggage hitting you in the head at 50 mph, I drive west down the M4 in the evenings quite often, the blue windscreen sun shield is a godsend. The car feels so solid like it's been carved out of a mountain and will last for ever.
There is plenty of power, even fully loaded with holiday luggage, it can sit in the fast lane and keep up with anything modern. Volvo estates of any age are one of the few cars that remain utterly classless as they get older, at home on a coucil estate or a country mansion.
Yup it does drink petrol, but I only use it for motorway duties. My 250 mile round trip to visit my parents, probably costs me a tenner more than doing the same journey in my MK2 Focus but for me it's worth it.
In short it's a lot of car for 990 pounds with a full MOT.
Their replacement car? A Mazda Bongo Friendee. I kid you not.
The V70's reg is HJ51 YNO, 2.4 Petrol, MOT until January, and it is parked on the street near my house. Any PHer who wants it is welcome to a cup of tea at ours and a jump start! Although preferably no traders - I'd like it to go to someone who actually needs it. Otherwise I'll speak to a local garage and get a couple of hundred quid for it myself.
Frankly, I couldn't be bothered to insure it and just use it as a tip car until it dies. I already barely use the cars that I have!
the diesels are brilliant but you will pay more and might be even higher miles and more to go wrong, for £750 its a lot of useful old thing, plus they are very comfy (mmm, velour) and the engine, though pretty gutless will do they job.
Good shed
It's got a good turn of speed when needed. It's incredibly comfortable and quiet. I can fit 4 adults, luggage, a dog and bikes on the roof and it will sit all day at 80mph without any complaint. Mine is very well specced and also has a fantastic stereo.
It's not terrible on fuel and has been very, very reliable. Everything works exactly as it should. It doesn't rust. It's condition belies its age. When something does go wrong parts are also readily available and affordable. If you can find one that hasn't been neglected then they are a great buy.
Their replacement car? A Mazda Bongo Friendee. I kid you not.
The V70's reg is HJ51 YNO, 2.4 Petrol, MOT until January, and it is parked on the street near my house. Any PHer who wants it is welcome to a cup of tea at ours and a jump start! Although preferably no traders - I'd like it to go to someone who actually needs it. Otherwise I'll speak to a local garage and get a couple of hundred quid for it myself.
Frankly, I couldn't be bothered to insure it and just use it as a tip car until it dies. I already barely use the cars that I have!
I think you should at least make it a condition of the deal that whoever takes it starts a Readers Cars thread on it.
Very well engineered, super comfortable and if you have the pro hi-fi the dynaudio kit is one of the best OE systems I have used. The V70 D5 was always harder to find and they command a premium. The S60 have fold down rear seats and can carry an awful lot of stuff themselves.
Recommended.
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