Volvo V70 R | PH Auction Block
Three hundred horsepower, four driven wheels, five turbo cylinders, six manual gears - and no reserve...
If spring is the time to think about a summer sports car, then we’re surely in peak fast estate season right now. There will be a tonne of cardboard that needs taking to the recycling centre, of course, family trips to far-flung relatives will be on the horizon, and then there are the new year commutes to consider. Something affordable, fast, four-wheel drive and with a blazing heated seat could be extremely desirable indeed.
Let’s be honest, too: while old RS4s and Subaru and ST Fords will crop up in immaculate condition every now and then, you don’t want a flawless winter beater. Otherwise it can’t be a beater. It should be a car to take pride in, of course, though also one that you wouldn’t hesitate to take anywhere, anytime, for any reason. Something to be protective of, but not too precious about. Fast estates are the ultimate in performance utility, so it would be a shame to not use them to their fullest potential.
If that’s the kind of vehicle you’re after this festive period, the perfect winter daily is soon going under the hammer on PH. It’s a Volvo V70 R, the 2.5-litre, five-cylinder, 300hp flagship of the second-generation V70 lineup. The still very handsome second-gen V70, it should be said, the Peter Horbury design standing the test of time impressively well: this car was first seen in 2000, and the R in 2003. This one is a manual, moreover, which makes it even rarer and more desirable to folks like us, with just two owners over its 21 years. It was first registered on December 29th, 2003, in fact.
As a sports saloon in S60 form, the R didn’t quite hit the mark, because rival four-doors from the likes of BMW were more engaging to drive. That didn’t matter anywhere near as much with the wagon, because the finer points of handling sophistication were much less of a priority against being fast, safe, secure and absolutely massive. Nobody else could boast that five-cylinder soundtrack, and four-wheel drive from the off meant no tyre-frying histrionics like early turbo-five 850s.
This one has been used as intended, racking up a little over 140,000 miles, though with plenty of services to go along with it. Plus, of course, that famed Volvo solidity, which means 70 per cent of the Rs on our roads in 2007 are still in service today. The interior in particular still looks really smart, and would surely be further improved with just a bit of leather feed. The outside has a couple of scuffs though is broadly in very good shape; again, some back-to-black and a polish would work wonders.
If that’s your thing, of course. Others might prefer simply to run it as an under-the-radar super wagon, with almost as much power as a new Golf R but the aura of an antiques dealer. Not that this V70 needs to be a pricey classic car, however: it’s going under the hammer early in January without reserve. What way to kick off 2025 it could be.
The trouble is that the R has a bit of a cult following, despite being a compromised package. The manual variants are very rare and generally UK cars - which will have had to deal with a lot of road salt. The JDM cars are all automatic, which limits the appeal.
Apparently the late (2005+) cars are the best ones as they've had quite a few handling tweaks courtesy of Richard Parry Jones in Ford.
And before the Volvo squad come along telling me 140k is nothing for a Volvo, it is. It will be feeling a little tired and things will need replacing.
Merry Christmas.
It had more specialist history than I've ever seen on a single vehicle, but it turns out it was because it needed it.
It had more specialist history than I've ever seen on a single vehicle, but it turns out it was because it needed it.
They were quite well known in the local "vicinity" to the authorities, there were a fair few that went missing and only appeared to do "jobs" - make of that what you will.
The net result of that was any S60R would get pulled over, some of the authorities could easily pick out an "R" from a distance due to the visibility of the rear diff.
Think my mates record was being pulled over 4 times on the same night.
We knew a chap locally who did remaps, anything Volvo with an R, he wore disposable gloves whilst working on the car
Other than that, they were good cars when in fine fettle.
One of the quicker "normal" cars on the roads and handled pretty well.
A few things I remember;
- The car chewed bushings / droplinks / mounts. My friend opted for poly in the end, which slowed down the wear.
- angle gear sleeve can get seized
- Electronic dampers were only good for around 50K miles. After two replacements, they were replaced for coilovers.
- Engine block - the block was shimmed to avoid cylinder wall cracks (same as the Focus ST)
- A lot of them only ran in FWD due to wear of the angle gear.
- Front brakes - always squeaked, volvo added a shim/weight in order to help, but didnt make much difference.
Part of me likes it for what it is, ie a bit "used" looking and that's fine if it's got none of the bespoke R / P2 / AWD gremlins lurking as you could then just drive it and not care too much... or get it valeted and it's likely present much better. However, it could go the other way and be a generally tired example that's not had much love aside for the absolute essentials, and if so that's not great when it comes to a V70R as they're a tad highly strung / high maintenance. The one listed, it's imaged sat idling and the EML is on? Handbrake looks properly high too. Exhaust is corroded and they're made of unobtanium unless you go aftermarket but the latter are getting extremely rare too.
Advert says...
"While this twenty-year-old example is no longer showroom-fresh, it does offer an opportunity to buy a V70R for the pure driving enjoyment. You’ll be able to take it out whenever you want, and not worry about it getting scratched or dirty. It’s a properly fast car, which also makes so much sense"
Yeah, I'd need to stop you there. I loved these things when they were launched and though I had several older 850 and the V70 Classics, I always wanted a P2 V70R so bought on back in sort of 2015 era... a black UK car, manual with beige leather and it was an "honest" car and back in a time before they got rather expensive to buy. My excitement lasted about 13 miles then, coming back down towards Perth from Braemar the realisation set in that I'd potential bought a bit of a dud.
Once home, that's when it decided it would try and financially ruin me... but in for a penny and all that and so I set about fixing it's issues. And there were a few. Usual elderly P2 related stuff and despite what the beards say, these things are not bombproof or screwed together that great - they get a bit tired with age (see the seats for example!) and there's a few electrical gremlins, squeaky bits of trim and they do like to rot too... though imports are less of a worry, though they usually have sun baked issues to contend with.
Mine was FWD and so I replaced the rear DEM, they like to fill with water and corrode. Lovely. £200 saw a replacement unit fitted (DIY) and I still had FWD and so then it was discovered the sacrificial sleeve at the transfer box had stripped. So another £200 for the bits plus a rather hefty labour bill and finally, I had AWD again... unless the rear diff decided to let go... or the angle gear, they do that. Mine thankfully, didn't. Then I turned my attention to the suspension and the utterly appalling road manners - four new tyres, lower arms, poly rear trailing arm bushes, drop links, top mounts and then I accepted that my fancy 4C shocks were likely to be knackered.
Nigh on a grand a piece via Volvo but hours of eBaying saw me with four Monroe items for £650 all in. Then I spent two days on a ramp replacing pretty much everything but it'd be worth it right, the pure driving enjoyment right? sadly not. It was still utterly crap on anything but a flawless section of tarmac. Any broken surfaces, of which there's a lot in central Scotland and it was just hopeless. It's crash over stuff, shudder, rattle and generally feel like it was a settled as a hyper active Spaniel. That was my final straw, more so as transporting a 3 month old baby in it was just nasty. But it was "a properly fast car" so that was ok... except it wasn't properly fast. It actually felt quite tame, probably as it's big, heavy and with AWD but it never felt like it had 300bhp. It wasn't slow... it just wasn't exciting as far as power delivery goes. Autos are worse.
I bailed out having sunk a lot of money into mine and had I not done most of the work myself, it would have financially destroyed me,. It was a lovely car once I'd finished and thankfully I dodged the cracked cylinder issues... or rear diff issues... or stripped angle gear issues which was a relief but that worry was always there so that along with the crappy road manners, was enough. The saving grace was that prices had gone up by that stage so I got back out with minimal damage and as much as I respect these things, I wouldn't want another.
I went back to the earlier T-5 powered V70's which just felt much more characterful, were much easier to live with, drove better and were as complex as a spoon. I also switched to a P3 XC70 as the family tool and will still maintain it were it's miles far far better than the P2 cars / the V70R and never gave any AWD issues all the way up to 250,000 miles. The real irony was that despite being a 185bhp diesel on standard floaty suspension, in the real world it was as quick if not quicker than the V70R.
So yes, glad the P2 V70R exists... but nope...
ks, but it woukd need to be the four for me. But ... they weren't anymore reliable than most other stuff, were very expensive to maintain and had lots of electrical issues iirc
They were always being sent back to Volvo for warranty work
Like the Vauxhall's we were running at the time they seemed to hit a point and then fall off the cliff reliability wise
The BMW's of the same era just kept going and going and going
It ruined me
It was Mint condition, spotless underneath and low Miles but of course lacked any history
However It drive so well, I took a punt.
At first It was love a first sight.
Then the first of many issues
A fuel pressure sensor decided to play up, but finding which one took the work of several garages and a number of different solutions until we had a winner
By that time we had done a fair few Plugs and burnt an ungodly amount of the very good stuff fuel
I then got a full service done again, on top of the full service and timing belt it had enjoyed when I purchased it
We went through everything with fine tooth comb.
It was fine for a while
Then we did wheel bearings. both rear, in different months
I got fed up of the racing front pads in the brakes scaring me witless on Motorways, the "doctor" who had owned it in Japan liked to Track it too
Then I hit the first pothole and wrecked a chocolate strength Alloy, find another they said, Not possible I said. Especially when I checked two other rims and found them to be bent two
So it was aftermarket rims, spacers and spigots for the win.
Then I hit a gas canister on the A14 that shot out from a mobile home
Wow did we do well?, two wheels and tyres totalled, one front strut, one hub, wishbone, in fact the entire corner
It flew out of the camper and straight into our path...
The poor V70 was in a bad way
The insurance firm wanted to write it off due to parts cost
I refused like a stupid mule and did some of the work, the specialists doing other bits
Close to £4K later I had a mint £8K v70R again
But by that time I was ruined, fed up and started to hate the crazy fuel economy, the awful Auto box, the hard ride and the slightly numb handling
I sold it and replaced it with a 2014 2,2 Pov spec Transit.
One thing I will say, the V70R was by far the most attention grabbing car ever. Never could I leave it without people asking about it
They do look damn cool
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