Faults:

Couple of small issues:

ABS warning light came on, required fairly expensive fix.

It's dropping a little bit of oil and the power steering is groaning at low speeds too.

But it's a 100k miles car.

General Comments:

Happy so far. An expanding family and a frequent need to carry them long distances with all our stuff prompted the purchase.

So what does it do well?

I wanted a D5 and haven't regretted buying a Volvo with this engine. It feels like a big lazy petrol engine, lots of torque, smoothish power delivery, surprising turn of speed and quietish with a pleasant 5 cylinder warble when the revs rise. My VW Golf's 1.9 tdi engine feels pretty noisy and lumpy in comparison. But the main point is that I cannot get over how this big, powerful, heavy car returns 40 plus miles per gallon in normal driving. It's amazing.

Comfort is the next plus point. On my first 350 mile journey I suddenly understood why people buy V70s. On a quiet motorway I put the cruise control on, settled deep into the perfect seat, put the excellent stereo on and quietly, effortlessly wafted along at 70mph. In previous years I have tackled the same journey in a range of cars, sometimes driving very swiftly. But it dawned on me that this is the way to tackle 350 mile distances. I stepped out the car feeling fresh and relaxed. Perfect.

Then there's the space. I know there are plenty of big estates on the market these days and that Volvo doesn't necessarily lead the pack anymore. But whether you're loading up for a big journey or popping down to the DIY store, stuff just fits in. Van rental companies must hate the V70.

What does it do badly?

Depends on your point of view. If you yearn for a slick sporty driver's car then don't buy a V70 D5. Despite its power, it's heavy and built for comfort. Its front wheel drive layout means that the torque overwhelms the front tyres in first, second (and recently with older tyres on a slightly greasy road third) gear.

Body control is so-so and it lurches into corners quite scarily if you're not used to it. The steering doesn't help as it's too woolly and imprecise. I'm sure it grips well in the corners, but you tend not to test this too much. The gear change is a bit stodgy too when you need to shift quickly.

But all that bothers car magazine road testers, not me. Yes, a BMW will entertain them more during the time they have a car, but in the real world I'm not a good enough driver to exploit rear wheel drive chassis engineering brilliance, and our crowded roads stop any potential for fun most of the time.

Service costs are a bit of a worry, and there are a few niggling faults which could be very expensive to fix soon. I currently save £50 a month on fuel costs compared to my 30mpg Alfa Romeo though, so this offsets some financial concerns. I also curse myself for buying a V70 which is the wrong colour (burgundy) and has the wrong interior (beige cloth) but you can't blame the car for that and it was cheap...

The V70 will do just fine.

Faults:

Truthfully, absolutely nothing has gone wrong with this car. Inspecting with a fine tooth comb on delivery showed it to be perfectly assembled, and nothing whatsoever has gone wrong since.

The nearest I have got to a problem was ordering it with the 'badge delete' option and then finding when I arrived to collect it that it had the 2.4T badge stuck on the tailgate. This took the helpful dealer all of five minutes to remove without trace.

General Comments:

My previous car was a Vauxhall Vectra 2.5 V6 GSi Estate. Great fun to drive, with taught handling and lots of poke. Amazingly, the V70 barge is much quicker outright, and has a far wider plateau of torque that makes it easier to punt along effortlessly. Anything above 1500RPM will give real shove, and keep on going to 6000RPM and beyond. This is one terrific 'elastic' engine that makes fast A-road work a breeze. On my way home from work is a straight, level, stretch of road between two roundabouts where every car that I own gets treated to the same test: From a rolling 10MPH with clutch fully engaged in first gear, what is the maximum indicated speed by the time the first of three 'slow down' chevrons is reached? My Vectra SRi V6 Estate would reach 90 MPH every time, the GSi Estate 96 MPH, and the Volvo 102 MPH. A huge difference, especially in terms of distance covered.

The Volvo is not as taught handling as the GSi, but not far off once the slight lack of feeling straight-ahead is known and not over-compensated for, and is much more comfortable. Mine has Nivomatic self levelling suspension, and the ride and handling both laden and unladen is in a different league to my brother's 2003 V70 D5 with the same tyres.

My V70 has been taken from the UK across Germany to the Czech Republic, where the unruffled high speed refinement was superb.

The only things I don't like about the car are a relative lack of oddments storage thanks to all the safety features eating up room, and the rattle from the load cover that all V70s suffer from. Because the rest of the car is so quiet and rattle-free, this can be a nuisance.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Extremely comfortable. Great family car, the family pack is worthwhile. My 1.5 hour commute to work each way is almost a pleasure! (If only I could get those BMW drivers off the road - or at least explain to them what indicators are for).

Am averaging 38 mpg.