18th Jul 2010, 02:08
Update at 157.000 km: I'm actually really happy I bought this car. Up to now, the engine never failed once. It didn't get any remarks at the yearly technical inspection as well.
I have to drive a lot of work related trips, and I take my own car when I can. Because of the amazing seats and the smooth ride, I arrive a lot more relaxed than with most other cars.
Tires seems to last fairly well. I've done about 50.000 km with Dunlops Sportmaxx TT on the front wheels, which seems good considering the remarks I've made before about front wheel drive and 200 bhp. However, the front wheel alignment, bushings and whatever is up there needs attention regularly. Not that it fails, but after 2 services the steering and suspension don't seem to be tight anymore.
One other thing that could need some attention is the automatic gearbox: sometimes when I brake and hit the gas pedal again, it seems it forgot which gear it needs to go into. Then it restarts with a gear that is too low, really revving the engine before going into the right gear. It does this at random occasions and it feels a bit jerky.
Only small repairs were needed up till now. The right door handle failed (some plastic connection broke), but I fixed this myself. And last winter I had to swap light bulbs almost continuously.
Other than that, this car has been faultless. I also opened up the center console for some thorough cleaning: having coffee while you're driving is great, but having coffee while you need to quickly stop isn't. The winter button got stuck from all that coffee. Another great advantage of this car, is that you can find almost anything about it on the web. I knew how to do all the repairs before I started them. Volvo has a lot of information online, but there are also a lot of enthusiasts sharing information on various forums.
It is due for the timing belt change, which is going to be a expensive job. It is not the cheapest car to maintain, but it is worth it.
9th Jul 2007, 05:17
In addition to this review of my Volvo V70:
- It now has about 65.000kms on the clock;
- I had it converted to run on LPG (which includes a valve lubrication system) without any problem, and it consumes about 13,5l LPG every 100km;
- Nothing mechanical broke in the last 30.000kms, but I'm very worried about the paint on the car. It is very fragile compared to the previous generation of Volvo's like the 700/900-series when it comes to scratches and dents. But especially bird poop is a problem, because it damages the paint like I've never experienced with any other car. Perhaps because the paint is water based now?