Are P3 cars "better" than P2 cars
 

I have just been reading the "V70 engine which one" thread and it makes very interesting reading.
My question is simpler :- do people consider the P3 v70 better than the P2 it replaced - I run two V70 P2's both petrol, both manual and normally reside in that part of the forum.
However, with one car currently on almost 230k and an MOT looming large, it could be time to move the old girl on.Do I stick - stay with the P2 or twist move to the P3??
Diesel is an option, I ran and was impressed (at the time) the V70 P1 Audi 5 pot, for me to have an autobox would require hell to freeze over, global warming to reverse, and night to no longer follow day.

Cheers
Bob

People have a tendency to defend and "big up" what they have - P3 owners will tell you how much better it is, while P2 owners will decry it as a ford.

We have a P3 2010 D5 SE Lux geartronic Polestar. My brother has a P2 2002 2.4 (140) SE Auto.

Comparatively, I find the cockpit and front passenger seat of the P2 rather cramped (and that was also true compared to our previous Honda Accord tourer). The P3 cabin is much classier - the sea of muddy coloured plastics and incongruous wood has given way to elegant simplicity (although the later sensus interior I felt was less elegant than the original P3 interior).

The P3 is a bigger car - people don't tend to realise how much bigger it is. It is 120mm longer, 60mm wider and 80mm taller.

The P3 is a higher-tech car, particularly in the diesel engines, which may be a good or bad thing. There's more to go wrong perhaps. No doubt there will be much said about how the P2 is more reliable, but remember it had its fair share of ETM issues, Intercoolers and intercooler hose problems and the well known DIM issues as well as aw55 failures. So far P3s seem to have escaped fairly lightly, with just the early DPFs causing rising oil issues (solved now), and a known tendency to need new front top mounts. TF80 problems are shared between late P2s and P3 cars, and both P2 and P3 seem to suffer engine mount problems.

So how do you define "better"? Economical? P3 (D2, D3). Spaciousness? P3. High Tech? P3 (Sensus in late cars, city safe, etc). Problems ironed out? P2. Wide availability of scrappy bits? P2. DIYable? P2.

In your case perhaps it would be a case of "better the devil you know", but sometimes that doesn't work out (my second mitsubishi EAW (8th gen) galant was terrible, the first was brilliant). The other issues to me would be that I'd find it incredibly frustrating as a manual due to the stupid location of the EPB on the P3 and that you'll struggle to find many petrol P3s (as they all came in at silly road tax bands) - a quick glance on autotrader shows up only 9 P3 petrol V70s, 8 of which are automatic.

We came from two petrol P2 S80's, and we currently own a P3 S80 D5.

From an ownership perspective, I find the current P3 much more economical to run, and I think that's about it really... and I'm not going to get in the P2/P3 debate.

To compare the two platforms, I found that the P2 models do feel more "Volvo". By that I mean that you get the thud of a door shutting, the knobs on the centre console have a better tactile feedback, the plastics of a better quality. The audio system was outstanding, the cabin was quieter at any speed. They both still had all the mod cons like Cruise, Rain sensors, heated seats etc. Tyres were cheaper too :)

The downsides were that they were a bit more difficult to park compared to the newer models. It also started to get costly to run, with my 2.4 170 averaging just 30mpg on a motorway run. Servicing crept up to nearly every six months on a 12k interval for me. Part replacements like Shockers, control arms and suspension mounts also began to get more economically unviable, as sometimes to replace bits, it'd cost almost three quarters of the value of the car in itself.

Please don't get me wrong, I absolutely love our current S80. It has a lot of toys, it's relatively cheaper to replace stuff that I've needed to, it's quick and still does 38-40mpg. I like the cabin layout better too, as gone is the wood of old!

Have a think over it. Drive a couple of P3's, but also some very late P2's, and see what really works out for you.

Yup, that's a question that is sure to start a war between P2 and P3 owners.

Firstly you ask which is better? Any chance you can define that or is it just in general? Secondly, test drive a few P3's and get along to any meets local to you if owners are going to be there, to have a look around.

Remember also that the P2 S80 was a bigger car with no estate variant (unless you count XC90), while the V70 shared with the S60. For P3, the V70 moved up to the S80 size and S60 P3 is smaller (and spawned its own estate). Confused? That's why the SPA cars will be V90 and S90...

I have a Volvo AB test driver acquaintance that's being very tight-lipped on the new SPA models, but he does like what they're doing.. which is all I've managed to get out of him! One common platform for three/four car's in the 90 range. Sure bet for Volvo :)

The S80 shared more with the V70 than the S60 - that's why the Haynes manual covers the S80 and V70, while having a the S60 in it's own manual.

The P2 was a Ford/Volvo development, 2 or 3 evolutions of the Mondeo used the P2 chassis also. Roll a P3 on it's back and you'll find "Fabriqe en Chine" somewhere on it's belly.

It's down to what you want really, the fast P3 (the T6) only comes in auto/gaytronic which for me, goes against the idea of a fast car. They're also heavy - around 2000kg for the T6 AWD.

BUT...

They're far more comfortable, better equipped, handle better, safer and when you can remap the D5 variant to well over 500Nm of torque, can be a larf :)

Actually it's more than that... the S is for scalable... it will underpin the next gen s/v/xc60 with the first shrink, and then the next gen v40/s40?/xc40 after the next shrink. One common platform architecture (SPA), one common engine architecture (VEA).

No mondeo was P2 based. P2 cars were already on sale before Ford bought Volvo.

Ford took p2, cheapened it, called it D3 and based some US models on it. No European Fords were based on D3 or P2.

Volvo developed C1 in conjunction with Ford and Mazda, and that underpinned the c30/s40/v50, focus, mazda 3, etc.

Ford and Volvo then developed the bigger EUCD from C1, and in Volvo world that is P3. 2007 on mondeo is EUCD based, but that is about to be replaced with the CD4 based new mondeo.

Apologies - crossed wires there, a side effect of doing 3 things at once :D
(and bad info gathered a few years ago)

Every day is a schoolday.