XC70/V70 Choice advice

[Sasha94]

Hiya peeps

Bit of background for you guys over here, I started the Volvo journey in March with my C70 convertible which was a bit of a problem child but it didn't deter me and I loved it. In August I replaced my 407sw with a 2.0D S40 SE which I love, best car I've ever had EVAHHH!!! Then in September my fiancee decided she wanted a C30 so I got her a little 1.6 S to run around in.

Sooooo, why you ask if I love my S40 so much am I over here bothering you? Well, my fiancee and I are expecting our first child (only due on the date of our wedding!) and I am itching to upgrade back to an estate as I've had 3 in a row (307, Vectra, 407sw) then a saloon obviously lol, and I'm not over keen on a V50 as it's the same as my current car. We also have a 1300kg caravan to pull to add to the mix.

I am after either a V70 or XC70 with leather and a winter pack as it must be at least the same spec as my S40 but not sure on engines or trim, so a few q's for you in the know.

Engine first of all, don't want another 2.0D, had 2 DW10 cars already, want something different, either a DRIVe or a D5 (don't ask why) but my £8000 budget only seems to stretch to a 185 bhp D5 and I hear on the grape vine they are only good for approx. 35 mpg average, which is quite a drop from the 55+ I get from the S40 as I drive 127 miles a day for work! I only really fancy an XC70 because I like the rufty tufty look and they seem to be easier to get with xenons, heated seats, towbar and leccie tailgate (would like all of these toys), don't mind manual or geartronic but does anyone here have a 2.4D DRIVe XC70 175 bhp? What are these like on fuel?

Ergonomics wise, I find the S40 really poor for storage, how is the big V on this front? Is the leccie parking brake really that annoying to use? Are they normally reliable? Do they all have the built in dog guard? Are the headlights on these any good? The pre facelift S40 ones are worse than IKEA tealights!

Anyone tow with either car? Hear they are very good but the XC a bit floaty round the bends, is it true? Spec wise, how does SE Sport compare with SE Lux, and what the hell is SE Premium?!? as I'd like either or and does 4C really make a difference?

So many questions I know, I suppose I'd just like a few thoughts from owners, if you've upgraded from an S40/V50 up to a V/XC70 then so much the better if you found some areas better or worse. Do you think £8000 is a decent budget for one of these cars? I've found a decent looking 2011 V70 DRIVe 115 SE Lux with 143,000 miles on it and I'm very interested in it, mileage doesn't put me off but I'd like to limit it to 150k as it'd have well over 200k on it by the time I sold it as I'd have it for 2 years which is about 60,000 miles with me, but I've also seen a 2008 XC70 D5 AWD SE Sport with xenons with 114,000 miles which is also £8000 and has all the toys I want and a genuine Volvo towbar and the cream leather which I prefer. 2 very different cars I know, but I like them both, something about having an 11 plate car is quite appealing even though I have a private plate so it doesn't matter the XC is a 58 plate.

Any comments/experiences are very welcome Thanks in advance

[I-S]

A few points to note...

1) AWD does no favours at all for fuel economy. A V70 D5 will return somewhat better figures than an XC70 D5 AWD. tt82, who frequents this forum, has a V70 D5 185BHP Geartronic and he's returning high 30s. I believe he's doing about 50-60 miles a day commuting, but I daresay he'll speak up on the matter shortly.

2) The 175BHP engine is a bit better on fuel, being a part of the 3rd gen family (with the 205BHP D5) - higher rail/injection pressure, lower compression ratio, etc. Our V70 D5 (205 + polestar = 225bhp) geartronic is averaging around 39mpg (see below) and my commute is 12 miles each way (and starts out in the morning, stone cold with an 800ft climb over the pennines - without this it would be higher).

Another engine worth looking at is the 2.0 D3 163. This is not the same 4-cylinder 2.0 that you are familiar, but rather is a short-stroke version of the 2.4 5-cylinder. The 163 effectively replaced the 175. It has almost as much torque and is genuinely a bit lighter on fuel.

3) Storage - what are you after? There's a storage tray under the boot floor, there's pockets in all of the doors, a decent glovebox, good centre console box... It's a big car.

4) The parking brake is ok when you get used to it - I used the handbrake a lot in my previous auto but find myself sitting on the footbrake instead now.

5) Headlights - Ours has the ABL BiXenons, which are fine once they've been adjusted. Many of us here found they were set extremely low - it wasn't brightness that lacked, but the throw of light was terrible. There's an adjuster on the top of the light that allows this to be tweaked. You might read that dealers set it down again every time they see the car, but this hasn't happened with ours and it's been serviced twice since I adjusted the lights.

6) They do not all have the built in dog guard.

For that budget these are some of the cars I'd be looking at:

D3 163:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...01408317019658

2.4D 175:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...01411209125094

D5 205:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classifi...01412019361826

I personally wouldn't touch a 1.6 - I found that engine was barely adequate in the V40 courtesy car. In a V70 it will struggle hard, and as soon as you talk about towing...

You will get more for your money with V70s than with XC70s - I wanted an XC70 but in the end there was no way we could get what we wanted in our budget that way.

[Sasha94]

Thanks for your detailed reply, the 3 cars you've found look very nice and they seem to have what I want fitted which is nice, particularly like that 2.4D

Interior storage wise, just stuff like proper sized door bins, somewhere for my sunglasses (which live in their case) and my wallet etc, little things that I found room for in my old 407 but it all lives in the small centre console in the S40, the door pockets are so small, my wallet doesn't even fit, my 407 used to carry 2 litre bottles :O Little stuff like that really, obviously the general size isn't an issue just the little touches I find the S40 lacks, good to know they are back in the V70, the S40 doesn't even have door pockets in the back, but mine is a very early 2004 car, our 2008 C30 is much better in that respect I suppose.

Thank's for the heads up on the dog guard, with our border collie we'll need it so if I find a car without it, I assume it can be fitted?

Obviously I don't expect the car to do much more than 40 mpg average so I'd be happy with the D3, forgot to mention I wouldn't mind one of those or a D4, just not another 2.0D, no other reason than I've had 2 and fancy something different.

The issue with xenon adjustment is very interesting, thanks for the heads up, strange I find that Volvo as a company who pride themselves on safety fit dodgy headlights but it's good to know they can be adjusted.

Thanks again, might make a call or 3, see if any of those have the leccie tailgate as I'd really like that option, will make life really easy with the dog and baby etc and for me at 20 years old, £8000 is a lot of money, most I've ever spent on a car in the past has been £3k on my 407 so I'd like the little luxuries tbh but mileage etc doesn't bother me so I'd rather have the toys with 140k on it than a boggo 80k miler

[I-S]

Aha... another young estate owner - I am 32 and the V70 is my 4th estate (Two mitsubishi Galants, then a Honda Accord, now this). I know what you mean about the money - the V70 was more than twice as much as the Honda...

The Electric tailgate is a must have in my opinion, although I actually find the V70's is disappointing compared to the Honda - the Honda could be closed remotely, which was great after bringing in the last bit of the shopping. The V70 can only be opened remotely, and must be closed from the button on the tailgate, which is less good than the Honda.

The 5 cylinder D4 was merely a renaming of the D3 163 - in other words, you'll find 163bhp 2.0 cars badged both D3 (earlier) and D4 (later). There are also 5 cylinder cars badged D3 that are 136bhp (replicating the power level of your old 2.0D).

[Sasha94]

Yes, I'm weird I know, but after my Megane which was my first car at 17 I've had a run of estate cars up to the C70 which was a convertible but second car and the S40 and I miss having a proper sized boot and putting the dog on the back seat is not happening when baba arrives. The S40 was a bit of a panic buy after my 407 was written off by a delivery lorry outside my Dad's house and I only had £2500 in cash to get another car quick, but I've been paid out for the 407 which we used to get the C30 but things have settled now and I've fallen for the S40 and I hope the V70 will do it for me long term, not really that comfy with spending £8k on a V50 as it's the same car as mine tbh and the stuff I don't like (interior storage etc) won't change so a new car on a new platform would be nice and V50 doesn't have a leccie tailgate option.

In a world of ideals, a V60 is a better size but I can't afford one so better to have a car that's too big than too small

Interesting about the tailgate that, thought it'd close on the remote like the Merc one does, that's an annoying design oversight IMO, but not crucial in the grand scheme of things, want it more for remote opening really.

[garethXC]

Dont for get to check volvos approved used site too - you get the benefit of a 1yr warranty plus recovery/history/mileage check etc - they do have some priced between 8-9k

[tt82]

Originally Posted by I-S

1) AWD does no favours at all for fuel economy. A V70 D5 will return somewhat better figures than an XC70 D5 AWD. tt82, who frequents this forum, has a V70 D5 185BHP Geartronic and he's returning high 30s. I believe he's doing about 50-60 miles a day commuting, but I daresay he'll speak up on the matter shortly.

Ahem.........

The 185bhp D5 is for fuel economy, the worst of the D5 engines. Speaking with a good knowledgable friend the other day, it was agreed that the 185bhp D5 was a hasty revision of the 163bhp D5 in order to meet Euro IV emissions requirements. Whilst they did improve power, that and the DPF saw he economy suffer. The newer 205/215bhp D5's were redesigned more extensively.

It is possible to get reasonable economy from them though. On motorways, which is a fair chunk of my commute, you can achieve in the low 40's doing 70mph. Any quicker and your economy will suffer drastically. Around town they do quite badly and will only return mid 20's! To get the best out of them you really need a smooth driving style and need to keep any stopping to absolute minimum.

On the other hand, the engines are very reliable and will do silly miles quite easily. My 09 D5 is currently on 128k miles and whilst I've not heard from him for a while, younger06 was gaining miles on his very rapidly. The only real issue with the engine is the swirl valve and keeping the EGR valve clean. The DPF doesn't require any maintenance. Personally I would avoid expensive low mileage models and go for a cheaper higher mileage example.


As for storage, I put my house keys, phone and wallet in the cup holder compartment (which has the sliding lis to hide them all) and my TomTom and camera in the central bin behind it. The door pockets have various items in (parking disc, leatherman, tyre pressure guage, etc) and my sunglasses go behind the floating centre console. It does require a couple of teddys on either side to stop them flying out though.

As a Rotty owner I find the boot brilliant! It's that big that Holly can quite literally have a walk in the boot. The metal dog guard is around £130 from a dealer and very easy to install. I bought a Hatchbag boot liner for my car to protect the boot from getting dirty. I didn't get the "rear plus" and now putting down the rear seats is a chore.The Hatchbeds are absolutely fantastic and having 2 means you always have a spare, just in case someone should throw up all over it on the way to the park. As Volvo do their own load liner, I would recommend this along with a pair of Hatchbeds!


You can find plenty of photo's of my car in my showroom thread (link is in my sig at the bottom of my post), which may give you an idea of the space available in them, but you would probably be best visiting your local dealer and see if they have one in their showroom you can sit in!

[Sasha94]

Thanks for all the input so far, very encouraging stuff. I have driven a 2010 V70 D5 205 Manual and was very impressed with it bar a couple of items. Size wise I knew what to expect but the other half thought it was too large and cumbersome and without the reversing camera fitted to the test car she wouldn't cope with it very well. That in itself isn't a major concern but I am asking myself why a V70 when for just an extra £2000 odd I could have a V60 which would be a better size and over 60,000 miles and 2 years the fuel economy of the V70 would do my head (and wallet) in, so not sure weather to finance the extra £2-3k to have a decent V60 D3 instead as I hear the economy is better, after all we only have one medium sized dog, who could walk himself round the V70's boot instead of coming on a walk with me and a little baby who won't take up all the extra legroom the V70 offers.

Arghhh decisions!!!! I just know if I drive a V60 that I haven't got all the cash for, I'll be tempted to go newer or more pricey than I need to just cos it sounds easy to finance the extra over x term then all of a sudden I've ordered a £40k new V60 :O

[I-S]

The economy won't be much different between v60 and v70 - they are very close in weight, share the same parts in suspension and drivetrain... the v60 just seems to trade away the space and comfort for styling (a matter of taste) and "sportiness". The latter will never realistically be achieved on this platform as the fundamentals are just not there compared to the 5 series (weight balanced rwd), Honda accord (double wishbones all around) and Subaru legacy (super-low centre of gravity).

It just seems like you'd be paying more for less.

I think it seems that fuel economy is more important to you than some other factors - I'd suggest that a manual D3 163 (or D4, if so badged), in either v60 or v70 would suit you best. You'll get most of the torque of a D5, most of the economy of a drivE and probably the best compromise floor the things you want.

[ferg55]

My S80 D5 185bhp Geartronic returns between 38-42mpg depending on driving. It's covered 170k miles. I don't nurse it, using the power when necessary, and mostly drive on 50-60mph sweeping A-roads, combined with 75mph on the motorway. I have just worked out this weeks mpg and including some stop-start London traffic at the weekend I have got 38mpg. I think this increases to low 40's if i just do the A-road / motorway commute.

A note on the Geartronic box, the early ones (pre week 20, 2010) didn't have Sport mode and in my opinion the down changes do not happen at a high enough rpm, and therefore you will find yourself pulling out of a roundabout, or sharp corner, in too low a gear. You can overcome this by shifting down manually, but this defeats the object of an auto. I have read that the sport mode corrects this characteristic, and therefore I'd recommend going for a 2010 onwards if you are looking at an auto. To tell if it has sport mode shift the lever over to the Geartronic + and - manual mode, and the display on the dash will read "S", and not a gear number.

4C is a mixed bag. I have it, and love the minimal body roll, but you end up with a harsh ride which is very unrefined. That said, it may be advantageous for caravan towing, as set to Advanced the rear dampers would be very firm. If you go for 4C, bear in mind the dampers are very costly to replace so inspect well before buying.

Xenon ABL lamps not the best on dipped beam. I have mine set to maximum permissable height for the MOT, and new bulbs, but still not what I expected. The throw stops very short.