Which V70 model to look for?

[dolmen]

Hi all

I'm in the market for a car again, and am unable to work out which I should be watching for, the V70 T6 or the 3.2L I need an estate for the dogs etc but fancy a big petrol this time around, I would value the input from the forum so as to try and make the best choice, re model, and highly valued extras. I normally buy a car and try and get at least 10 years from it, a low mileage car is important to me. I do look after them well.
Thanks in advance

[Tannaton]

There's little to choose between them. T6 is more powerful thanks to turbo's, but the 3.2 is no slouch, smoother and likely more reliable (not that the T6 is unreliable....)

[ferg55]

The T6 will come with AWD, 3.2 won't.
3.2 likes a drink, T6 is an alcoholic
I'd hunt out 4C if you want decent handling, xenons if you want to see in the dark, radar auto braking if you want to be ultra safe.
Either are pretty bad for the environment CO-wise, so really only morally acceptable for low mileage use (to prevent them being used by someone else for higher mileage).

[monkeh]

Could post in the right section of the forum, instead of sales...

[foggyjames]

Moved.

They're essentially the same engine, just with and without a turbo (and a minor capacity difference). In my experience, everything is better with a turbo

cheers

James

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by foggyjames

In my experience, everything is better with a turbo

......and even better with two!

[foggyjames]

Just the one on a P3 T6, though!

I'm 99% sure the original P2 T6 (the proper-inline whiteblock version) only had two for fitment reasons - no clever sequential / compound business (like the later D5s, and the early BMW '35is, etc) going on there - they just couldn't make a single unit of sufficient size fit, I reckon.

cheers

James

[apersson850]

No, that was not the reason. The original turbocharged in-line six-cylinder petrol engine was also nicknamed the Torque generator by Volvo. This to imply that it had plenty of torque available at all engine speeds.
To accomplish that they equipped it with a small and fast turbo charger, which would quickly build the charge pressure, to give plenty of torque at low engine speeds.
But a small turbo quickly becomes asthmatic as the engine picks up speed and the airflow increases. To handle this, the small turbo was augmented by a larger one, capable of generating a good charge pressure even with a high airflow. It took longer time to get up to speed, but the small one covered it during that time.

This was the reason. Note that it didn't take any complicated plumbing to get this to work. The simple mechanics/dynamics of the two turbos and their assocaited flow versus pressure characteristics did the trick. Now that's the trademark of a really clever design!

[foggyjames]

The twin turbos on the whiteblock T6 are exactly the same size. It does generate a lot of low-down torque, but that's because both turbos are tiny.

As far as I'm aware, there is no benefit in feeding two identical turbos with half the number of cylinders each, compared with feeding one larger turbo with all cylinders, all else being equal. It's certainly miles away from the benefit of a sequential or compound setup.

The only marginal benefit might be that you get better flow in two exhaust manifolds, each with their own outlet, but then if you've seen the size of the outlets on the T6 manifolds...!

BMW went over to a single twin-scroll turbo (and a fancy manifold) on their turbo 6-pots - undoubtedly a cost-saving measure in the first instance, but it doesn't appear to have notably affected performance.

cheers

James

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

......and even better with two!

Except when it a T6 from 1999 !