One very happy new owner!

[BigBadRob]

So, I collected my V70 DRIVe SE Lux earlier from Available Car at Castle Donington. It's the first Volvo I'd ever driven, let alone owned.
I've spent 2 hours pottering around seeing folks and getting to know it and quite frankly I'm wondering why I've spent the last 8 years putting up with badly spec'd, expensive, uncomfortable hatchbacks.

Having come from an Octavia Vrs with over 200bhp and 380 torques, I was apprehensive about the lack of power in a larger car but it seems to cope more than admirably. It's smooth, it's quiet, it has every single optional extra I could ever want and a few I probably haven't found yet and I am very very very happy with the purchase.

The only question I have after my drive home is about the adaptive cruise control. I understand that it will keep the requisite time/distance from the vehicle in front but is there a way to use the cruise control without it doing this? i.e. To set it at 70 and have it stay there regardless of what it comes across? If not then I shall have to become a little more proactive about overtaking before slower moving vehicles come into range.

[craigblues]

I've not driven a Volvo yet with the new cruise control but I can imagine it's a little bum twitching when you start getting close behind a car. With all the control from the car itself and your just steering.

[I-S]

We need pictures!

[BigBadRob]

If you set the time/distance to the maximum then you never get very close. I set it to minimum and then started pulling out well before it ever got a vehicle in range to follow. It's a bit odd at first but I suppose if there isn't a way of turning it off I guess I'll be learning to live with it. It's not exactly a hardship to be fair.

I'll sort pics out this afternoon hopefully if the rain lets off. It's been pretty grim here for 24 hours now and by the time I got home it was most definitely not suitable for standing about and taking photos. I also had to play garage tetris which took longer than expected. It's a wee bit bigger than the Skoda

[BigBadRob]

Took a few pics earlier when I pulled it out the garage so I could get to some tools. They won't win any awards for composition...but there it is.

[craigblues]

DRIVe is a 1.6D right?

[I-S]

Interesting vehicle you have there!

Someone spent some serious money on the options list - Inscription ventilated seats are a £1700 option, and require another £700 of options (electric passenger seat, heated seats) as a prerequisite.

It's certainly unusual to see one specced up to the nines like that with the 1.6 engine. If the engine is satisfactory for you then there's going to be few more comfortable ways to travel.

I would recommend a nice soft-sidewalled tyre to get you the rest of the way on the ride.

[BigBadRob]

I thought it was a bit of a steal. It has the Premium sound system (with a remote larger than the one for my TV!), PCC, all the driver alert gubbins you can see there and an automatic tailgate. The ONLY thing it doesn't have is DAB prep but I'm getting that sorted shortly ;-)
I found it in the 'awaiting preparation' section whilst I was wandering round looking for a Mondeo (other large, uninteresting motorway drives are available) and had them take it off the website as soon as I saw it. Cost me £13k which seemed reasonable for the age and spec list. I calculate that it's lost around £25k in 30 months which is pretty abismal but I'm intending to keep it long enough for that not to be a concern.

It was a fleet car (I'm assuming it was for a manager, not a field engineer!) and I've already checked the SH out with Volvo, it still has 6 months warranty remaining and it's been serviced by them 3 times.

Having come from two Skoda Vrs's, the ride at the moment is juuuust fine but if I get a bit more picky as I get further into ownership I might look into the soft tyres thing.

Either way, I'm pretty chuffed with the purchase.

[I-S]

£13k is a bargain for what you've got there I think... We paid rather more than that for a more mundanely specced SE Lux less than a year ago, of similar age (ie 2.5 years old when we bought it).

I think you've an awesome car there.

[tt82]

Indeed, an awesome car. To answer one of your earlier questions though - cruise and the radar can not be seperated. If the radar gets blocked (typical in heavy rain or snow), cruise will disengage and not work again until the radar is cleared.