New ( to me ) XC70

[errigal37]

Hi folks long time v70 owner and now changed to late 06 xc70 185 geartronic.
Was windering what difference have been made to this model as opposed to the previous two incarnations? It is the one with the indicators on the mirror casing. also the leds in the rear indicator housing passenger side have blown, looks like leaky housing so may have to replace complete lower part, any ideas about replacements, cost etc??? Only problem Sunny tyres on front, hear theyre a bit of a nightmare but only driven 40 miles so can't judge. Is it pirelli scorpions or what do other xc drivers recommend? Plnety of life in these though, and now money all gone!!!!
Drives well but feels a bit boaty or is that the way of it??
Thanks for any info

[60041]

I can't help you with the lights as my car does not have them, but with regard to tyres I would recommend that you fit Pirelli Scorpions when you next need tyres; I find they last 30,000 miles on the front, much more on the rear and grip well under all conditions. I do not know what Sunnys are like but do doubt you will find out soon! They may be OK but I suspect that they may not, if cheap tyres were any good then we would all fit them.
Your description of the car feeling "boaty" is a good one, I felt the same when I got mine; its all to do with the high centre of gravity, but you will very soon get used to it and after a few hundred miles you will not notice it.

[deano70]

You could try Goodyear Wrangler tyres as well. Agree with the comment on feeling 'boaty' - takes a bit of getting used to. Have had all manner of Audi's BMW and VW cars but love my XC70 to bits. Best all round car I have had.

[cbee]

The led's are separate from the unit once it is out, but water appears to do them in, don't know where or if you can buy them. (See the "54 XC70 light" thread in the wants for an idea on removing the light).

When driving the XC after my '99 V70, I feel for the first few miles that it won't make it round the corners. This is owing to the high profile of the tyres - even at speed she always does corner ok, but the "boaty" feel as the tyres soak up bumps, is preferable to the thumping you feel with ordinary or even worse low profile tyres, especially now the roads are so bad.

We have stuck to the Scorpions when replacing tyres - I think they are the cause of some of the extra road noise over "ordinary" tyres. Quite a bit of wind noise on XC's too.

[TiredGeek]

To be honest, while they feel boaty they'll keep up with a V70 easily, and actually hold on significantly better if the surface is a bit dodgy. I don't know if it's the tyres getting better grip from being flexible, or the AWD helping but I can easily lose a V70 T5 on a back road in my XC D5 He can pull away on a good, straight road, but when it gets rough and twisty.....

As for tyres, I switched from Scorpions when they wore out to more road biased Hankooks for summer and a set of Nokians for winter. It really is worth doing if you don't need the off road tread for mud, nice quiet grippy tyres for 8 months of the year and aggressive tread for the snow and ice. Get a set of steel wheels from Volvo for the winters, saves the alloys getting salty and if you bust a wheel in the snow it's a £100 cheaper than an alloy to replace