Running a 1990's V70 in 2023

[Volvo3000]

Hi. I am considering buying a V70 to replace my 940. I was wondering what a V70 is like for parts availability nowadays. I know with my 940 I'm often having to go to breakers and there are some things you can't get hold of now. If I buy a V70 from for example 1997 or so, how realistic is it to keep it for a number of years, or will it likely soon reach the point where something on the car will go wrong and the whole car will be scrap?

Thanks for any help

[john.wigley]

Good afternoon, 'Volvo 3000'.

If it is any reassurance, when my long-term ownership 745 expired on account of terminal corrosion in 2016, I first looked for a nice V90 or late 965 to replace it.

Cutting a long story short, being unable to find one, I settled on a Feb 2000 P1 V70 in the corner of a dealer's forecourt up for £695. It had a relatively short MOT and I said that I was prepared to pay the screen price if he would put a new one on it. He declined, but immediately offered me the car as a trade sale for £550. The car, an auto petrol 2.4 snail, as one member recently referred to it, had then completed 118 thousand miles.

I decided to take a chance, and when I put the car in for it's first MOT in my ownership all that it required was attention to the handbrake and welding to the rear exhaust hanger, both typical and easily fixed faults. Six years and 15 thousand miles later, it is still serving me well. I have the car serviced by a garage whom I trust implicitly and they have never reported any difficulty in sourcing any parts - which have been very few - that have been required.

I was aprehenive at first after the 740, but the only significant difference between the two cars is the turning circle - that of the FWD car is huge by comparison. Over the time that I have owned the car it has averaged 29.5 MPG overall, a 2 MPG improvement over the earlier car, and been totally reliable.

If you buy wisely - and there are bargains to be had - and apply normal used vehicle pre-purchase checks, I think that you would be extremely unfortunate (or very hard to please!) should a V70 of similar vintage to my own fail to serve you as well. At their cost today - these cars are at the bottom of their depreciation curve - they represent exceptional value for money that you really have very little to lose.

Regards, John.

[Bob Meadows]

I run a '97 V70 and have done so for maybe four years or so:~
No great expenditure to date, service parts are readily available and not at all expensive.
Most if not all faults can be done at home- door locks can be pain but they can be repaired or replaced.

Never had the need to have a dealership involved as the servicing is well within the means of the average DIY.
Whilst the car has ECU technology it is not verging on stupidity!

I also run a 1988 240 Volvo and whilst that is even lower on the technology scale both are similar (V70 is on par with a modern car, performance & economy wise)

I doubt that you would regret the purchase-- get the best you can -enjoy the styling!
Bob.

[bob12]

I have had my '98 V70 T5 CD Auto for a couple of years now. I took a punt with it as it was a '98 a top of the range motor with all the 'bells and whistles' working and came with only 88K miles on the clock. It had a few little problems when I bought it for £275 but, I was able to resovle them with minimal expenditure including superglue!

It is a dream to drive compared to my 745 but, with the 2.4ltr turbo engine it is not economical on E5 petrol turning in at about 24 mpg in 'Eco' mode.

Naturally the electronics are far more sophisticated than the 745 LH2.4 and, a 'competent reader' would be needed if any faults arise. Should one of the electronic modules fail expense may well prove the death knell of an otherwise perfectly good car.

There are certain things that are nla like the steering rack but, they and most other things are fixable.

I think that a time will come with the car when a decision has to be reluctantly made to call it a day and send it skywards which may well be before the 745 sufferes the same fate!

Overall, I would 'go' for one as long as you are happy with the animal.

Bob

[CosmicBike]

I run both a '93 240 and a '98 V70R. Parts availability on terms of routine servicing and repairs is good, with more than one source online plus the likes of Caffyns etc as Volvo main dealer support.
They are also far more fun than a modern eurobox, and if like me you do little miles, then 22mpg from a rapid dog carrier is tolerable.

[ITSv40]

The P80 platform is the pinnacle of Volvo production in engineering and simplicity terms.

If you like the V70 go for it and enjoy. As others have said buy the best and keep it well maintained . I find parts supply for both my V40 and C70 very good from Volvo with most things available.

[DaveNP]

My Volvo history is a 940, a couple of 850s and now the V70 for ten years, I sometimes wish I had persevered with the 940 but I'm happy with the V70. Regular parts are reasonably easy to obtain, the more particular parts can be harder or more expensive to find such as the headlights or the window switch pack that I've replaced lately, interior trim being 20 years old is prone to breakage and isn't easily available. But then in the current world of cars those points could apply to any car more than ten years old.
If you do look for a V70 I might be inclined to check out the diagnostic systems, on my 99 model the OBD socket isn't truly OBD functional and one needs to build one's own led flash reader, I believe later models were properly OBDII compliant and faults could be read with many easily obtained OBDII readers.

[Volvo3000]

Thanks very much for all the advice. Also thanks Dave for the OBDII info, that's something maybe I should look out for. I found many on the internet having problems with warning lights on the dashboard that couldn't be accessed. I'd be interested to know more about this if anyone has some info.

I'm finding many 90's cars are over 200k, does everything start wearing out at around that mileage, or is maintenance more important? I know on our 940 lots started going wrong about 350k.

[ITSv40]

It all comes down to maintenance. I had a 360GLT cover 270,000mls and a V40, 370.000mls with no mechanical issues other than routine servicing. Both cars bought nearly new and scrapped due to rust. Maintained fastidiously with oil and filters changed every 7,000mls.

I have just changed the timing chain on 'er indoors Mini Cooper at 100,000mls - no stretch on the original or any rattling - just precautionary. The oil has been kept up to level and changed every 7,000mls with no issues. Yet, Minis have the reputation for engines imploding at various mileages at half of what that has done.

[Volvo3000]

Thanks. Just been researching the OBD issue and it's concerning me now that maybe I shouldn't be buying an earlier V70 with the problems of resetting the warning lights on the dashboard. I'd appreciate any info on this.

Especially as we used to have a 96 SAAB 9000 turbo many years ago and tried numerous garages to solve the ABS warning light, they couldn't get into the diagnostics or fix the problem so the car was scrapped.