V70: General Are P3 cars "better" than P2 cars

[100K+]

Again, thanks for all the replies,yes agree the P3 cream steering wheel is weird and not serviceable, and although there may be more room alround, the perception of "solidness" is missing- and thats ultimately why I buy a Volvo.

Additionally I think the EPB would drive me mental too.

My P2 T5 manual is great, yes it has faults,its had most of the "normal" P2 malidies, but it gets fixed and continues and with 229k, she don't owe me anything. I can live with the 30mpg economy, and the broad smiles as you pass a line of vehicles on A roads.

I know this car,its strengths its weaknesses. You know what if I could buy another I'd be amost tempted to SORN it until I needed to replace my current car.

That I think is my decision when one needs to be made - find another P2 T5.
Thanks peps

Cheers

Bob

[Westyman]

I have had Phase 2 and Phase 3 V70s. Both D5, both Geartronic, both AWD. Both for 3 years.
The Ph3 was quieter, rode well, had the EPB ( which I liked).
The Ph2 towed better, felt more substantial.
On balance I preferred the Ph 2

The XC60 is better than either of them

[gudgeonpin]

I looked at the various generations and decided thst the p2 was the last real volvo and it showed , and the later cars were basically fords , nothing wrong with fords but if i wanted a ford i would buy a car with the blue oval on the bonnet

[berrymanuk]

Originally Posted by gudgeonpin

I looked at the various generations and decided thst the p2 was the last real volvo and it showed , and the later cars were basically fords , nothing wrong with fords but if i wanted a ford i would buy a car with the blue oval on the bonnet

A service lass has heard many comments like that, even from me, from a lot of P3 owners they've had in. It's all change now that they're "going it alone" so to speak

[swedishandgerman]

I have both. My P2 stays near home nowadays and is pretty much a mobile kid's play-room on wheels for which it does its job extremely well. My new one is my company car 40,000 miles a year for which it does the job extremely well.

The boot space on the new one irritates me each time we go out in it as a family. I have to take the roller cover out just to fit the dog cage in and those aluminium runner thingamers also just get in the way. The back of the car slopes so I can't fit enough stuff in. The boot on the old one is so much better including the under-floor compartment.

The ride quality for my long distance runs is undescribably better on the new one compared to the old P2 even though I've replaced the shocks, front springs and a good few bushes. It is massively more drivable including MUCH less road noise, better driving position, better visibility and as you would expect with there being 12 years between my 2 cars, significantly better tech. However, I find A-road driving less taut in the new version

All of the above and if it didn't have that flimsy rear wiper or that EBD - I'm sure that one day I'm going to leave it off - I would prefer it to my old V70...

One thing I would say in MASSIVE favour of my old V70 is that it is extremely easy to fix on a DIY basis. Parts aren't expensive and being able to do so much to it myself is the reason I've kept it as a run around rather than spending £99 a month on a Panda

[KJR]

I too love my P2 car(s80 170 auto) 185000 miles with only routine maintenance, original etm, exhaust and everything..front pads and discs changed once , rear pads and battery once..I now have 2012 s80 D3 Summum geartronic and the old girl is resting in the garage on third party insurance.. 212 euro i couldn´t bring myself to put it in the scrapyard...so it is a spare although I take it out every week. The new one is much more economical giving me an average of 43 and has much more torque...more toys and room(??)...However, I think the old one may be more comfortable...the new one has leather, the old one didn´t. The old one was a friend of the family ...it saw the wedding, birth of three children, several house moves including an emotional one to Spain fully laden trailing a caravan...what a journey..I hope the new one will have as many memories in 10 years...and good ones...the kids are still young so I plan to travel around europe with it and the caravan. I feel positive about the new car so far and am enjoying it...the sat nav could be better though...where I live doesn't exist despite it being up to date...whereas on a Garmin with lifetime updates which we have in an Astra estate it has been there for over a year...come on Volvo yours is not a cheap system...

[GMcL]

Originally Posted by I-S

Volvo developed C1 in conjunction with Ford and Mazda, and that underpinned the c30/s40/v50, focus, mazda 3, etc.

Ford and Volvo then developed the bigger EUCD from C1, and in Volvo world that is P3. 2007 on mondeo is EUCD based, but that is about to be replaced with the CD4 based new mondeo.

EUCD was originally called C1-Plus. Volvo have two derivatives of EUCD; P3 being discussed here for the larger S80 & V70 and Y20 for the smaller 60 series is my understanding.
Further reading indicates Y20 was what is now referred to as the P3 but in software is still Yxxx.

Agree though, since 2007 keeping track of the various platforms and engine configs. is a nightmare.
Now you've got D4 with 5 cylinders, 4 cylinders ~180PS in S60 but a 163PS 5 cylinder auto in the V60 which can be Polestar'd but not a 163PS D3 ???
D3 with 136PS and 163PS, looks like it might be a typo, but it's not.

[Ninja59]

Originally Posted by I-S

Actually it's more than that... the S is for scalable... it will underpin the next gen s/v/xc60 with the first shrink, and then the next gen v40/s40?/xc40 after the next shrink. One common platform architecture (SPA), one common engine architecture (VEA).

Just thought I would chime in about the SPA platform it won't be a replacement for the V40 sized cars what so ever. Volvo are considering a "reduced size SPA" esque platform for that purpose. The engine underlying engine range will of course be the same. SPA therefore will only cover S/V/XC 60 and above.

[berrymanuk]

Originally Posted by GMcL

EUCD was originally called C1-Plus. Volvo have two derivatives of EUCD; P3 being discussed here for the larger S80 & V70 and Y20 for the smaller 60 series is my understanding.
Further reading indicates Y20 was what is now referred to as the P3 but in software is still Yxxx.

Agree though, since 2007 keeping track of the various platforms and engine configs. is a nightmare.
Now you've got D4 with 5 cylinders, 4 cylinders ~180PS in S60 but a 163PS 5 cylinder auto in the V60 which can be Polestar'd but not a 163PS D3 ???
D3 with 136PS and 163PS, looks like it might be a typo, but it's not.

Y20 is P3 S80/V70. Specifically, my S80 is known as the Y286 i5.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by 100K+

I have just been reading the "V70 engine which one" thread and it makes very interesting reading.
My question is simpler :- do people consider the P3 v70 better than the P2 it replaced - I run two V70 P2's both petrol, both manual and normally reside in that part of the forum.
However, with one car currently on almost 230k and an MOT looming large, it could be time to move the old girl on.Do I stick - stay with the P2 or twist move to the P3??
Diesel is an option, I ran and was impressed (at the time) the V70 P1 Audi 5 pot, for me to have an autobox would require hell to freeze over, global warming to reverse, and night to no longer follow day.

Cheers
Bob

It depends what you mean by better . taking the P3 as the norm now and seeing them every day jumping back into a P2 is a true delight , the lower seating position , the whole car is lower , The seats which you slide into and they position you into the most comfortable position automaticaly.
The glorious original simple 163bhp D5 the older they get the more smooth , economical and powerful they feel . which i much prefer to the current twin turbo D5 which has the potential for some very expensive problems .
Then you have the quality of the P2 the Bosch parts the REAL leather which doesnt wear out after 2 years . The galvanised subframes and suspension parts , A proper full size intercooler , have you seen the size of the one on the P3 ? The classic shape . quality is right through the car from the inside out . The P3 quality is mainly to suit the eye ..
The list goes on and on .. I wont start a list of the things i am unhappy about with the P3 .. Having said that it is still a fine car , but made to last 7 years not 25 years ..
It would cost £50000 to build a car the quality of the P2 these days ...