General: what's your story?

[ThomasG]

Hi all.
Given my own need to continue "my Volvo story", and threads about faults being reported, but never conclusively closed by solution that worked (look up this link)

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=272622

I thought about a thread that would summarize (of kinds) experiences of people and their cars..

I'm curious what will become of this thread

[ThomasG]

I started with... passing my driving licence. And week later giving a shock to insurance clerk by stating that my first car will be super-light, super-torque, 2-litre turbodiesel Pug 306...
Bought for £350, insured for 2k.. Dodgy rear suspension.. Had to go.
Sold for £350. I needed family car.
Was looking at 2 cars really: Honda Accord vs Volvo V50.
But as life goes.. My current boss has given himself leased for company use Mini.. And his V70 petrol was standing idle in garage since.
I knew that he covered lots of miles (60 miles each way to work daily+ euro trips).. Some.. 200 000 in 7(ish) years. But most was motorway miles.
Being warned that it has a "bump" engaging D, and sometimes between 3/4 gear, being 3rd in a queque to get it.. It was his choice to sell it either to guy who would export it for parts, to guy who with his driving style would send it to scrap in 2 weeks flat.. Or to me.
Gotten her for £800, autumn 2013. 237000 on clock. 2.4 petrol SE auto.
Pick up time.. Moved her 1 metre, stopped rather abruptly. Then again. And again.. Eventually Owain (former owner) came to me and said "don't be an idiot. Put your left leg under the seat. There's no clutch. Its a brake you're kicking"
And everything went fine.
Oh.. She felt sluggish.. Compared to Pug.. Ohh... She did (and still does) like to drink..
Started searching for bumpy gearbox solution- yes! Here, on volvoforums I learned about right oil, how to change it, source it.. How the company stated that it doesn't need changing...
Thank you all for input.
First MOT.. Garage that I was using for Pug.. Passed. Mechanic warned me about gearbox (that was before I started sump-dumping) and tells me he can quickly change oil for me as he's got loads of dextron on site.
Rather obvious answer to this one, no?
For next MOT I went to garage serving police/ambulances etc. They don't do servicing/repairs so no financial reason to fail me on not existing fault.. Right?
They've failed me.
Wishbone, CV gaiter... Fix at different garage. Nearly £400.
In the meantime gearbox was working smoother and smoother.. Except for 3/4 gear.
Back to volvoforum- servo cover 3rd gear assembly.
Call to stealership- £400+
Search online- part cost roughly £25, instructions from you, guys.. 45 minutes done.
Recurring fault on intake manifold pressure.. I actually bought an ETM from eBay.. (Still have it- anyone interested? I'll let go for pennies+ shipping). Cleaned soot on ETM and all's fine now.
A test trip to France, August 2015.. La Rochelle area and back.. No issues.
I was ready to try and drive to Poland.
And I did it this summer.
But first refilled aircon. And it did work.. For like.. 10 minutes a go. Sorted with "breadclip fix" to compressor, however I used zipties as a) breadclips hard to come by in UK, b) centrifugal force won't take zipties off.
With car running like gold.. Went 1300 miles out.
And came back.
And went to France again.
On return trip (a whole 8days! ago) by junction 5/M25 (20 miles from home)I burst a tyre.
Sh*t happens.
But after all this miles Ive got noises coming from engine, again this forum helps to rectify, but it will take some time..
And im actually thinking about getting something newer.
And less.. thirsty.. (Down to 18mpg in London, up to 33mpg motorways at the moment)
And dear oh dear would I use start/stop of recent V70.
Overall.. This car has changed my driving, car expectations (can't think of other car that would suit me anymore!)
From corner grinding pug 306 to smooth gliding of V70.. From exhaustion after 3 hours to freshness after 18..
I'm staying

[Georgeandkira]

Tale of the Orphaned V70?....soon to be a major motion picture?

Is there a part in it for me?

Seriously, a separate thread for "Volvo love essays" of ~ 1,000 words might be fun to read.

[ThomasG]

Oh, by the look of things it will be orphaned, all right.. Late spring next year
Unless I`ll find someone who`ll take it off me.
Volvo love essays? Interesting idea. However- i was merely trying to introduce myself- what I`ve done, when and why.
At time little i knew that technical section of this forum isn`t the only one, and thats the reason why this thread happens to be here.
(If theres any OP around- would it be possible to move this to right place, please?)
Part for You- but of course!!
You already know something about me, I know next to nothing about You.. so..
Whats YOUR story? (soooo smug a smile)

[ThomasG]

PS: Olivier Nakache still didn`t respond to my offer to direct the movie, so I don`t know how it will go.
Time will show :P