Paddleshift retrofit

[Steff79]

Hi All,

Is it possible to retrofit a paddleshift steering wheel to my 2015 V70 and does anyone know what sort of costs we're talking about?

many thanks
Steffan

[mhon72]

Originally Posted by Steff79

Hi All,

Is it possible to retrofit a paddleshift steering wheel to my 2015 V70 and does anyone know what sort of costs we're talking about?

many thanks
Steffan

You can either replace the whole steering wheel with one complete with shifters fitted. A simple plug & play - hardest part is removing the airbag.
A brand new wheel from Volvo would be in the region of £500 as a fair guess.
Or you can try to locate one from a salvage yard. I paid about £160 for one from an R-Design XC60.
The only issue with salvage yards is you need to check the leather rims haven't been too damaged.

The alternative is to retrofit the paddleshifters to your existing wheel. Have a search over on the Swedespeed forums and you'll find some detailed instructions.

[Steff79]

oh ok. thanks

[Steff79]

Hi, just double checking on this. It's definitely plug and play, I.e. no software update needed?

I rang FRF to get a price for a new wheel and they pretty much told me it couldn't be done as my car wasn't specced with it from new.

Thanks

[Sotosound]

I have these on my 2014 V70 D4 auto and the only time I've used them is to show the occasional passenger that I have them.

Other than that they largely get left unused.

The issue for me is that once I've moved a paddle then I'm stuck in a single gear until I either select another gear to get stuck in or use the main gear changer to flick back into automatic mode. As someone who bought an automatic car to avoid the need for manual gear changes, that's a lot of faff.

(Of course, there might be another way to return to auto mode that I'm currently unaware of.)

Even the normal Geartronic feature hardly gets used.

The only function that I do use for my own benefit is the Sport Mode, and even that's a rare event. Sport Mode does, however, make the car far more responsive and also seems to give the perception that handling has also tightened up.

What would be handy, would be to know what gear the car is in, but that only happens when manually selecting gears. Grrrr!

[I-S]

For the master of P3 retrofits, look up user itwontstopsnowin on swedespeed. He's published a lot of great factory retrofits.

[apersson850]

Originally Posted by Sotosound

(Of course, there might be another way to return to auto mode that I'm currently unaware of.

If you use the paddles in D mode, the manual down- or upshift is just temporary. After a while, the gear box returns to D mode by itself. Unless you are engine braking down a long slope. In such a case, it will remain in manual gear selection mode as long as the downhill persists.

You can also leave manual selection mode by pulling both paddles toward you at the same time, until D is shown in the display.

In sports mode, manual gear selection never terminates, once started, until you return to D mode.

[Sotosound]

Originally Posted by apersson850

If you use the paddles in D mode, the manual down- or upshift is just temporary. After a while, the gear box returns to D mode by itself. Unless you are engine braking down a long slope. In such a case, it will remain in manual gear selection mode as long as the downhill persists.

You can also leave manual selection mode by pulling both paddles toward you at the same time, until D is shown in the display.

In sports mode, manual gear selection never terminates, once started, until you return to D mode.

Now that’s worth knowing. Many thanks.

I’ll have a play today.

[mhon72]

Originally Posted by Steff79

Hi, just double checking on this. It's definitely plug and play, I.e. no software update needed?

I rang FRF to get a price for a new wheel and they pretty much told me it couldn't be done as my car wasn't specced with it from new.

Thanks

Nope, I can vouch that it doesn't need software as I retrofitted the paddleshifters myself and they work perfectly.
(A retrofitted heated steering wheel would need a software install as a new switch is required in the console.)

I was wary of the usefulness of them after reading other owner reviews but it depends how often you use the manual shifting function as it's handier than nudging the gearlever back and forth and as quick.
If I want to drop a gear to overtake it's still a toss up between pulling the gearlever into S mode to drop a gear or pulling the left paddle to drop a gear and then remembering to pull the right again to shift up afterwards.
In my opinion, a worthwhile upgrade for whenever I need to use it but most of the time I leave the gearbox to do its own thing. And yes, it adds a little bit of bling to the interior!

[Steff79]

Hi all,

I finally tracked down a paddle wheel on eBay so am going to get my local garage to do this soon.

On swedespeed people talk about a different wiring harness but I think you are all saying it's literally just take old wheel off and put new one on, plugging in relevant wires....is that right?

Any one got the Volvo accessories instructions? Just to make sure it gets done the correct way.

Thanks
Steff