XC70 buying advice?

[Bonefishblues]

What extra spec would you be looking for, out of interest?

Wheels are diamond cut, and best they get scuffed early imho (it's the family bus and my wife's not careful) and then it's over with.

Looks tidy, except rear silver bumper insert, I notice. Solid black looks fine when polished, but some of the metallics really pop and look great, and would be on my list.

Small point, very personal, but I wouldn't be keen to get another with the silver gear surround. Just occasionally the sun catches it and it don't half reflect into my eyes!

[Hallsy]

I was just looking at the pics again, and also noticed the rear bumper trim.

Nice to have extras would be the adaptable suspension and BLIS.

I see what you mean about the black. I quite like the contrast of the silver, and also quite like what I imagine to be the metallic gold/brown colour - bit as our 9-5 Aero is silver, the other half has said she doesn't want another silver one!

The silver gear surround, is that an option or a model year thing? Being a '12 it seems like it has the newer centre console but the previous shifter.

Not loads for sale unfortunately, but we are in no great rush!

[george57l]

Ah - a few weeks ago. That may be the one I bought. ;-)

(Always looking out in case I find a better one.)

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by Hallsy

I was just looking at the pics again, and also noticed the rear bumper trim.

Nice to have extras would be the adaptable suspension and BLIS.

I see what you mean about the black. I quite like the contrast of the silver, and also quite like what I imagine to be the metallic gold/brown colour - bit as our 9-5 Aero is silver, the other half has said she doesn't want another silver one!

The silver gear surround, is that an option or a model year thing? Being a '12 it seems like it has the newer centre console but the previous shifter.

Not loads for sale unfortunately, but we are in no great rush!

It's metal or modern wood trim iirc. Ours is the same year. With hindsight I should probably have held out for the mini facelift, but the one I bought really couldn't be passed up.

4C is good, but the bill when it borks and needs replacement tempers that slightly, and it's not infallible, there are funny movements occasionally when it gets out of phase and confuses itself.

[george57l]

Originally Posted by Bonefishblues

4C is good, but the bill when it borks and needs replacement tempers that slightly, and it's not infallible, there are funny movements occasionally when it gets out of phase and confuses itself.

I had a V70 and XC70 with 4C. Not a huge amount of benefit in the V70 but in the XC70 I found the Comfort mode a tad too 'wallowy'. Sport was noticeably tighter but not too firm and bouncy, and the car was left permanently in that mode.

My latest XC70 does not have 4C but I've not noticed too much 'wallowiness' yet, though I've only had it a few weeks and not driven very far yet. Maybe the default non-4C mode is tighter than Comfort.

But I've never had any problem with it - no borking.

[Bonefishblues]

We leave it in comfort as the roads around here are atrocious, but as I say, it does get slightly confused. I'd describe it as an out-of-phase shimmy.

[SignumGB]

Originally Posted by Bonefishblues

We leave it in comfort as the roads around here are atrocious, but as I say, it does get slightly confused. I'd describe it as an out-of-phase shimmy.

I presume a certain spec or add on has these options?

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by SignumGB

I presume a certain spec or add on has these options?

I don't think any trim had it as standard, it was an option, as was self-levelling suspension (but the two couldn't be combined)

[george57l]

Originally Posted by SignumGB

I presume a certain spec or add on has these options?

It is called Four-C Dynamic Chassis. Four-C is for: Continuously Controlled Chassis Concept.

Only specifiable as an option when ordering new/at manufacture. Provides three ride options: Sport, Comfort and Advanced.

Advanced is for higher speed motorway driving on glass-smooth surfaces. I never detected any difference between Comfort and Advanced, really, when on the motorway.

Unlike other Sport settings or Sport variants of other cars, I found Volvo's Sport setting not too stiff and hard, but it did tighten things up and, as I noted above, make it less 'wallowy' than Comfort. Not that Comfort was excessively 'wallowy' at all, but in an XC70 with the higher suspension it made a difference. Less of a difference in a V70, I found.

[Hallsy]

So over the weekend we went to view our first XC70 - it was a 2013 D5 Geartronic with 79k miles in Silver.

Overall it was a tidy car - but I felt at £12,295 it was perhaps a little bit on the expensive side.

First thing I noticed, the suspension felt quite bouncy - it wasn't wallowy at all, and felt firm over small bumps, but at speed over a bumpy road it felt mote bouncy than I expected!! My first thought was shocks, but as this is the first XC70 we had driven, I wondered if this is par for the course?

Our 9-5 Aero felt like a go kart in comparison and that is far from being the sharpest car on our drive!

It also had quite a loud squeak from the suspension, not all the time but would be set off by bumps and seemed to be coming from rear suspension.

But the main thing that surprised me was that the dealer said it needed the angle gear replacing. Now I remember reading lots about this with the P2 cars, but didn't realise it was still a problem with the P3 cars.

Is this a common problem with the P3's? If so, I will budget for it for any I look at.

Other fault that cropped up on the test drive was it thumping into Drive once warm. I had a similar fault on our 9-5 which was due to a worn front torque mount, but I gather this can be an oil or software problem?

Overall, it was a really nice car with a few minor issues - but it wasn't quite tidy enough for the price so the hunt continues!