The Wrong Swede - '04 V70R

Well, I'm officially checking this one off the automotive bucket list. The opportunity presented itself on Wednesday, it followed me home on Friday.

2004 Volvo V70R, 6MT, red on tan, 145k. It's.... cosmetically challenged... but seems to be taken care of mechanically. Nasty hail damage, some missing trim pieces, filthy dirty... but it seems to run great, has like new snow tires, no warning lights, everything works, and it's mostly intact! What more can you ask for for just over Challenge money?

More to come after it gets a MUCH needed detail.

thestig99 wrote: What more can you ask for for just over Challenge money?

Damn you.

That car could have been on fire when you looked at it and it still would have been a decent deal.

We bought an '06 with ~52k miles on it ~4 months ago. Still learning about them, but, so far, the suspension (at least on ours) is comically bad. Maybe I've been spoiled by BMW sport suspensions, but this car is ridiculously bad. I had a PPI done at a Volvo dealer prior to purchase, so I would think the suspension is working as it should, but, regardless, I'm going to take it to a local shop for a once over soon.

Also just ordered a boatload of fluids for it so I can do a complete fluid swap, including the rear diff and AOC/Haldex. Volvo claims lifetime fluids, but I don't buy it.

So far, I've found swedespeed.com to be a good forum for them.

Bad how? It's never going to feel like a sports car, or have a really supple ride, and it certainly won't do both at the same time like BMWs can, but I don't think it's quite as much of a disaster as you imply. This is the Volvo P2/Ford D3 platform, as in one that's under Tauruses. It works great on smooth highways and over moderate broken pavement, but it's pretty harsh over large bumps. There's just not enough travel left at this ride height for things to work properly. I think to properly appreciate this car you have to acknowledge that it's an example of a manufacturer taking a platform that was obviously designed to work well for Tauruses and XC70s, and making a hot-rod out of it. Hence the boatlike turning circle and harsh ride due to the lack of suspension travel and wheel clearance when this platform is lowered, which the platform engineers probably figured nobody would ever do. On a smooth twisty road in Sport or Advance it doesn't feel anywhere near as nautical as you'd expect a 3600 pound station wagon on a Taurus platform to feel. I drove a nice E91 wagon the same day I bought my car, and while the steering and suspension feel of the BMW were much more to my liking, the engine, space, features, and interior comfort were miles ahead in the Volvo.

I do think the electronic gizmos can hurt more than they help sometimes. I think Volvo used the electronic suspension as an excuse to keep the springs soft for the traditional Volvo float in "comfort" mode, but the car would be better served with stiffer ones that keep it off the bumpstops on big bumps. Supposedly the rapid stiffening effect of the shocks actually makes the car more harsh over large bumps as well. I often wonder if the whole thing might just work better with a stock height spring that's about 30-50% stiffer and a set of Koni FSD type dampers.

Keep it on the highway and in the boost often and you'll forget about it though :).

To give you (and me!) an idea of what I'm up against in this detailing job, I went out and started on the drivers door panel.

Before:

After:

And this was a brandy new white rag until that adventure...

Yikes. This is gonna take some time

Wow, that's gross...

Yup. And that's what I get to deal with every day

Some random impressions now that I've been able to drive it some more.

• THE SEATS. They are awesome.
• The turning radius. Saw a lot of people online bitching about it, now I know why. Nearly crashed it the first time I parked it lol. I'm also used to an NA Miata...
• The instrument cluster looks really cool at night
• Wagon in the rain with inop/missing rear wiper =
• Was a little disappointed by the power at first. Burned the remaining unknown gas out of it and put in some 93 octane and it feels better. Guess I'm just used to the 20PSI 9000 Aero kick in the pants/torque steer/etc feel
• I'm thinking it could use front struts
• There's something going on shifter/trans related. Occasionally it's hard to engage gears, usually 1st or 3rd. Hopefully its just a mount or something.
• Having to use a knob to scroll through radio presets is annoying. Semi related, any recommendations for aux inputs?
• The steering is really heavy when not moving. Feels like very minimal power assist. I'm perfectly fine with it, but it surprised me. Not sure if they're all like that or it's broken...

Fap, Fap, Fap,

By tan interior, do you mean the bright orange that Europeans like? (Where is that barfing emoticon)

thestig99 wrote: To give you (and me!) an idea of what I'm up against in this detailing job, I went out and started on the drivers door panel. Before: After:

That's impressive! What did you use on the leather? I've done Leatherique on ours and it worked okay.

Bad in that I wonder if something is wrong with the suspension. It's only got ~56k miles on it, so I wouldn't imagine components are worn out, but it really struggles with bumps of any kind, so it seems. We live in Fla, land of fairly smooth roads, yet it still is surprisingly harsh. For example, several times now, while on the highway and with cruise engaged, the car has crashed over the joint between the highway and an overpass with so much wheel deflection that the car disengaged the cruise control! I've never had that happen in a car. Sometimes even those joints feel like we've just driven over a curb. And that is in the "Sport" setting. I really do wonder if something is not normal.

Josh wrote: Bad how? It's never going to feel like a sports car, or have a really supple ride, and it certainly won't do both at the same time like BMWs can, but I don't think it's quite as much of a disaster as you imply. This is the Volvo P2/Ford D3 platform, as in one that's under Tauruses. It works great on smooth highways and over moderate broken pavement, but it's pretty harsh over large bumps. There's just not enough travel left at this ride height for things to work properly. I think to properly appreciate this car you have to acknowledge that it's an example of a manufacturer taking a platform that was obviously designed to work well for Tauruses and XC70s, and making a hot-rod out of it. Hence the boatlike turning circle and harsh ride due to the lack of suspension travel and wheel clearance when this platform is lowered, which the platform engineers probably figured nobody would ever do. On a smooth twisty road in Sport or Advance it doesn't feel anywhere near as nautical as you'd expect a 3600 pound station wagon on a Taurus platform to feel. I drove a nice E91 wagon the same day I bought my car, and while the steering and suspension feel of the BMW were much more to my liking, the engine, space, features, and interior comfort were miles ahead in the Volvo. I do think the electronic gizmos can hurt more than they help sometimes. I think Volvo used the electronic suspension as an excuse to keep the springs soft for the traditional Volvo float in "comfort" mode, but the car would be better served with stiffer ones that keep it off the bumpstops on big bumps. Supposedly the rapid stiffening effect of the shocks actually makes the car more harsh over large bumps as well. I often wonder if the whole thing might just work better with a stock height spring that's about 30-50% stiffer and a set of Koni FSD type dampers. Keep it on the highway and in the boost often and you'll forget about it though :).

Will def be following this thread! My first car was a 1989 740GL so I have a soft spot for Volvo wagons of any kind

Streetwiseguy - No, not Atacama. Normal tan interior color.

Dyintorace - Used Technicians Choice TEC319 (std all purpose cleaner for dealers). I try to use less harsh stuff on leather, but this job needed the strong stuff..

Can you test drive any others in the area? Easy way to judge if yours is normal or not-though I'm guessing not from what I've heard. Bonus points if you test drive one on a sleazy used car lot you would never buy from*

*DO NOT show up in your Volvo. They'll know something is up and won't let you leave the lot without a commitment to buy!

Junkyard_Dog wrote: Can you test drive any others in the area?

If "the area" consists of the entirety of North America, then yeah, it shouldn't be too hard to find one on a random used car lot to test drive.

It sounds to me like Dyintorace's car is in need of struts or strut mounts are both. Mine are far from new but don't seem anything like what you describe. I would also look into the IPD front subframe mount inserts. Decent price, easy install, and they really tightened up the feel of the front end.

There are also multiple versions of the software calibration for the 4C system, and some are harsher than others. I have never had mine recalibrated, but I rode in a friend's S60R today who had his done to the version recommended by someone on Swedespeed, and it did seem to ride better than my wagon.

thestig99 wrote: - There's something going on shifter/trans related. Occasionally it's hard to engage gears, usually 1st or 3rd. Hopefully its just a mount or something. - Having to use a knob to scroll through radio presets is annoying. Semi related, any recommendations for aux inputs? - The steering is really heavy when not moving. Feels like very minimal power assist. I'm perfectly fine with it, but it surprised me. Not sure if they're all like that or it's broken...

Check your mounts. Upper engine mount, front lower mount. They go bad often, IPD has nice upgrades. I have their upper mount with a new stock type front lower mount. Replacing these mounts improved shifting dramatically.

The GROM bluetooth/ipod/aux unit is pretty awesome. Around $130 with all the BT goodies, but I think it's well worth it. If you don't care about bluetooth I think you can get the rest of it for around $80.

Check your PS fluid condition/level (duh). This thing uses Pentosin CHF 11s, and I bet the system doesn't like being filled with generic stuff. You will faint when you see the price on the quart bottle. IIRC, the car has a pretty substantial scrub radius, so it's not surprising for the wheel to be heavy if the PS is not working optimally.

Yeah I noticed yesterday that the mount on top that attaches to the strut brace type thing is in tough shape, and the strut brace thing itself is loose too. Does Volvo have a special name for said strut brace thing?

Thanks for the info!

I'll be following this closely. I like these.

The 'strut brace' is really just an engine stabilizer bar. The bar has squishy mounts at the strut towers, and there is an articulated mount/arm that connects the bar to the engine.

You can go solid mounts on the bar to turn it into a true strut brace, but some find that harsh. ipd sells some poly inserts that fit inside the existing rubber bushings and really firm things up - I put these in my S80 and it made a noticeable difference in throttle response (less engine rock) without undue vibration. Turn-in felt a little improved as well, so maybe it's halfway to a strut brace now.

Suspension can be an issue, especially with the 4C found on the R. Check bushings front and rear, strut mount, spring seats, and alignment. Have 4C SUM cal performed or tweaked as mentioned above.

Thanks for the suggestions regarding my suspension complaints. I'll have all the related items looked over.

On the 4C SUM calibration, is it correct to assume that only Volvo dealers can do that? Or do most independent Volvo mechanics have the hardware/software to do so?

Detail is still in progress, but I did get it de-stickered tonight.

And apparently the PO is going to drop off the cargo cover for it at some point, so that's a score.

sweet find. ive always had a love affair for the volvo wagons. the same turbo your car has, i have on my bug. lol. good luck on the car.

Josh wrote: It sounds to me like Dyintorace's car is in need of struts or strut mounts are both. Mine are far from new but don't seem anything like what you describe. I would also look into the IPD front subframe mount inserts. Decent price, easy install, and they really tightened up the feel of the front end. There are also multiple versions of the software calibration for the 4C system, and some are harsher than others. I have never had mine recalibrated, but I rode in a friend's S60R today who had his done to the version recommended by someone on Swedespeed, and it did seem to ride better than my wagon.

Thanks again for help with suggestions. I'm going to check the struts and mounts for issues, as well as add the IPD front subframe mount inserts. Is this the IPD kit you're referencing: http://www.ipdusa.com/products/8969/120168-ipd-poly-subframe-bushing-insert-kit

dyintorace wrote: On the 4C SUM calibration, is it correct to assume that only Volvo dealers can do that? Or do most independent Volvo mechanics have the hardware/software to do so?

Dealer, or get yourself a DICE tool and a copy of VIDA and follow these instructions: SUM cal at home