It's exactly ten years since I collected my shiny new company car from a Volvo shop near my West Midlands workplace. Today it's been in for a slightly overdue service and a just-in-time MoT, and I'm pleased to say it's doing well.
Getting it through the MoT required four new indicator bulbs because the 2002 originals were no longer orange enough, but it passed the smoke test first time. I've also got a probable cause for the awkward neutral-to-first shift we've been trying for a while to pin down. And the clutch sensor I knew it needed seems to have cured the curious whiffling from the turbo under load, so that's all good.
The anniversary makes me pause to think what's happened - to me and elsewhere: two job changes, a second Beestling, an expensive but successful relocation, two new prime ministers and England gaining then losing the status of top cricket nation.
What I do miss from 2002 - apart from diesel at 75p a litre - is the feeling I used to get of being able to outpace just about anything if the need arose. Now it's merely a middling turbodiesel - but I now live in the Southeast, so if it goes at all it's fast enough. And it's still brilliantly comfortable and the HU-803 audio unit is as good as everyone here who's commented on it knows.
So ten years of excellent service. It felt so good on the way home that - even though I took a moment in the showroom to try a V40 for size - I hope it'll be on our drive for a little while yet.
|
Good stuff WDB. Sounds like a good car which has a couple more Prime Ministers in it yet...
Leading question I know and it's not a trick one I promise, but which do you prefer, the now not terribly valuable Volvo or the still fairly cash intensive Merc?
Reason I ask is that while I really like my LEC, to be honest, I struggle to see how it can possibly be 40 times better ( if you use a monetary measure ) than the old Mondeo estate I sold a couple of years ago.
Both cars are/were comfortable, both swallow loads, both are/were reasonably entertaining to drive, both are/were fair on fuel. One has some "status" but that doesn't particularly excite me anyway. I'm fairly much at peace with not giving a stuff what my neighbours think of my car, if indeed they think anything of it. Can't say I give a monkeys what they drive so I'm reasonably sure they won't care too much what I rock up in.
Just curious...
:-)
|
>
>> car, if indeed they think anything of it. Can't say I give a monkeys what
>> they drive so I'm reasonably sure they won't care too much what I rock up
>> in.
Well with all that mock tudor around, a haywain would look more at place on the drive. A copy made of plastic of course.
|
|
Clutching at straws a bit there aren't we? Come now, you can do better than that !
|
|
Straws, Haywain, lol very good.
|
Now now, boys, settle down while I try to answer Humph's question. Which do I like better? Easy: the S60 is like a favourite pair of shoes, and I know instinctively how to get the best out of it. The LEC, on the other hand, is hugely competent at moving people, but needs a full load or a long distance to really shine; it feels a bit too much for just trundling up the M4 to work, but it's magnificent when we let it properly stretch its legs.
I think I just really like the way the Swedish makers design a car to look after the people who travel in it. My two Saabs were the same, just brilliantly unfussy and human-centred. The Verso had none of it, which is why I came to detest it. I can talk glibly about eventually replacing the S60 with a Golf or a Focus, but then I have to face the idea of not having a Swedish car in the family, and I find that rather difficult.
|
>>but then I have to face the idea of not having a Swedish car in the family, and I find that rather difficult.
>>
Volvo is owned by Geely, that makes it Chinese now. :-)
|
|
If the new owners start designing the interiors, maybe it will. So far, they seem to have known when to leave well alone. The V40 feels impressively Swedish.
|
>> Reason I ask is that while I really like my LEC, to be honest, I
>> struggle to see how it can possibly be 40 times better ( if you use
>> a monetary measure ) than the old Mondeo estate I sold a couple of years
>> ago.
>>
If it helps Humph, based on your mileage and the rate at which big German metal depreciates in the first few years, it probably only needs to be 20 times better now :-)
Personally I wouldn't be without mine now, except...
I really should have got the 350 CDI before we're all taxed out of large capacity engines for good :-(
Peter
|
I confess I've had a similar thought, Peter. When I was shopping in March and April, just about everything available was a 220 Avantgarde like the one I eventually bought. A couple of months later there were plenty of 280s and 320s too, still on sensible Avantgarde tyres rather than the silly Sport rubber. There are more reliability question marks against the V6 engines and the 7G autobox, but part of me wishes I'd at least tried one.
Never mind; as long as I keep the S60 I won't have completely retreated to four cylinders.
|
|
filling up with petrol tonight I pulled up behind a Volvo saloon sporting a V8 badge. I never knew such a thing existed.
|
>> .... sporting a V8 badge. I never knew such a thing existed.
V8 badges have been around for a long time. :-)
Some Volvos also have V8 engines.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_B8444S_engine
|
Interesting, as any discussion between WdB and Humph always is - even when I should have gone to bed after moderating HJ instead of looking on here!
I wonder if some of it is down to expectations. You pay a lot for a Mercedes and expect a lot - and by and large you get it. Humph's valiant old Mondeo carried on over a huge mileage, was very comfortable, and never let him down, thus exceeding expectations. Skoda's success is largely down to this too - you expect a workhorse and get a lot more, particularly in the case of the Octavia vRS.
Coming back to Volvos, I've often thought about one but never had one, yet. There's a feeling of well-being through a combination of the best seats in the business and the confident expectation of a long and reliable life, as with WdB's S60. When I retire and need something that will last a long time, a Volvo will be tempting.
Talking of expectations, I don't think we can expect Zero to rise above Constable....
|
I think he's more a Vettriano man, Avant. Or dogs playing poker.
}:---)
Incidentally, in case anyone thought I was merely hurling gratuitous abuse at Humph earlier, Git was a range of small bathroom shelves and attachments that Ikea offered when it first came to the UK and until the mid-1990s. Probably better made than the wobbly, made-to-a-price stuff they sell today.
|
>> I think he's more a Vettriano man, Avant. Or dogs playing poker.
>> }:---)
>>
>> Incidentally, in case anyone thought I was merely hurling gratuitous abuse at Humph earlier, Git
>> was a range of small bathroom shelves and attachments that Ikea offered when it first
>> came to the UK and until the mid-1990s. Probably better made than the wobbly, made-to-a-price
>> stuff they sell today.
I prefer the thought it was good old fashioned abuse?
And i am a Canaletto man.
|
My xedos is 14yo today. Owned 13+ yrs andstill on first battery.
Most reliable car I have had.....some 30 new/nearly new in 48 yrs driving.
|
|
my Merc 190E 2.0 Auto is 21 this week and still drives like new and has been utterly reliable.
|
|
That's good to know, FB. I realized as I set out this morning - on foot, to the dentist - that I'd got the date wrong and the Volvo's anniversary is today, so we have that in common. Mine still has its original battery - and exhaust - too.
|
|
If there ever was a nuclear war, it would be the cockroaches that survive. And they'd probably evolve to learn to drive all the old Mercs and Volvos lying about that'd still work...
|
>> I've also got
>> a probable cause for the awkward neutral-to-first shift we've been trying for a while to
>> pin down.
Not a duff engine mount is it? Something that those Volvo's can suffer from.
Also an interesting thread from HJ about transverse Volvo engine/gearbox combo's. Be warned, not very complimentary :)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=97385
|
Interesting link, Corax. The upper engine mount was swapped years ago for the updated design, but what the tech noticed yesterday was that the lower gearbox mount is showing signs of wear and sag, which may be causing imperfect alignment of the selector mechanism. Interestingly, I hadn't mentioned the selection problem when I checked the car in, so he wasn't hunting for anything that might do as a solution (as I suspect happened last year and I had a new 'thrust rod' fitted, to no avail.)
If the Volvo transverse five is a bodge, I'd call it a pretty successful one. Mine is a five-speed, not a six, which may help, but it seems to have worked pretty well for me. I can think of half a dozen times in ten years when the large turning radius has been awkward but it can generally be worked around (although the 4.8m-long, RWD LEC is a counter-intuitive revelation in a tight space or when a U-turn is called for.) Consider me happily bodged.
|
Not much wrong with the Volvo transverse 5 I'd have thought. Didn't Ford use it in the last gen Focus RS?
I still have fond memories of the 2003 S60 2.0T petrol I had back in the day. Streets ahead of the V50 that replaced it in so many ways.
This thread proves once and for all that a well-built and maintained 21st Century car can last a dozen years no problem. Just got to factor in the odd pricier service item or component change. Interesting that exhaust pipes last so long these days too; 20 years ago the doomsayers reckoned that the cost of a new catalytic converter would be uneconomic on a 6-year old motor!
Our X3 is 6 years old this month and I'm quite sure we'll get another 4 years out of it at least.
|
|
Almost every road test of the earlier S60 like yours WDB mention a hard, sharp or unsettled ride. Is this a factor or are they being over critical?
Last edited by: Fenlander on Wed 17 Oct 12 at 10:45
|
All I can say is it's never bothered me - or moved anyone else to comment who's travelled in my car. The LEC, also on 16-inch wheels, may be a touch smoother but if I closed my eyes...
...I'd probably drive into something. The Verso (16" again) had a horrible, jiggly, fatiguing ride; the S60 certainly doesn't, so that's good enough for me.
The demo car I borrowed was an SE on 17" Thor wheels, which looked great and had no discernible effect on the ride, but a courtesy car with 18" Nebulas was horribly jiggly - there was also a 'Sports' suspension option that that car may have had.
|
|
Thanks. Just wondered as, for one reason and another, I might have a gap between cars around Christmas so I'd been looking at cheap temp vehicles. Searching Autotrader a couple of S60s came up in the area and I'd wondered about a bit of old luxury for a few months rather than the obvious sensible buys.
|
After owning both an old S80 and V70 (and driving a couple of S60s), I'd say IMO they do have some deficiencies in ride and handling. If travelling at higher speed on bumpy surfaces they can become a little unsettled at the rear, but nothing major. They have a tendency to lean a little in bends too.
It wouldn't put me off buying another. They're certainly relaxing to drive over long distances, which I don't think applies to other cars with much harder suspension, i.e. the kind that would inspire motoring journalists to say they "handle well". But the old PII Volvos certainly aren't perfect, however they are almost unique and quite charismatic in a conservative kind of way.
Last edited by: oilburner on Wed 17 Oct 12 at 12:37
|
...on bumpy surfaces they can become a little unsettled at the rear, but nothing major.
Tyre choice makes a big difference. As mentioned here before, the OE Pirelli P6000s do the car no favours, especially on poor surfaces, giving just the sort of unsettled behaviour OB describes. Michelin Primacy HPs genuinely transform the car in this respect - and last longer too.
|
I found the ride was unsettled only at lower speeds. At higher speeds, the car seemed to hunker down and settle beautifully. It was a superb motorway cruiser.
I was running on P6000s though, mostly as the result of a ridiculous deal I got through Blackcircles at the time, effectively giving me four fitted and balanced, for not much more than I reasonably expected to pay for two.
Lovely cars these. As someone who normally enjoys sporting handling cars, I can't explain what it was about the S60 (which certainly isn't a sporting handling car), that I liked so much.
I do remember the exact moment I bonded with it though. I'd come back from a horrible, 10 day long business trip to Germany where I'd basically worked 10 solid 12 hour days with no break. The return flight was late, it was a Sunday afternoon, and I was in a foul mood, Something about the simple process of sinking into the Volvo's armchair-like seats, clunking that hefty door shut, firing up the super-smooth, mellow five pot and ease that amazing stereo up a notch, was instantly calming. The car was able to bring about a sense of well being that no car I've owned or driven since can quite match.
To sink into at the end of an appalling day or week, or to waft 300 miles to a meeting in, it was superb.
|
|
Hear hear! Loved my old S60 too. Great car and a second-hand bargain. Dealer servicing expensive and ride perhaps a little rougher than on something like a Mondeo, but far from bad. As Will says, the HP tyres transform it, quieten the road noise and last longer than the P6000's
|
Volvo - Happy birthday, S60 - Runfer D'Hills
