Owned a 04 V70R and put IPD exhaust on it. That car had me smiling every time I turned the key. Finicky car and not cheap to maintain, but I was in love.
My uncle has been a Volvo mechanic for like 30 years. I asked him about these a few years ago and he said, “they had so many issues when they were new, so any surviving cars should be a great buy because they’ve already had everything replaced.”
Depends really...because theyre volvos people assume they can run forever without good maintenance. Unless you buy it from an enthusiast chances are it's going to need a "restoration"
Yesssss there’s so few reviews of these out there ! If you could do a S40 T5 and a Saab 9-3 Aero XWD next you’ll have achieved all my little boy car dreams.
What a memory, I used to have one like this in silver, same interior, and my wife had a V70R, the station, in black with the orange leather. Both 6MT. Loved mine, many problems, and expensive to keep up, but that 5 with an aftermarket sounded glorious. Block prone to crack though
I fucking miss my S60R. Did a 3 inch turbo back catless exhaust with a flow master FX muffler. BC racing coil overs and 17inch Fsport racing wheels. Stock tune. Was making 290whp with about stock torque numbers. I was getting ready to do a stage 2 build till I got side swiped at the light and my insurance totaled her out after she was hit 2 other times honestly till that point. Now I’m saving up to get another one
One thing I love about volvos is the shifters. Throws are long but they feel very solid when you put them into gear. Wouldn't say theyre one of the best but for a regular brand they feel good.
I live in the car Mecca of the world. Nebraska. Even we have a small conglomerate of enthusiastic Volvo owners. Moose stickers everywhere. This was my Forza car back in the day. Everyone was running STI’s and Evo’s.
Yeah this channel is pretty good it’s just annoying that he always titles every video with a question rather than just making an assertion. Betteridge’s law of headlines: “any headline that ends in a question can be answered with the word no” This channel would be a lot better if he didn’t fall into journalistic traps like that.
as an 07 s60r owner i totally agree with the video. I love my car and its unique features and exhaust note, but it’ll never hold a candle to a proper 50/50 awd car or rwd sports sedan
I agree with you on the driving dynamics but as soon as you put a catback on one, the sound alone makes up for a lot of the chassis's shortcomings in my opinion. There are much more fun cars out there for sure but R's are some of the coolest highway cruisers you can get for the money. They shine in the snow though :) Great review!
Seems like all swedish cars suffer from AWD issues - S60R/S70R and the Saab 9-3X - those differentials need very frequent servicing otherwise they go bad. Is this still the case?
The S60/V70R can still shear the teeth off its AWD Angle/Bevel gear. As can any of the AWD Volvos of the era (98+ V70R, XC70, XC90 even the later V8s). Some of the issue is related to the Viscous coupling itself, which isn't serviceable.
No. Just don't launch the car. I think this is a common problem on people who are too aggressive with a launch. If you launch it there will be issues. Fairly good otherwise. The tranny on the other hand....
This is the reason I went for a V70R and went through the trouble to find a 6MT one. Look, let’s face the facts. It’s a Volvo and you don’t buy one to go tracking. You buy one because they are comfortable, safe and I dare say the interior is quite luxurious, all things considered. As a sedan - it doesn’t make sense. As an AWD utility wagon with a lot of trunk capacity, one of the biggest between competitors during those years, in fact, rear seats that can fold flat and integrated booster seats… It IS the perfect enthusiast’s wagon. I’ve driven mine across the Europe during two days, slept in the back of it, loaded furniture and 5 adults in it, the premium audio package (sadly no subwoofer, installing the OEM Volvo trunk subwoofer now) is decent enough for an audiophile like me to enjoy some music during those trips and it will still pull when you ask it to… so, as a sporty family wagon from the brand that specializes in comfortable, safe utility cars, it does make all of the sense in the world. Just make sure you find one that was looked after. Mine is an ‘03 with two previous owners, the previous owner had it for 16 years and maintained it regularly, it shows. It still has the original engine at 200k miles and good compression, no problems since I bought it, then again, I do keep up on maintainance myself, as well. Only shortcomings from my side would be that god awful turning radius and fuel consumption. It will have you grinning from ear to ear when you hear those engine notes and looking for an excuse to go for a longer roadtrip with your girlfriend, just to realise you once again spent 500 Euros on fuel alone in a month. (Only fill it with 98 Octane fuel in Europe, same consumption, just runs way better than 95.) Brakes are quite good on my end. Then again, mine were serviced recently before the previous owner sold the car to me. It has saved my rear on several occasions when someone decides to merge into my lane without any warning or turn signals. My honest take as a V70R owner. Hope this helps for someone.
The car magazines here in Sweden said that the s60r was a decent alternative to an m3 e46 or Audi s4 b6. I wanted this car when I was young and wanted it to be good. 18 years later I bought one just for fun, was going to use it for winter driving and trip to the local track a few times each year. I have owned a m3E46 and I could instantly tell that the car was nowhere near the precision and speed you get with one of those. But I wanted to give it a chance, so even though a had to rebuild the motor (due to cracking cylinders) I threw a lot of upgrades to it. KW suspension, stage 2 tune, exhaust, DP, new bushings, new brakes everything. Some things were starting to make sense, the engine sound was awesome, the mid range torque was good. But after my first track day, I just decided to sell it. It was just not sharp enough. turn in was pretty bad, brakes were even with upgraded pads not good enough. General handling pretty poor. This is not an s4 or m3 alternative!
I'd love to see a review of the S60R's grandfather, the 850R, in wagon form of course. Always loved those cars from afar so I'd like to see how they handle and if they're worth a look.
My dad and I almost got one, seperately, but after reading about all the issues, glad we dodged a bullet. I got a saab turbo X and he got a xc60 t6 r design. Neither of us had any mechanical issues other than repairs based on age.
@@paullee9982 they definitely are two different driving experiences for sure. The way I look at em.... If I were running from the cops .. I'd want the ZHP in a city...quick and nimble and agile in smaller spaces.....and the R if I was out on the highway...for top end speed. Lol. I too also prefer my ZHP even if it's not as fast as the R. Just the overall experience is just a bit funner in my opinion.
Ehh, I’m not sure I agree with you on putting the S60R below e46 330i ZHP or AMG C32 levels of performance. I’m not sure when it was since you drove either of those cars or other cars from the era, but the 330i and C32 are kind of similar IN PERFECT CONDITIONS WITH A RACE-SKILLED DRIVER to an S60R. The 330i especially is simply a slower car in most circumstances, and this coming from someone who’s owned multiple BMW’s of the era. The s60R was kind of odd in that it easily outpaced the 330i/ZHP/S4 class of cars, but was the definitive slowest out of the M3/C63/RS4 class, making it kind of an odd ducking. Fitting for Volvo, and that’s why we love them :)
But 330i is way more fun to drive, s60r is unique car, good cruiser/daily but not sporty enough. I had e46, s60, c32, c55. Even my model 3 dual motor is more fun than s60r. For $8k s60r is a good car, I would get e46 330i zhp instead, most fun car I’ve had under $10k.
@@Areku06 I guess we have to agree to disagree. I’ve owned an e46 330i and e39 540i before, both in great shape, and the S60R definitely stands at least above the 330i in my opinion. Much faster in a straight line, much better in bad weather (which we have often in my mountain town), and much easier to make faster/handle better if you’re into the aftermarket. Once you learn how to throw them around and work with the Haldex AWD the S60R really is a hoot. It’s understeer prone for a stranger who doesn’t understand how it distributes power, but once you learn how the Haldex system reacts to your inputs you really can get it into some serious oversteer and get nice all-wheel slides. As for the Model 3 it is definitely an apples-to-oranges comparison, that’s why Volvo makes the Polestar 2 now. Now the e39, THAT was a special car in its own class 😉
These could've been so much better. The engine was not especially durable , not able to be tuned much either. A quite narrow power band with very soft bottom and top end in my opinion. The control weights are all poorly matched as you said, overly light, numb steering, grabby brakes and a springy long travel clutch. Then the adjustable dampers are not great in any mode and if choose the auto they're not very durable and you loose 45 lb ft of torque And M3, C43/ C55 ot S4 are all far better. As a kid we had 250 hp S60 T5, whicb was probably overall as a quick compact saloon not trying to be an M3. If you really want a cheap, quick awd thing get a Legacy Spec C or type R or Forrester STI etc.
