I've been in the trade professionaly for over 40 years and truly lost count of the amount of these I've owned and sold, in a nutshell, all the early, and by early I'm talking as far back as the 850 Estates in 1993 onwards, right up to around the mid 2000's were as reliable as is possible for a motor vehicle, the 2.0 was, and is bulletproof if looked after, capable of huge mileage 2.4 petrol is a little heavy on fuel but again seriously reliable, Diesels were almost unbeatable in this class of estate, certainly up there with the best from Mercedes, BMW, Audi etc: .... As far as gear boxes are concerned, all early manual and Auto's again pretty much bulletproof, but once you get to the " Geartronic" era things started to go seriously down hill, it was known as " Feartronic" in the trade because it was very hit and miss on the reliability scale, I stopped dealing in V70's from around 2010 onwards because in my opinion I'd had the best years from them, I'm not saying they were all bad after this, but you have to remember I was selling them, which is a whole different ballgame to owning one as your everyday car, too many problems for me, so rather than get a bad reputation I simply stopped dealing in those with Geartronic and the later boxes altogether ! ..... but as I say, if looked after early ones will just run and run and run, you will most likely wear out before they do.
@@summerjunk929 The ones I dealt with were as early as 2003, maybe even before? but by 2006/7 yes definitely, not all were bad, but many were, too many for me to risk selling anyhow, Audi had a very similar ( but worse ) gearbox called the Multitronic ( or MultiCronic as it was known ) I still sell V70's to this day, but now only manual versions. The mid 2000's saw some very unreliable Auto gearbox's right across the board, Ford, VW/Audi, Vauxhall, most Land Rover Models as Manufacturers sought ways to make them more fuel efficient and electronic wizardry became the norm, very often it was the electronics themselves that failed, not necessarily the gears per se !
You’re the first person in a while that has captivated me with old fashioned journalism. No fancy editing or elusive banter. Just genuine facts and genuine opinions. You know what you’re doing and that’s awesome dude! 👊
S60 2.0t from 2008...the best value for money ever and my biggest surprise. A class better than bmw320, merc180 and a4 I used to have. The most comfortable seats ever, amazing build quality, supreme stereo, excellent reliability and durability. That's why volvo broke down as a company - because they manufactured too good cars which last 20 years and run 700k km without any problem. Globalisation needs cheap, disposable chinese plastic cars with soulless dull design and big cheap tablets in the middle to distract your attention that you are fooled by modern trade trends.
My first car was a 940 from the early nineties, it was just as all the 240's and 740's before it. My second car I really put some km's on was a V70 1998 2.5t, I currently drive a BMW 330i E90. I've spent quite some time in the P2 platform and I'd say the interior is pretty much the same quality but the BMW handles much nicer if you like to drive but the P2 is more comfortable, compared to the P80 it has a lot more high speed stability. The P80 beat them all in comfort and rear passenger space but the BMW trumps them all in safe handling and is a drivers car just because it has so much grip and is RWD.
Great video, had an S70 2.5 10v now got a V70 D5 185, great car, super comfortable, excellent stereo. And you are so right about the turning circle, getting a P2 round a tight car park is an art form in itself 🤣
I've had a couple of S60 P2's and still run a 2.0T 2008 one but totally agree with storage space and rear legroom, it's a bit rubbish for a large car. The upside is the premium stereo is pretty fanastic, probably the best factory stereo I've heard in this era. I'd like to change it but it offers so much for such little money, you've got to spend a lot to better it! I also love the 5 cylinder sound and most of the next generation petrol engines moved to 4 cylinder 😢
Really enjoyed the videos I have seen of yours, now subscribing. Looking forward to seeing you receive your 100,000 RU-vid subscribers, I'm sure it'll come sooner than you expect. The first is always the most special according to RU-vidrs' with a million+ subscribers.
I have never seen a car so clean you have done a lovely job restoring it . I think you are definitely going to be the next James May. I can see soon you will on are TVs . The Volvo is great value for money. I look forward to your next project
Really good video, mine's a normal looking 2004 P2 D5 but came with Haldex AWD and 6 speed manual gearbox with very long legs for the motorway, it's 163HP (common rail) but stomps along superbly !
Love this review and love the V70. I considered one of these before picking up my Saab, ultimately it came down to what was the better deal at the time. If I was after another cheap beater this would definitely be top of my list.
My 05 V70 has 215k and it still drives beautifully. I’m stunned at how good this car is. MoT next week so we’ll see if I still love it. Thanks for the review, enjoyed it!
Great video Luke, something very elegant about the estate Volvos. Brings back childhood memories of family camping holidays and me and two sisters and brother bedding down over night on the drive down to South Spain in my late Dad's 1973 145 estate!
My father had the 2007 V70 R, was a blast to drive! That model used to be used by undercover cops in my country, so whenever we started tailing a speeding car, they would immediately slow down and drive as classy and slow as they could. He now has a 2007 XC70 D5 for more ease when travelling, also drives like a charm
Great video Luke, love how you brought this back, owned 3 p2's all great cars that get under your skin. (still got 1 manual P2 in the garage) thought would mention the luggage safety net built into the rear seat backs, can be used in seats up or seats down position. All the best with your D5, sounds great and in manual too.
Something worth mentioning is that the 163hp D5’s are also common rail. They just don’t have the DPF. The non common rail diesels used in the very early v70 P2’s were the Volkswagen 2.5 TDI.
5:41 - this is very true. If fully kitted out, that bottom bank of 8 buttons has all kinds of features that makes the feel like you are in charge of a machine rather than a car. e.g A button to flip down the rear headrests, another to fold the mirrors, another to activate/de-activate the bending function of the xenon lights (and switch form LH to RH traffic beam alignment), button for traction control, button to switch between LPG and Petrol. button to activate/deactivate parking sensors etc....All those buttons makes you feel you are in control of some kind of machine, rather than just a car. One of my favourite dash designs ever.
I have one of these and of the 26 cars I've owned, I love my P2 the best. Such a handsome car, uninformed people think its a lot newer than it is. And the seats are comfier than anything on most cars. At 156k mine is low mileage for a P2. The Twin turbo D5 is 215bhp and the D5 in general is highly tuneable for a diesel. The petrol are glorious. I've got the wooden steering wheel and embrace the wood and leather as everyone is obsessed with piano black and bloody black interiors. Good video dude
Hello, Very good video. I love the V70s of this generation, I have four at home. I take the liberty of writing to you, because you may not have noticed it, few people know it, but it is possible to fold down the backrest of the front passenger seat, to further increase the loading capacity of the luggage compartment. It suffices to move the seat back as far as possible, then raise the small triggers located at the bottom of each side of the backrest, to release the latter and push it forward. This gives you a significant loading length, especially if you also remove the seat from the rear seat. Have a good trip behind the wheel of your Magnifique V70, Remi
Nice video I love the old Volvos. It’s worth opening your oil cap with the engine running and listening for a popping/metallic drumming sound. This would indicate your vacuum engine mount has gone. Very common issue. Looking forward to more videos on the V70.
Thanks for this it inspired me to take my v70 for a spin! I agree about the volvos I got mine for 1000$ with a bad coil pack, fixed it and front brake pads and tires eventually but I got about 35k miles from it since March and it has never given me any serious issues at all.
Great video👍 I love Volvo and owned V70N T5 for a time now. I maid some tuning with the engine and have now 540 hp. Quite fun to drive especially when it's a sleeper :)
I’ve the se sport and had mine remapped. Just taken it through the Yorkshire moors. Absolutely love mine and he is right with the swirl flaps and the dpf issue but they wasn’t an expensive fix .even had the rear silencer taken off with a tail pipe on now so it has a bit of grunt.
You should have shown how to flatten the frontseat, then you can transport almost 4m inside. There are two pins you pull underneath the frontseat to flatten it. I still drive a v70 from 2003, very comfortable extremly spacey, easy to repair
I have a 2013 XC60, but I miss my 2006 XC70. So many good memories. I really beat the hell out of it taking it off road onto the beach during my kitesurfing trips and drove it all across the Canadian Maritime provinces ❤️🙃 in retrospect, I should have held on to it.
My dad has a 06 v70 d5 sport (185) 6 speed manual gearbox, top spec.. all the bells and whistles.. and for an old car with over 150.000 miles its fantastic! Goes really well a quick car even by modern standards! and its so well built and comfortable!
I had a 740 years ago. Lovely motor, never thought I'd say that lol. I have a Saab 95 2.2TiD EST atm. If I ever had to get something else, it would be the V70.
Aha, Rainhill :-). I had one of these, a 2.4 petrol low pressure turbo. A great car, especially considering it turned out to be clocked, its true mileage being around 270000 by the time I let it go. Extremely practical and went pretty well too.
First time viewing your channel and thank you for this very informative video. It was interesting to see a walkthrough of a V70 SE Lux manual diesel as I have a 2005, XC70 SE Lux, auto, petrol. I like the side repeaters in the mirrors, and the interior colour which I slightly prefer to my beige. Also I do not have the second underfloor compartment in the boot close to the rear seats. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
The side repeaters seemed to have only come in in the final model year. Almost every other V70 seems to have them in the front wing. I believe the headlight design might be a bit different too, I’ve noticed factory LED sidelights in mine but other SE Lux seem to have conventional bulbs.
I paid $900 USD (appx £675 GPB) for a good used 2004 V70, and it's been a comfortable daily driver since January 2020, although I had to do many of the missed maintenance items/repairs myself, such as struts, shocks, CV-axles, tires, alignment, transmission flush, etc. The seat leather has seen better days; duct tape to hold the seams together, and then seat covers saved the day.
My jaw dropped when you folded the backseats. I've owned a p2 V70 for over two years now, never knew you could fold them up so you could have a flat bed like that. Thank you!
He mentioned too that the seat squabs (The bit you sit on) come out, you may need to prise the red clips to release them, but when you do, they come out. 1/3-2/3.
I pretty much agree with your assessment. I'm on my second V70 P2. The first in the UK was (is) a 2.4 normally aspirated with about 141 bhp but could pull like a good un, manual box. I'm now the owner of a 2004 2.5T automatic, in the USA. Manual boxes are very very rare and I think restricted to the few R's that were imported. This one has about 200 bhp or so on tap with a light pressure turbo. The space in the back is very good and although other vehicles (SUVs and the like) might have more cubic space, the space in the V70 is practical. We brought a fridge back from the shop and it fitted perfectly. You couldn't get that in an SUV. You showed it but didn't mention the 12V power supply in the back, if you get a V70 and it hasn't got one, they're easy to source second hand, you just need the resister that fits in the opposite side next to the fusebox, it has the wiring loom in already. Might be worth going through the bits like that for another video? Downsides of a V70? Ride a bit bumpy on poor surfaces, turbo lag is the normal thing, suspension could be stronger than it is. Not a downside per se, but change the oil and filter every 5000 miles, no excuses. It will reward you in the long run. Oh, and the Volvo BS about auto transmission oil being there for a 'lifetime', is just that, BS. One last thing, the timing belt MUST be changed after 80000 miles, some say 100000, but don't take the chance. It also includes the tensioner, and you may as well do the water pump at the same time, because you'll be having to do it all again later anyway. And unless you're confident and able DO NOT do it yourself, you'll have a LOT of hurt if you get the thing on wrong and you'll be facing a destroyed engine. It isn't cheap though to get a mechanic do it, but cheaper than a new engine.
"Ride a bit bumpy on poor surfaces" Compared to what? I'm thinking about buying V70 P2 (or S80 of the same generation). I like the old-school aesthetics and want to find (or retrofit) a manual gearbox. This is the last chance to get a stick. Other cars won't live in our hardcore climate (lots of salt on the roads during winter season). BMWs like E38, E39, E46 and older ones just can't survive and rust into pieces. One thing I'm concerned about is the ride quality. I'm bored of harsh M suspension on my BMW 5 series (manufactured in 2005), but will V70 (or S80) on P2 platform do the job well enough? Volvo suspension is very basic compared to BMW and Audi, it's cool in terms of reliability and running costs, but I'm afraid it doesn't deal with bad road surface.
@@complexman4302 Compared to maybe a Saab 9000. But then the V70 is an estate, the suspension as far as I know is stiffer in the back than an S60 (saloon version). I can't comment on the 80's, never driven one. On a motorway the ride is sublime, the engine isn't even trying at 70mph but will spin up quickly from there, (turbo has lag but not a lifetime!). The R versions have adjustable suspension from soft to hard, but very expensive to fix if it breaks...and it will! I would stick to FWD, avoid the haldex AWD unless you really need it. The P2 is considerd by many as the best V70. The P3 has less space and I'm told not as nice overall. But make sure it's had regular oil changes. The engine is overall bullet proof but thrashed ones can have cylinder issues between the pots.
@@steveb6386 Thanks a lot for the reply, I didn't expect you to react so quickly. How do you find the interior quality? People complain about the assembly of it, but materials are nice. Oh, and one more thing: many say that the sound insulation isn't good -- lots of noises come from outside and wheels.
@@complexman4302 I think the interior build quality is very good. Ford owned Volvo at the time of the P2, but it's better than Ford. Downside Ford didn't put a heated windscreen in Volvos, I had a Fiesta that did! I can only really compare again with Saab (proper Saab, not GM carp). I have driven Audis, BMW's, and the Volvo is up there in my opinion, though I find Audi's uncomfortable on my back other than an A8. The Volvo's seats are beautifully comfortable (lumber support too), over distance you'll appreciate that. Switch gear is nice and robust and intuitive. If you can choose, get one with the top line radio/cd player (800 I think) it comes with a dash speaker and amp under the right front seat. It sounds great. You can get auto rear view mirror dim, but if it fails, it isn't just get one and fit it, it's paired to the car, (yeah, I know) and you'll need to get the main dealer fleece you to match it, but it does work very quickly, my UK V70 never failed. Noise wise, no more noisy than a lot of cars, but being an estate it is going to behave like a big drum, especially if the back seats are flat. The plusses outweigh the minuses by a mile in my opinion. It's dead easy to drop the back seats flat. The rear headrests drop too to give better rear visibility.
I've got the XC70 of the same series, and I agree the door pockets are small - if you look inside the doors though it due to the safety bars fitted, that doesn't excuse the glove box though, which is rubbish. Mine has 230K miles and still drives great, engine is spot on.
My first car is a 2009 S80 3.2, and I genuinely hope I never have to replace it. 65k miles used for $8400. It's so well rounded-its so obvious that literally every part of the driving experience was planned to be comfortable, and everything in the interior is where it should be to put it plainly. I love my Swedish Bank Vault
Smooth ride, was my first impression about 20 years ago, it was, if I'm not mistaken the selling point, for me to buy it, that is, and still is 20 years later after owning about 5 volvos. Their main issues are electrical and heat management, so beware.
It was James May, buying a green leather chesterfield sofa from an antique shop, if my memory serves me correctly. And he got it in the back too, allbeit with the rear door tied down I think.
I getting volvo v70 estate d5 auto geartronic shortly Cambelt water pump done 2 days ago 72k miles Full volvo Service history I was thinking of getting oil changed in gearbox along with née filter Is this easy to do Any other jobs worth doing on engine at this age mileage to help reliability?
Very mature appraisel. First time I have come across this young man, only got curious when this Volvo came up, had one similar to this but 2004 D5 auto, a great all rounder. Only car Have ever kept for 5 years, and I have had over 40 different vehicles. In fact looking at replacing my Audi with another Volvo, hopefully a later V90 T6 or 8.
I drove my 2007 V70 just like this back and forth to France for a decade; terrific unstoppable car which can cruise at 90 with a fridge freezer in the back. After 270K miles I left the keys in one night and someone tried to steal it but caught the drivers door on the gatepost and broke it off (the door not the gatepost).
I expect that a P2 will be my next daily driver, albeit a petrol-engined example. P.S. I had no idea how Brutalist in style the P2 was until I saw this video. Even more so than my 740 estate.
If the centre cup holders are they same as mine it is possible to take them out, they pull yup from the back then then slot back slightly allowing them to be removed which gives another little storage area if you didnt find yourself using the cup holders. also is that front bumper standard? i like the lower lip.
