A while back I posted when my 2000 Volvo got totalled, and I was looking for options... Ended up fixing the car and it turned out awesome. (We actually just got back from a two week road trip to the west coast, and it was fantastic.)

Fast forward a few months and I recently convinced a friend to test drive an 04' V70R 6sp manual when he was looking to replace his Audi A6 Avant, and was swayed enough to purchase. Sadly when I drove it - I was swayed too! Damn car was amazing...

Did some searching, and found an 06 in Calgary, so it's going to Bert & Jack's for Paul to do a pre-purchase hopefully this Saturday. If it gets the go ahead I'll be taking the dreaded overnight bus yet again to pick it up Sunday...

I had actually scheduled the pre-purchase at Valentine, but checked here after and called Paul direct to see if he'd be up for it after reading the recommends here.

Matt - if all goes well, and if you're available at all on Sunday morning / lunch time I owe you lunch or something for all the help you've provided to me. It'd be great to meet in person and possibly check out the ST...

Rabin

Very nice! Congrats! I was looking at R's very seriously a couple months ago, but ended up settling for an XC. I had multiple inspections done at Valentine. Expensive, but ended up being worth it. I'm sure Paul will do just as good a job. Pics? Atacama? '06 is a good year for sure.

My wife hates atacama... So its Electric Silver on Nordkap... Really well maintained, extra winter wheels, roof bars, rear parking sensors, and a hitch. Didn't have the ear sub, no third row seat, and no Nav (I didn't want Nav anyway).

135k on it, and maintenance records since new.

I was asking detailed questions when I was booking the inspection, and wasn't getting about what was entailed (the car will need to pass SK' OOP), but they didn't answer very well. Checked on here, then called Paul... I like that I can discuss directly with Paul the condition of the car as well as any potential concerns.

FWIW - I also looked at a 2008 BMW 535 Touring, and I thought my buddy's 04 V70R was way more fun to drive, and I liked it much more.

Rabin

As a former V70R owner I have a few thing you should check for. In a moment of weakness I bought a brand new 2006 (Ti Grey over Gobi with 6 speed manual, rear boosters and the sub.) I ran the car for about 4 years before selling. Here is the good and bad:

The Good
power and braking
handling
stereo
seats

The Bad
-ride (IMO Volvo cannot design a proper suspension with proper ride/handling balance, the VR handles well but the suspension is very jittery)
-limited rear seat room

The Ugly
-turning circle
While the VR was a wonderful highway cruiser I found that the combination of low clearance and horrendous turning circle made the car hard to live with day to day (and I drive an old standard shift 1800E with worn syncros)...

Moving On, things to look for:

1) Make sure the air dam under the front bumper is still attached. Due to the low ride height these take a beating

2) The "Pegs" wheels stick out beyond the tire. Check for bad damage
3) The collar between the transmission and the transfer case tends to fail. Can be a real bugger to fix.
4) The clutch slave is internal and they will eventually leak. Complete clutch replacement (if contaminated)to fix
5) Check the condition of the E struts very carefully. These are expensive.
6) Wheel bearings (don't ask me why but in the first 80 k kms I had two fail on me)


Enjoy your R!

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond!

Sadly the deal itself wasn't exactly storybook (queue Dale and Matt's laugh of agreement. Car was everything I thought it would be and more, but unfortunately while Matt and I were on the way to the hangar the car started with some funny/odd up and downshifts. Left an intersection in manual mode an that's when we felt first hand the false neutral and crunching into the next gear...

LONG story short it's at Bert & Jack's for Paul to check out. Researched the crap out of the issue since then and worst case scenario is hopefully just a rebuilt valve body. Best case is the car just needed more time to build its shift maps, particularly if the battery was out or even just low recently.

I think some of the ride complaints with you car may have been due to the stock Pirelli tires as they were known to be crap. As for turning circle - I have an 00 V70R and its equally bad - but living in SK you hardly notice.

Collar is a concern, but I'll make that a maintenance item down the road.

I have to say that both the Calgary car and my friends 04' manual car road and handled better than the 08' 535 Touring I test drove before deciding on the 06' R.

Rabin

With the auto the collar issue is much reduced. That being said have you tried a manual version of the R? Night and day. You are on the right track since the only auto Rs to consider should be the 06&07.

Tires. Went through three sets plus a winter set in my 80ks

1) Pirelli Rosso got 16000 km's before wearing below minimum. Harsh but great handling and stick

2) Hankook V something's. less harsh but less stick, constant balance issues. Got about 30k km's before trashed.

3) Michelin Pilot Sport A/S these were pricey but the best I used. Car sold with them on.

Winters: Hankook w300 icebears. They were good and handled ok.


I was never a fan of the suspension. Too much wallow in comfort and advanced was way too harsh. Spent most of the time in sport. Upgrading the sway bars and links (ipd) helped somewhat. Hopefully you don't live in Saskatoon. My R made many trips there and it did not like the nasty pavement. Driving in town was a slalom around the worst of it.

On smooth highway the VR is a dream. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

You make valid points about the ride, but I still found it nicer than the 535 BMW Touring, and it's still much nicer than our 2000 V70R and that has new Nivo's and Koni yellows - so I am thrilled with the ride even though it's a compromise. I do have to say that after 8 hours in the 06' my butt hurt - so I think the P1 V70R has better seats. (My Peugeot kills all for ride quality on the rough stuff and seat comfort however).

Correct - I tried my buddy's 2004 V70R 6sp manual, and I was sold on the car - but my wife is the primary driver of the car, and while she can drive manual cars, she doesn't enjoy them. Knowing this - the only years to consider were 06 and 07 as I wanted the 6sp auto and all it's improvements.

Thanks for the details on the tires - my car currently has Hankook V12's which are likely done due to uneven tire wear, and they're quite noisy. Costco has Pilot Sport A/S 3's which are highly rated, but the Conti DWS's are also supposed to be very good. Was initially leaning to the Conti's - but getting Michelin's at Costco makes it very tempting.

Curious what your experiences were with the R's "side-hop" issue in the back. I've read tires and proper wheel alignment pretty much eliminate it, but curious what you found in your car? For the most part it's fine, but for the really sharp impacts it really does get unsettled and the prospect of that happening on an icy highway in winter is unsettling as the side-hop it does could very well induce a slide at speed...

Picked up the car this past Saturday - Matt and Dale picked my up from the airport and Dale graciously finished the tour of the collection after we had breakfast. Headed to get the car around 1 PM and verified the tranny was shifting much better. I wasn't sure about the WOT 1-2 and 2-3 shifts as they were pretty hard, but they were very positive with no slipping or crunching, they just felt HARD... Hard enough to chirp the tires and I don't like feeling that kind of strain in the driveline... Partial throttle shifting was beautiful (and still really fast if needed), so finished up at Bert & Jack's, grabbed lunch, and headed back home in my new R.

I was pretty gun shy at first, and traveled with the radio off listening intently to the car. It was great, so cranked the tunes and enjoyed the ride. Car was FANTASTIC on the highway and any buyers remorse I had for potentially buying a car with tranny issues subsided and it just checked all my boxes as my choice as being the right car for us. As the trip wore on I got a bit braver, and was giving it some throttle to see how it was downshifting at speed. All was fine. Happened to come across a slower car in the left lane about to pass a semi, but closing at a very slow rate which was boxing me in. Had plenty of room to pass on the right and pass the semi - but the person accelerated as I passed them as if to force me into the semi - so I punched it... HOLY CRAP! The R dropped 2 gears and left that car like it was standing still - rocketed forward and around the semi with ease... I was in LOVE... This car is HUGELY capable, and very much an "enthusiasts" family car.

OOP is tomorrow, so I find out what the car will need to pass safety... So I'll update further once I get the list of "ToDo's"...

Rabin

Not to threadjack here...But the fella with the standard trans model,did you have any issues with the clutch ?
My brother in Saskatoon just bought an '04('05 ?) with the 6spd standard,red with the baseball glove interior,
I believe about 120000k on it.Just curious as it had had a clutch already,and we looked at one in Edmonton with similar k's needing a clutch...is this that problematic ?
Just a couple comments having driven his a couple times, bang on about the ride...not good on rough stuff but great
on the highway(as long as said highway isn't too rough either) great stereo too, and wasn't terribly impressed with the performance really, it's OK just expected more from 300 hp...what do these things weigh anyway ?
On the plus side I love wagon's,and it is an attractive wagon,and those are getting rare these days.

Success - the car passed safety today and it is now plated... The only thing I needed to do was peel the front window tint, and the rest was good. Funny part is that I spoke to Paul this morning and I mentioned it was in for inspection - he said I wouldn't have any problems with the OOP - and he was exactly right! Thanks so much Paul! (Bert & Jack's)

Paul checked out the car and worked his magic, and it's shifting great now with no odd transmission up or down shifts, but there is a miniscule issue that I think might be motor mount related - but Paul suspects it might be dry CV's on the axles so I'll check out both options. He also recommended one more flush for the tranny so I'll do that in a few weeks when I swap all the lubricants over to synthetics. I also have something rattling against the exhaust ever so slightly - so I'll have to clearance it when I get under the car.

Frepea - I'm curious what kind of car you're used to driving to be somewhat disappointed with the power? My 2000 V70R is rated at 261 HP and it's a fast car, but the new R is that much quicker and more refined. WOT highway pass was giggle inducing as it pulled really hard in an unrelenting surge... They 3641 lbs (quick google) - so while not lightweight, they feel and drive much lighter than the BMW 535 Touring -plus the just look so damn good.

Rabin

Not saying it isn't quick,but just doesn't ignite any fires. My comparison is my own wagon, 82 245 with(insert evil cackle..) 306 ford and 5spd,it will pull 6500 (and really starts to pull by 3500) in pretty much all gears except 5th,and that gear I have chickened out on when the needle has passed the m on my mph,I haven't yet had it back on the rollers,but I would be surprised if it isn't making 300 at the wheels.My ill fated 347 made 354 and 380,and this one while not maybe in the same ballpark feel's mighty quick.
So that is my comparison,while not apples to apples,and the weight thing(about 3350 lbs),its still my benchmark.
Don't get me wrong,the V70r is a nice car and way more civilized to use every day,but just didn't do it for me
from a performance standpoint.Mind you I find most newer cars are kind of devoid of character,I drove a buddy's 996 turbo Porsche thingy and was disappointed too...until boost came on,likewise the M5 he had before..they just don't feel that fast,although they are.

New owner: Congrats on the ride. Yes the rear side hop in corners was an issue. This was part of the basis of my comment that Volvo did't design this suspension right. In fact there was a VR that was written off near Lac des Arc and the owner said the car car stepped out in a corner and traction was lost. car went off road and was written off.

To minimize side hop set total rear toe to 0. The Michelin Pilot A/S also helped. Again the suspension was so-so. Twitchy rear and ultimately a ton of understear at the limit. A set of IPD sway bars and links also dials out understear and further reduces hop.

I found the power good but not great. At altitude the turbo really shines. 300Hp is lots but spreD out over the heft of the wagon and the AWD it gets blunted.

I replaced my VR with a Pontiac G8. Now that car had a proper suspension and power. I thought the VR was fast until I flirted the 6.0L in the G8. woah. The transmission was garbage though. I am currently looking at GXP G8s from the USA with a proper 6 speed manual.

Seats: Yes the VR seats looked good, felt good but also made my ass numb on long trips. No idea why.

clutch: the slave fails and the clutch always felt a little weak. I think it is near the upper specs it can handle.

Been following this thread. Glad the car is working out for you Bean. Very jealous. Good to hear Paul sorted things out for you.

The side-hop thing has been interesting me too, and I've been trying to read up on it. I knew nothing of it before I bought my XC, and either I was sleeping during my test-drive, or I didn't hit the right bumps. Within a brief period after buying the car I noticed the thing WOULD NOT STAY PLANTED over certain bumps. I thought the rear of the car was disconnected from the front somehow. Something broken? Tire pressures too high? Alarming. After doing some reading, I figured out what was going on (I have 4C in the XC). By far the most disappointing part of this car. After driving an E39 M5, and a modified B7 S4 recently, the chassis on the P2 feels like complete rubbish. Both are smoother over the bumps, despite being much stiffer. Even my '75 245 with upgraded suspension tracked over the bumps better than this thing, which is pretty sad. In retrospect, the car had had numerous alignments at the dealership by the previous owner. I wonder if that's what he was trying to solve? I'll have to check out the rear toe situation, and I suspect these current tires aren't helping either.

As for the seats, mine are by far the most comfortable I've ever sat in. On a 9 hour road trip this summer, my back and bum never hurt, which is rare for me. Maybe the XC's are that much softer.

Power in these cars is far less obvious. A 160hp 240 feels faster than my XC...more sensation. But it certainly isn't.

What year XC? I understand all P2s are affected to varying degrees to the hop. I came close to the newer T6 XC with a tune. that model had no hop so it appears Volvo solved it at some point.

My 1800 has a hop but it is different. almost a snap oversteer issue.


Eric

2006. Ah, so its not just models with the 4C? That's reassuring...kinda...as I wondered if I shouldn't have gotten the 4C. Thought about a newer one, but I just don't like the way they look as much, and the inline 5 is a more reliable engine from what I've heard.

After selling my VR I toyed with the idea of a tuned newer T6 with stiffer sway bars etc. The car rode much better than the P2 and it seems like Volvo figured out the 4C by then. However the new model feels much more ponderous than the P2 version. I remember thinking " All the drawbacks of a proper SUV without the advantages..."

I think the 2006 XC is the sweet spot for XCs...


Enough thread hijack. Back to Beans VR.