Well, as some of you know, after a crazy month looking for a new car to replace my totalled XC70, I have found a new one. Without further delay, some pics.











What a relief! Picked it up last Saturday in Vancouver, took a day off Monday and drove it home with Laura. The deal didn't come together perfectly, but overall I'm fairly happy. Asking price was $18,500 with one set of rims. I wanted snow tires right away, so they mounted up some Nordfrost 5's on some steelies they had from the previous owner. There were nicks and scratches I wasn't happy about, the tailgate struts are tired, both front door seals are torn, and somehow they removed the dog gate out of the back, and tried to charge me $350 for it! Hahah! Nice try guys.

So after a big of haggling, and after finding out the rear view mirror compass wasn't working (got $400 off just for that) I got the price down at least a little bit. They ended up throwing in the dog gate after my complaints, and 5 minutes into my drive, the compass started working.

Got home without issue, but it immediately failed the Out of Province Inspection. The mechanic failed the car on rotors being (just) below spec on all four corners, and a bad high-beam bulb. I had to send him web links just to prove to him xenons don't have a high-beam bulb, and after getting all four rotors replaced locally, and many more emails and phone calls, the dealership covered the cost of the brake job and a bit of my time. So after all is said and done the car cost around $17k. Plus taxes, dealer fee, and winters, I'm in for a little over my insurance settlement, but I'm fairly happy. Its much more than my old car, but it has a few more options which I like.

So the details:
-silver metallic on graphite
-one owner, 130,000kms
-no accidents over 2k (seems to be a Vancouver thing). Had one small rear ender, and a Vandalism claim. Otherwise Carproof and Carfax were clean.
-always a Vancouver car. All service done at Volvo of North Van. Have all service history. Recent transmission and coolant flush, and new motor mount.
-pretty much every option available, including premium sound, DSTC, Nav, 4C, rear seat DVD, active bi-xenons, parking sensor, folding mirrors, etc.
-came with the factory 17" Oreander wheels with good Michelin rubber, which I would have wanted for the old car, so that's a bonus
-came with factory load bars, cargo cover, dog gate, and carpet mats
-interior is perfect save a few marks on the door panels and console aluminum trim
-rear windows mildly tinted. Windshield is perfect.

Issues:
-tiny tiny spots of rust in a few small spots
-owner must have been vicious with the seat belts, as on both front sides, the door sill is marked and the door seals are torn. Dealer claims the marks on the aluminum interior trim are from the seatbelt as well
-shocks are weeping. Wasn't told about this before I went out, and the dealer refused to compensate me for it, despite it not being listed on the certified inspection. Damping is going.
-both headlights appear to have some weird buildup and haze inside of them. Drivers side headlight pattern is waaaaaay off (why mechanic said a bulb was out)
-tailgate struts need replacing
-a few scratches here and there.
-oil filler cap looks filthy, but regular oil changes and hot oil flushes lead me to believe it hasn't been abused.
-driveline has never had service, so its only a matter of time....

I'll be ordering some parts for it soon, and have already transferred over some of the items I pulled from the old car. Overall, I would say this car is on par with my last. I'm not a huge fan of silver, but on this car it looks nice. So I'm happy. A big thanks to anyone that helped me along the way in finding a new car.

Congrats Greg, looks good. Doncha just love dealing with Stealerships.

Thanks Jim! Oh yes, dealerships are a class act all the way. I hated having Jim Pattison stickers and license plates all over my car. First thing I did was remove them. My favourite part of dealing with the dealership was when they were printing out the bill of sale, it was being printed on a dot matrix printer. I remarked to the salesman "what...Uncle Jim can't afford you a proper printer?" Don't think they liked that very much.

That's a good looking rig, right there. Are those headphones for your in-car rally intercom? "Left 3, maybe... 80 over crest center... 100 right 4 over crest yump"

Ya, any plans to populate the back seats to put those screens to use?;-)

I'd ride back there if Greg was taking me to the JY…so plush.

Hahahahah! Oh man, I'm totally going rallying now with those on! Sweeeeeet!!! The good news so far is that the DSTC seems far less invasive than the last car. No idea why, but I was far more sideways this morning with it on than the old car used to ever let me be.

Kids are an impossibility for us, but Laura has already threatened to just stay in the back seat for road trips to watch movies. And yes Craig, we'll set you up back there with some HNIC and a bowl of popcorn for trips to the JY.

EXCELLENT!!!!

Hahah. Yeah, I got a kick out of that one.

Well, check engine light just came on. Guess its time to buy a code reader. My e-fan comes on immediately on cold morning start-ups, so that's likely the problem. Good times are on their way I'm sure.

If you've got your HVAC set to defrost, you're running the air conditioner and the e-fan may come on regardless. I'm sure that makes sense to someone.

The 850s had a common problem with the fuel tank EVAP purge solenoid, I'm not sure if that's a problem with the later cars or not. In any event, check your gas cap.

I bought a code reader from Auto Value and leave it in my car. They will read the code for free, but I like having it to diagnose on-the-spot things. It's an Eqquusss or something like that - I'm sick and can't brain today - and it cost maybe $120. It's a handy tool.

Hmmm. Yeah, its possible. My 2006 didn't do that mind you, and this just started recently. I did hear of the gas cap issue, and it started right after I filled up. Checked it again and it didn't change. Might need a new seal.

Driving to work today, had the car warmed somewhat warmed up, pulled up to a light, and a warning light comes on with a message "reduced engine performance." Tried applying gas, but nothing. Just idled off the main road and pulled over. Car still runs and starts, but won't go anywhere. Yep. Need a code reader. Ugh. Here we go.

Think you might be on to something there Matt, the 02 V70 used to do some weird fan auto on things in the name of defrosting the glass. If I was JRL I would say RTFM, but I'm not and I never read mine either, although I vaguely remember seeing something about that in there when I broke down and looked.

ETA: Greg, I'd try throwing in some gas line A/F based on the cold, just fueled up and the running issue??

Got back in the car after work today. Started fine, with no reduced engine power warning. I figured something had warmed up enough and it was operating fine. Still engine warning light though. Figured I'd just get it home.

Drove home fine, but with a bit more valve train noise. Got a code reader and pulled the code at home...."Exhaust Valve Control solenoid Circuit Range/Performance Bank 1." Been conversing with Jordan, and he said the following:

"That's not good. Either the timing belt has skipped, the VVT unit is full of deposits or the valve is bad. Or you have low oil pressure. First I'd check the timing marks and make sure they are lined up. If that's ok, I'd pop the reset valve off and clean it out. And hope it doesn't come back."

Into the garage the car goes this weekend. If the timing belt has skipped, it will already be too late. Fuck.

If the timing belt had skipped and it was too late, it wouldn't have run any better I think. Still, fuck.

Yeah, you're probably right. Seems like the thing still would have had itself shut down if something had skipped. That's my hope at least. Laura is trying to convince me just to take it in to a shop, as I'm way too stressed already. But there aren't too many people I trust here to figure this out. In the meantime, I've sent an email back to Volvo of North Van telling them what happened. The car has a 30 day power train warranty, so we'll see what they come back with.