Volvo V70 2.4 Turbo

A family with two kids and a large dog often face the challenge of finding a car big enough. By car I then exclude the bus category some peope resolve to buy. When we knew a couple of boys were on the way, we contemplated buying a VW Caravelle or a MB Vito. We came to the conclusion that we'd rather buy a trailer and use it whenever needed rather driving a bus year around.

Still, there's only a handful of station wagons to fit the dog cage and a twin cart. My lovely '01 BMW 520iAT (two seater, "green" license plates due to odd tax rules) could be converted, but the car was simply not big enough. I decided that only MB E-class, the new BMW 5-series and Volvo V70 were the list I could choose from. I should mention that some brands like Ford, VW and all french cars were excluded by obvious quality considerations.

Still, I was not sure whether my station wagon slash trailer would suffice. To avoid putting too much money into this project (cars are generally bad investments in Norway) I decided to buy  a car I always wanted to buy: the very spaceous Volvo 940. I found a  lovely '96 with leather interior and differential. This 2.3 L low pressure turbo engine is easily chipped and with a new wastegate you can easily get 200 break horsepower out of it. You need new suspension though, because the very soft setup of this car makes it rather useless to add more power. I would have done all these modifications if the car had air conditioning. After one year I decided to let the car go, as driving in summer with kids and dog was rather unforfortable.

As the station wagon had proved to be spaceous enough, I decided to find a replacement with A/C. As I contemplated buying an E-class I was forced to consider diesel engines. As I refuse to own anything with four cylinders the 270 and 320 CDIs were alternatives. On the petrol side, the 240 does impress anyone with its performance. On a trip to Germany I rented a 220 CDI and drove 1150 km in that very comfortable Avantgarde. The average mileage of 0.67 L/10 km  is very impressive considering "hard" driving on Autobahn as well as Mosel and Ahr valleys. Still, what the diesel lack is agressiveness. The effect and torque characteristics does fit the needs of a man who loves to rev up every now and then. After this trip, the diesel alternative was out of the consideration.

I eventually got comfortable with the idea of buying a Volvo V70. I did own a '01 2.0T but it was thrashed when I was hit buy a tractor in Heidalen. My experiences with the car was good, but I always wanted the  2.4T turbo instead. Not because of the 20 bhp extra but because the torque of 285 Nm is very attractive.

Firstly, I was able to find a '00 V70 T5. This is a 2.3 high pressure turbo with 250 bhp and a torque of 330 Nm. The high pressure turbo was a bit uncomfortable, as lag was experienced up to 2300 rpms followed by a feeling of too much power on the front wheels. As the general condition of the car was not as expected, my trip to Tønsberg was a waste of time. Well, not quite: driving the manual T5 made me narrow down the list to only include cars with Geartronic automatic transmission.

Luckily I was able to find a '03 2.4T with leather interior. It did not sport xenon headlights but otherwise the car was as I wanted it. I flew down to Stavanger and drove it back to Trondheim. The sport leather seats in the V70 are very comfortable  and I was very impressed by the effortless work of the engine and transmission; the low pressure turbo gives you torque from 1800 rpms and you can hardly feel the engine make an effort unless to press the throttle unneccessarily hard or override the automatic transmission. The sound of the five sylinder engine is not good; a hollow sound that is very characteristic of newer Volvos. Still, I find it better than most four cylinder engines and it takes the revs down a bit. After four years of rear wheel driven cars I was really surprised how the car handled on snow. Firstly, the STC traction gave you a feeling of actually loosing grip. Secondly, the strong engine makes it neccessary to handle the throttle cautiously. I remember my 2.0T to be a very nice experience on winter but the 2.4 is not so.

The quality of the V70 cannot be compared with a BMW. The plastic looking interior makes a lot of noise you'll have to get used to. The handling of the car is not too god. The turbocharged V70s have a harder suspension that makes up for some, but still the V70 is best suited for comfort on longer trips. Engine power does not fit well with front wheel drive, especially on Norwegian roads. Hard acceleration should be avoided, but overtaking could be done effortlessly. The best feature of the V70 is the space. The almost vertical rear door makes loading the car practial and the whole space can be effectively utilised. The downside with this design is that the rear window needs wiping frequently...unless you get that god-awful spoiler mounted, that is.

My next car will definately be a BMW. Still petrol and six sylinders...