Hello,

I currently have a nice 1993 945T with about 160k miles. It's in good shape, but I find myself interested in the 2004-2007 V70, mostly because it has more airbags, better safety, and better mpg. Would probably get a 2.5T. I have done most of the maintenance on the 945 myself.

Questions:
1) Does the passenger air bag in the V70 have a sensor for when someone is sitting in the seat? We park in manhattan and sometimes a child sits in the passenger seat. So, it would be good if the airbag was off when someone light was in the seat.

2) How reliable is the V70 and where can I find info on how to do maintenance on it? Anyone making a FAQ for the V70? (I do have VADIS thru 2005)

Thanks
Steve

I just got the latest issue of Rolling.

There is a beautiful 2004 V70R in the classifieds that only has 9000 miles!

If that is not a typo, the 19k that they are asking sounds like a deal to me!

Probably sold by now.

Steve, I would add one more comment to my earlier response. I find the 2004 NA V70 I have to be quite responsive. I do have a heavier foot than my wife and feel that the "fuzzy Logic" or adaptive transmission(which I am led to believe is used by Volvo) reflects that in the car being fairly responsive.
My wife's 2003 XC (which has the turbo), but is driven with a lady's foot and loving care...... seem slow in comparison when I drive her car.
If I was buying a car to drive in the city most of the time it would be a NA
V70. Good luck,
Art

I looked at the 2005 owners manual:

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Disabling the passenger's side front airbag
Volvo recommends ALL occupants (adults and children) shorter than four feet seven inches (140 cm) be seated in the back of any vehicle with a front passenger side airbag, and be properly restrained for their size and weight. See also the child safety recommendations on page 16.
The passenger's side front airbag is automatically enabled/disabled by the Occupant Weight Sensor (OWS)*, a system that monitors the weight of the person or object in the front passenger's seat. The system consists of a silicon-filled bag located under the padding in the front passenger's seat cushion, a control module located under this seat, and a seat belt tension sensor, located on the outboard side of the seat.
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It also states that an object > 55lbs will enable the passenger side air bag. Use the rear seat for children at ALL times. In Europe, it is a moving violation if a child under 12 is in the front seat.

Reliability? The 5 cyl is very good, just make sure it has the options you want, some of the base models are pretty basic. I happen to like electronic climate control, set the temp and forget it.

Make sure it has maintenance history! Dealer maintained doesn't mean much for me, unless I have a printout from the dealer.

The XC70 with the 5 cyl rides 3 inches higher than the V70, has reliable AWD, but gets 2mpg less than the V70. The skid control on the XC70 will not let the car slide, ever.

All of the new cars have 3 fuse boxes, countless relays, and a half dozen computers. Thank goodness for Xemodex.com when one of the computers fail!

Thanks for the info, everyone!
Steve

I have the 2004 V70 with 158K miles.

I cannot turn off the passenger side airbag.
At the time I bought the 2004, it was because of the significant improvement in safety features over our earlier model Volvo's.
It seems to be reliable, never not been able to drive it. Should the ignition
lock fail as mine did recently..... no. It feels quite solid and safe at
sustained highway speeds.
Gas milage...??? at this time of year (new England)in and around town, I find it
as low as 20mpg (avg. speed 22mph). Reset and make a highway run it will go up to 27mpg and as high as 30 in summer.

Thank you.

Do you find the car has enough acceleration in the na variety? I know that is subjective. I would be happy to get 20mpg in the city in winter. Although it's not fair to compare, where a 3 mile trip can take 30 minutes, my 945T gets about 10mpg in the city (averaging about 10 mph). About 20-22mpg on highway.

Steve

I was going to suggest to you, if gas mileage is a biggy, that you consider going NA. I drive a 2003 V70 2.4 NA / the wife drives a 2005 S80 2.5 turbo. I'm guessing both cars are "about" the same weight. I drove her car to work for a few weeks and averaged about 18 mpg. Switching back to my car got me about 21-22 mpg. Highway mileage runs about 28 for my NA vs 26 for her turbo. Of course whenever we do any long distance highway work with the wagon it's usually loaded down like the Clampett's moving to Beverly Hills.

There is an acceleration penalty with the NA, but I don't find it to be a big deal.

Thanks. I'll try to drive one. What octane of gas do you use? I know that the manual says premium gas for both the NA and the 2.5T, but I figure that the NA would be more likely to be fine on regular gas.
Steve

Actually we're running 87 in both of them. But then we're seldom heavy footed. If the low octane is causing the knock sensor to retard the ignition, it certainly isn't noticeable.

Wow, your gas mileage is almost as good as my 95 855 that weighs at least 200 lbs. less than your V70!

1. Don't know. I'm sure someone else will.

2. Other than perhaps the 98-2000 early V70's, you are looking at some of the most reliable V70's in the 2004-2007 models. My sister's family has had a 2006 since new and had very good luck with it. Avoiding all the 2001-2002 models and the early AWD models from 98-2002/2003? is a good plan.

Happy Hunting!