Hey,

Who has the oldest S70 out there. My original in service date is 12-12-97. Being a 5spd Non Turbo with every option my car was obviously a custom order. It would be interesting to find out the date when the car was originally ordered. Is there any way of telling from the VIN what # you were off the assembly line?

My 98 S70 T5M (5-speed manual) was built 1/97 and
was purchased in April of 97.

We also own a 95 855 and the parts difference is greater
then most people think.

Robert,

For how to read a VIN look in the archives.

Mine has a build date of 1/97. It was a demo for the dealer and had every option but fogs, trip computer, sport suspension and CD changer. Built in Sweden and does have components labeled 850.

Bryan

I looked at mine again....

MFG date of 11-97 and delivery 12-12-97.

My T5A was built 4/97, delivery 6/97. Special order frost green metallic color for Singapore.

Mine is also a 2.0 T5 B5204T3 HPT for countries with auto taxes based on engine capacity, so my T5 had 225bhp compared to 240bhp of the 2.3T5 with B5234T3.

Build Date of 1/97. Red T5, 5 speed, every option available at the time, except for the wood trim (which I would gladly do without any day). Supposedly my car was on display at some auto show before it came to the show room. This is what the dealer told me as there was a missing knob, and a scratch in the seat. Both of which were replaced by the dealer before I took the car into possesion (12/97). My car was also built along side the 850's, as their production was not stopped until I believe around March or April of 97. Lots of the components were shared between the cars, as most of the parts you would expect to say "S70" say 850. I would think that as you got later into the 98 model year run the parts supply would have been updated and so forth. I also recall that the wiring harness for the engine was replaced during the 98 run. But if I am wrong i'm sure someone will gladly correct me. My car is in no way a high mileage S70, with only 61k on the clock. I am hoping to have this car around for many years to come.


DG

Hmm,

The dealer once told me that the 850 and the S70 was made on the same line at the same time when I had some problems with my front suspension. They were trying to tell me that it was "normal" for the suspension to behave that way because it was really the suspension of an 850. I found an 850 and drove it and it did not exhibit the same behavior.

Essentially system wise the S70 and 850 share a great deal of components. The doors look to be exactly the same with the exception of the door handle hardware. The unit body looks to be the same as well.

I read somewhere that the 7's and 8's and as well as the S70's were assembled one at a time by hand. What made the article more credible was the photo of a 7 series Volvo on a moveable rack that allowed a crew of people to do the final assembly. The article went on to say that people work better when they can see a finished product and take pride in the quality of assembly.

I have a friend with a C70 Convertible (he is on #2 now since #1 was bought back by Volvo under lemon law) and they said the car was entirely assembled by hand as well. Fit and finsh wise the Volvo's look great. I guess someone on the engineering side needs to see a finished product 2 years later and see all the design mistakes they made.

C70s are built at the Autonova plant at Udevalla, Sweden which is a joint venture between Volvo (49%) and TWR (51%), a British firm. As opposed to "real" Volvos like the S70 which were built in Ghent, Belgium....

As remarkable as the problems are that people have had with C70s, since it's a markedly different design made arguably by a different company in a different country, they are probably much different from the problems people have had with S70 and V70.

http://www.autointell.com/european_companies/volvo_cars/volvo-mfg/volvo-car-plants.htm

Yes I have seen that before there was a nice article in Volvo Life about that as well.

I have a close friend on his second C70 HPT (first one returned under lemon law). Even though they are different car's built in different countries by different companies a lot of the ailments between my S70 and his C70 were suprisingly similar. Lots were not. Most of the related failures were just bad design work on Volvo's part where as most of the Specific problems he had with the C70 were specific's to its top/window design.

Lots of the problems were as follows

-Window "cartridge" problems (windows that rolled down and shattered in the door or made unusual noises or would not line up correclty)
-Power Seat issues (the C70 has the special seats that electricly roll forward to gain access to the back seat they jam frequently or dont function correctly at times)
-Top mechanism problems (noises and stuff breaking)

Some of the shared stuff

-Turbo Replaced
-problems with Audio system (both cars)
-wheel/tire issues (heavy wear, exploding tires)
-brake/rotor issues (new rotors and pads at 20k on first car new pads at 6k second car)
-leather steering wheel decay issues
-cooling system problems

My friends 2000 C70 spent a month in the shop because of a window that shattered inside the door. The windows/top were never the same after that. During the Month it was in the shop it was only returned after a Volvo Factory Tech came to look at it after lots of calls to VNCA. They finally replaced the Vehicle after my friend retained an Attorney and began Lemon Law discovery.

The C70 is a nice convertible. I have heard from several dealers that Volvo looses money on it. I can see why with all the repair work they did to my friends car. I Have seen a new version of the C70 convertible code named Hattrick which is a convertible hard top design. With all of the problems in the current convertible design I would be afraid to see what the future holds for that model.

There should be a sticker on the lower left
corner of the driver's door which tells you
the month when the car was built.

I ordered my V70 5/98, I know for sure that
it was also built 5/98, and the sticker says
5/98 in my car.

Hannu

I believe the 70's came out in the summer of '97.

Spring-Summer of 1997 is also my recollection. Mine was delivered in October -special order- , but I had driven a T5 5-speed before I ordered and the automatics were available at my dealer a couple of months before that ... 1998 was a looooooong model run!

-Bill the Cat

Hmmm,

I dont exactly know the origins of my Vehicle. I have the Body Colored "special delivery" owners folio as well as the "special delivery" keychain. I suspect mine was euro delivery or some other program they had going at the time.