Post 814451 by DrClumber on 2017-10-21 17:33:25
Heyup all, Thought I'd introduce myself! Sorry for the length of the post! Me and my wife have always bought Volvos since the early noughties with the intention of running them for as long as possible. Unfortunately we've had a few... hick-ups... along the way. That said, each time we got a duff one we tried other brands, we came back to Volvo anyway. It isn't just the quality of the cars, the comfort of them on long runs, the knowledge that they are safer than anything and so on, it is also their character. Plus we both work for Universities, so we fit in the stereotypical 'Volvo-driver' profile I suppose... Anyway, having said all that - having moved up in the world we are now a 2 Volvo family. We always favoured the big estates for practical purposes (Dog, suitcases, 1000 mile road trip, sort of thing) and have a 2015 V70 D5, but now that we can have two I decided to go for a car I wanted for a long time - an S60 Polestar. The real (petrol 3 litre?) thing is (A) impossible to find (B) not affordable, but the D5 factory tuned one is a reasonable second in my novice mind, so I got a 2013 S60 D5 with the highly desirable Polestar emblem. I know the 5 cylinder diesel engine pretty well from the V70 we also own and it is a powerful beasty without the chip-tune. In a car that is lighter, steers a lot sharper and is smaller it becomes a bit of a riot. Unfortunately the brake-pads and tyres don't necessarily appreciate my new found joy of being able to outmuscle your average Beemers and Audis with ease, combined with a commute of 20 miles and back on windy roads and up and down hills... So that is what I drive now, it started when I met my missus and she was already converted. My first 'personal use' car was a 440 2.0 manual. It was once a good car to own, but at over ten years old and clearly neglected by previous owners I can't say it served me very well, after a year it was due its next MOT and it basically failed miserably. Off I went to get a new Renault as a runabout as I had absolutely no desire to go to an S40/V40 (1st gen) as my wife had a V40 that didn't just leave us standing, but nearly killed us with a complete electrical meltdown on a busy ring-road, alarm going off, doors all locked and nowhere to go as cars and lorries barrelled past (We never found out why it did this, but it was the 2nd time in a month). So off to the dealer we went who basically said - 'I hate this generation, you should consider looking at a slightly older car, I swear you won't regret it.' This is how we ended up with a 1997 850 2.3T manual, aka the T5R. The grin on both our faces as we barrelled down a country lane was enough to convince us and we forgave him for selling us rubbish. That car stayed with us for 7 years when we sadly had to replace it. We got a 2005 V70 (gen 2) - a 2.4 non Turbo auto. That car didn't stay with us for very long! It was fine, spacious, practical but oh... so.... boring. So it left the drive after a year and we got a new gen V70 with a turbo petrol 5 cylinder auto. I think it was a 2010 plate, but years are a bit blurry, might have been a 2008. The auto stuck - we live in an urban area and after a while you appreciate the convenience, even though on both these cars the auto wasn't great. But we had POWERRR again, not quite a T5R but a nice car to drive regardless. We got it in 2011 if memory serves me well and it was exchanged last year, so we got a good run out of that car. It was traded in against a V70 - same basic form but second facelift I think? A D5, we couldn't get a big petrol engine V70 any more and the dealer convinced us to test drive the D5 anyway, this is a 2015 car and it is very nice, I think it will be with us for at least 5-8 years, just like the previous V70 and the 850 were. The auto is even respectable in it! So that is the full circle of life! Pleased to meet you all :)