Someone Else's Problem: Einstuerzende SWEbauten - My 2005 Volvo XC70 D5

Great purchase! I didn't get a chance to really have a good look around at ice-track meet - But I hope it gives you many many miles of transport! :D
 
I already approved of this purchase but I always fail to check forums regularly, so here are my congratulations yet again!

This car just reminded me of someone who I got to know at around 2014. It's a bloke with a dog who back in time had a black front wheel driven 98-00 V70. He actually lives near the woods, yet always takes his dog in the back of the car to go and have a walk with him somewhere else in the woods.

One day he got stuck with his swedish fwd family brick like 50 meters within the woods in a completely unnecessary fashion, and he got so mad, he actually got rid of the car and bought an ex-military two door G-Wagen, just to haul his dog into the woods, even though he lives like ten feet next to them. I promise that's a true story.

If only he would have seen the light and bought an all wheel driven Volvo.
 
Brimmed the tank with diesel, two clicks, reset the trip computer and proceeded to drive 103 miles of straight road at 50mph to another two click fillup. Result according to the trip computer: an impressive 61.7 UK MPG! Was it true? No!

I put in 9,88 litres of fuel which corresponds to 5,9l/100km or 47 UK MPG ish. The readout is hugely off, but hoping it will improve through use. It's still frugal for a big bastard like the XC70, but the readout makes you wish for even more.
 
I don't know how the Volvo handles it, but in the Karlos e39 you can actually adjust the formula for fuel consumption calculation if it's off.
 
I can probably get that done if the car's hooked up to a computer.
 
Winter's already almost over and it's time to look at summer rubber. The car had received a set of Evergreen chinesium tires not that long ago, but due to bad alignment the fronts had already developed such severe wear they were not worth bringing over to Finland. This means I only have two decent condition rears, but they are not great, let alone good tires. I'll probably just sell them cheaply to make back the mounting costs of something else.

Today, I looked at tire/wheel prices and seems the SUV size 215/65R16 is quite dear, even for used sets. Keeping in mind that when-if I get the AWD sorted it won't take kindly to mismatched tire wear, I decided to order a set of new Nokian Line SUV XL instead, and the set of four will be about 100 euros cheaper than sourced locally. Those will go onto the V70 Mk1 "Persus" (sensible Finnish chuckle) five-spokes which I'll plastidip in a nice gunmetal shade.
 
Everybody loves fuel economy stuff! Right?

I brimmed the tank this morning, as diesel prices seemed nicely cheap at 1,372 eur/l. Anything under 1,4 is cheap in my book now. I had done 336,4 miles after the last two-click fillup and kept the car strictly in the one-hour commute use for which I bought it, so the use is extremely real-world with as little town driving as possible: namely, just the country road that takes me to the highway proper.

The result for this 541-km drive is 31,23 litres of diesel, which comes to 5,768l/100km and change. It's good! It's not as little as the car would have me believe, but I think I can eke it closer to 5,5 as temps rise and cold starts are less cold. And the range is very good.
 
That's amzingly frugal for a barge of that size!
 
That's because it has the Fuel Save Mod.
 
I would expect a fuel save Mod to still drive a Lambretta, but very carefully.
 
The readout is hugely off, but hoping it will improve through use. It's still frugal for a big bastard like the XC70, but the readout makes you wish for even more.

Driving home yesterday, the readout claimed I averaged 69.4 MPG UK :D That would be four liters per 100km.
 
Yv0obYd.jpg


And we have Finnish plates! Volvo had neatly marked the mounting points with little dimples on the silver part on the bumper to make fitting easier, too.
 
Today, I looked at tire/wheel prices and seems the SUV size 215/65R16 is quite dear, even for used sets. Keeping in mind that when-if I get the AWD sorted it won't take kindly to mismatched tire wear, I decided to order a set of new Nokian Line SUV XL instead, and the set of four will be about 100 euros cheaper than sourced locally. Those will go onto the V70 Mk1 "Persus" (sensible Finnish chuckle) five-spokes which I'll plastidip in a nice gunmetal shade.

VoBvHxI.jpg


Got the tires handily delivered to work and into the back of the car, and I was happy to note that despite being competitively priced for Nokians, they weren't some age-old-but-still-considered-new stock but DOT 0719 - certainly fresh. And since I managed to sell a set of old steelies this weekend, the cash from those will nearly cover the mounting work for this set. Just have to prep the wheels in time for the weather to eventually permit summers.
 
Welcome to summer! I put on the new tires just to notice the five-spoke wheels do not clear the brakes if they are balanced with glued-on weights. I had the tires swapped over to the stock wheels and will probably find another set for winter or go with 16" van steelies.
 
Are clip-on weights an option? I had to get that for 14" wheels on an MR2 Spyder.
 
Well, A.T.U. here in Dortmund certainly thought so when we had them mount winter tyres on this car on the way up to Finland. But they just wanted the weird British/German group gone from their shop, I guess. :rofl:
 
Top