The Volvo XC70. A Car That No One Should Own.

I've been working on, and driving Volvo's for as long as I can remember. These are some very interesting cars. The older 240/740, and later 940/960 line of cars were very well built reliable cars. Once Ford got involved, things went downhill fast. The 850/V70 line and the even worse XC90 and S80 series are perfect examples of over engineering gone wrong.
The sad part of all this is, that This 2001 Volvo V70 XC will likely not be the last one I own!

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[alexlekov]

What's the point of this review anyway- PCV system gets clogged because people don't change their oil on time and Throttle body issue was for the first few years until they switched from the yellow label "Magneti Marelli" to the Bosch unit "grey label", same goes for the gear box very few problems after 2004 MY. The truth is these cars are very good, practical, and reliable (if you change your oil on time)

[davorramljak]

Hi! Greetings from Sweden. Here in the homeland of Volvo, where as many as 50% of all cars drive this domestic car, I can say that even though that percentage is high, you can almost never see this type of Volvo standing by the road waiting for towing service. In Sweden, we salt the road as much as 7 months a year and I've never seen a Volvo with rust, not even a 30-year-old. Unfortunately I personally have no experience with petrol engines 2.4f, 2.5T and 3.2 because we drive a lot of diesels, but I can tell you that the diesel variant V70, S60, S80, XC70 and XC90 with 2.4 D5 185hp 5-cylinder diesel motor is probably the best diesel turbo engine of modern times, after Mercedes diesel in series 123 and 124, which had half the power, so we can't compare them whit this new generation c-rail tehnology. My XC70 2005 model now have an incredible 670, 000 kilometers and I was just on a technical inspection without a single mistake and thay give me White paper. The car has been driven only in our family for 10 years since it had 290, 000km without a single mistake. Since this series of cars whit D5 has served as a taxi vehicle in Sweden for over 15 years, the experience is amazing. Many of them covered over 1 million kilometers and the clocks started ticking again from 0.
Today I own this old beuty and a new one V90 CC. This old xc70 will always be a better car and I'm sad that cars of this quality are not made any more.

[Spoolingturbski]

Why is this guy ragging on the XC70 so hard. These are extremely resilient. The in-line 5 is probably one of the best engines ever made. Sound great, awesome power delivery and reliable and proven since 93. I’ve had this exact mode with 250, 000k and it drove amazing. I own a 05 right now. He bought the wrong year. Buy 03 and after.

[STADYxKICKS]

Most of these criticisms seem overstated. I know you say you worked on em but you don’t seem to have general knowledge on this specific model. 05-07 have the updated trans and remove the biggest issue these cars were plagued with.

You actually can get them with the cloth interior it’s just very uncommon. The rearview mirror costs about $10 at a scrap yard to replace if you swap the glass.

The timing belt and cam seal issues are also overstated. If you neglected oil changes maybe the cam seals become an issue due to the pcv clogging (you didn’t even mention the pcv issue?) and the timing belt is regular maintenance.

Most of the other issues are relatively cheap to get replaced. You can do front struts for under $500 easily. You also didn’t mention the awd system at all?

It seems to me you just have this idea in your head that these cars are bad because you saw them every day in a broken state. Imagine if you worked at a Japanese car dealership oh how bad all the cars that come through there must be.

This is not to say that they are perfect cheap cars, but they are a safe mode of transportation and with proper general maintenance you can easily get them to 200k miles

[davecallender]

I’m a Toyota guy myself but my college age son has a xc70 2006 with 265k miles and going strong. I’ve done some small work on it but nothing unexpected considering the may miles and years it has on it. A well built and well engineered car in my opinion.

[gurueddy]

Bought a used 05 XC70, with the Haldex AWD. Love it - comfortable, practical and vast cargo space. Does everything from interstate trips cruising all day at 110kph, to hauling half a tonne of concrete to the tip. 👍

Never seen a dealer service, just my local mechanic for an oil change. Only broken a tail light, replaced with an eBay spare myself for $70.

[ontheroad]

I own 2001 Volvo for a years and I absolutely love it. One of the best reliable and cheep to maintain cars I ever had, Bzw I'm a heavy duty mechanic too.

[bigzworld]

I've owned one for 5 years and have had zero problems with it! Very safe very reliable!

[MissMaddieWren]

I crashed this car :( and it was one of the best cars ever. I drove it without oil once, and black stuff came out. The mechanic was surprised and said that it was a DAMN GOOD car because any other car would have melted.
Whatever rubbish you’re saying about this not being a fabulous car is shit. I lived at the island in this car, never got stuck, never got rust. Best car ever, any Volvo is I am sure.

[ckm-mkc]

I just took my 2008 XC70 up a 9000 ft set of serious mountain trails (large rocks 6" ledges), . It has a set of Falken Wildpeak Trail A/Ts, which are absolutely the best tires for this car. It's got 140k miles, one owner, impeccably maintained always garaged, no turbo. Haven't had any issues other than normal wear & tear, but I also have my own shop and keep up with the maintenance. Around here you can't find one of these for less than $5k and Subarus are even more expensive.

IMHO, most of the issues with European luxury cars come down to deferred maintenance and people not understanding that luxury cars are expensive to maintain. If you buy what (in my case) was a $65k car when in was new, don't be surprised that the maintenance is proportionally high....

[EwoutSchalkwijk]

Not recognizable at all. I have currently 3 XC70 D5 on my lawn and the 'newest' has 'only' 330.000 km's on the clock. Running fine as they are and not at all so bad interior wise as yours. Man that car looks like it had an T-Rex as an owner, eating the seats....

[henry]

well the fact that you bought it for 500$ might have something to say about it’s quality, i got one for 2, 500 and with 200, 000 miles and it’s still going strong

[melviin]

have a Volvo xc70 D5 2007. It is among the best cars I have owned. Holds damn well, would not get rid of the car.

[rango]

I don't know what this guy is talking about. I have 2 V70 an 04 with 350 k still running and 07 that drive like a dream. So far, hadn't experience any of this issues mentioned in this video

[baka]

Got two of these rolling with 300, 000kms and counting. Main issue have been suspension related. These are very reliable and proven vehicles, not your daddy's Land Rover.

[brucehauser]

I have a 280K mile e61 M5 and an 05 V70 D5 (180k miles) in my collection, the Volvo puts the BMW to shame, big time and is arguably more enjoyable to drive! - I love the M5's V10 but I worry every time I floor it (have done since it was brand new) the D5 is just bombproof and arguably the more enjoyable to drive because I don't worry about the Volvo breaking, which it hasn't.

I could buy a house in what the M5 has cost me in maintenance over the years, the V70, a large shed at best. Says it all.

You underestimate these fine machines sir.

[JJRamirezP]

Remember Pal, Volvo is for smart people. Volvo4Life!

[jonathancano.]

I have a 2004 Volvo XC70 and I love it it does everything I need it to do. I tow with it and I take it off-roading I just hit 280, 000 and still running strong and I never broke the bank or wallet.

[alicebrennan]

2006 Volvo XC70. 252, 000 miles and runs like a top. Best car I've ever owned.

[plavins]

I watched your video before I bought my 2001 v70xc a year ago. exact same color like yours. And overall its exactly as you describe. But, its not the cars fault, All of these issues are lack of maintenance. Yes, it requires more of it than maybe other cars. Mine had 316k km on it when I bought it now has 328k km. It was maintained really badly. But it did have few big things done. Like new timing kit, and a new angle box. But since Im a mechanic myself I thought why not. Since I bought it it has, all new sachs shocks all around, all brakes, drive shaft cv joint, vvt actuator, TCV valve, o2 sensor, PCV done. Replaced the original nasty seats for heated memory leather seats with matching door trims. And lots of different bits. If had to do all of this at a shop I would have never afford this. But I see it this way. I bought the car cheap. Even If I bought a more expensive xc, the chances are I would have still done half of these jobs. The interior was 40$.

So yeah, this is a great car for those who will fix it themselves.

But other than that the car is superb. I love the ride and the seats, engine delivers good power for everyday needs. Quite good fuel economy, Acceleration. Good ground clearance, spacious and practial cargo area. Im actually stunned by the offroad performance. I mean, you wouldnt do mudding in a swamp, but for everyday use in the winter, on muddy forest roads, just perfect.

And winter brings me to the biggest plus. It doesnt rust, I mean, its a 23 year old car, sure it has some small surface rust here and there, but its nothing compared to a subaru, toyota, ford or mercedes from the same year.

Practical, powerful awd wagon that doesnt rust and can be fixed in your driveway if you know what youre doing. Sounds good to me.