Volvo V70 road tests and consumer car reviews

Volvo V70 2.5d auto 1999

I’ve had this car from 2007, before hand I also used it as a pool car. I’m only 28 and needed to buy a good estate car for work. I’ve put around 150,00 mile on it myself and in one year put 80,000 of that mileage on it, the car in total has now done 250,000 miles. Its the 2.5d auto (mid trim level). Its been driven in the floods in Gloucestershire and the white out over the last two years, as well as up and down the UK and it’s never missed a beat. It’s helped me move house 3 times and I’ve done up two houses with it. I’ve used it for work (carrying productions team around the uk with equipment) and slept in it at festivels too. It still does 45mpg. I’ve had to replace one or two parts on it over the years and I think the air cons is on its way out....I can live with that though. If you drive it hard it eats front tyers and I have randomly had to change the head lights on it (but I think that’s a common fault). I found this site by chance as I’m actually look for a way to clean the turbo on it and I just wanted to say it’s an amazing car and would recommend it to anyone! One thing I would say is that I do change the oil in it every 5,000 miles as this help not just with the general running of it, but really helps with the life of the turbo, but that is a bit of a given. I’m at a point where I don’t really need a car like this any more and would like to buy an A3, but I just can’t get rid of it, not only because it’s still a good car, but it’s really grown on me (and my partner). It’s a really good car and I would recommend it to anyone.

Volvo V70 D5 SE Premium 2009

Great car to drive if I can deal with the error messages that appear and oil level indicator that tells lies. I have had the car three weeks and have had to take it back 3 times. The garage still are unable to trace the problem. I may well down grade my rating if the problems continue.

Volvo V70 V70 170BHP SE 2001

I own two Volvos with my first one being a 21 year old 740 that without doubt is the most reliable car i ever had, so with some trepidation i bought a V70 2001 about 4 years ago with 100,000 miles on it that had been converted to LPG, so with Volvo being owned by Ford and many parts on the V70 from Ford I was expecting Ford reliability, but to my genuine surprise with the car now having covered 151,000 this is not the case. The good bits first; the auto gear box is bullet proof comes from Aisin-Warner in Japan and simply a very tough box, the engine also very tough I have the 170bhp variant keep giving it regular synthetic oil changes and has not let me down. The bad bits are; the V70 mk2 has relatively soft bushes on the suspension points and as with many V70 my two front wishbones have been replaced due to bush wear, also to drop links need to be done, back tyres are now showing wear on the inside which is a common problem as the inner rear suspension bushes start to wear, also have a small leak in the A/C the needs topped up every summer. One other problem to note is the hand brake shoes, as with many automatics the handbrake tends not to be used much and Volvo decided to use a inferior brake shoe which over time the friction material comes away from the metal due to inferior glue, as a result the pad coming away gets logged between the drum and the other shoes and can cause catastrophic failure to the whole hub. I had this happen on one side at around 129,000 luckily I stopped as soon as I felt a shudder, when I took the drum off I found disintegrated brake shoe but luckily no major damage. I checked the other handbrake shoes to find the friction material was about to come away, so if you have a V70 Mr2 and the handbrake shoes have never been checked do so as the cost to replace the whole hub can be very costly. As to day to day living you would think this big car would be good for a family of five but the very poor rear leg room and not that roomy rear seats has led to many fights with my three sons in the back. It has got so bad that when we have to go on long trips we take the 7 seater 740 also LPG for the longer trips, so if you have three younger kids look for the 7 seater V70 will make a big difference. As to economy its pretty thirsty around the town on LPG it gets 20mpg but at 0.66 per litre this is equates to about 38mpg for the same cost if on petrol. On petrol you get 22.5mpg in town, on long runs LPG gives 27mpg and about 32mpg on petrol. I forgot to mention one last problem was the drivers heated seat has just recently stopped working, probably a loose connection but if anyone has had this happen and had it fixed let me know what the issue was, I miss that warm bum feeling on a snowy morning.

Volvo V70 d5 se auto 2003

This is my 5th Volvo estate and the best car to date, I include all cars I’ve had as a former car salesman. I still deliver cars for a large rental company, getting the chance to drive many new cars. I have just done a 1600 mile trip ’round Scotland and recorded 54.2 mpg. This the most comfortable car I drive as I suffer with all the pains we old ’uns get. She holds the road like glue and carries most things. Hopfully I will have Volvos ’til they wheel me out in one.

Volvo V70 T5 SE 2001

This is my 3rd volvo, the first was a 760 GLE, which I thought was the best car i ever bought, the second a v70 2litre that was nice but underpowered, the T5 ticks all the boxes, fast comfortable and enjoyable, it runs my old 760 very close, so much so that I am keeping it for another few years, and that is going to cost me £2000 at the dealers to get it all up together, (it’s been stood for 6 months due to illness) simply superb car.

Volvo V70 ESTATE R DESIGN 2009

I have had my volvo estate V70 Diesel 2000 CC for 8 months now and find it fantastic for my disabled 4 wheel scooter in the back. I pull a caravan and don’t notice it on the back travelling at 65 to 70 mph with 37 to 42 mpg. With the leather black and white seats the comfort is great at the age of 65 year old with aches and pains we travelled to Devon with out a stop and after 4 plus hours never felt any aches or pains. We did the same journey in a Vauxhall Astra Sports 2006 model and I spent the next day in bed with a bad back. The only thing I should have had is auto then I could have a sleep when traveling ha, ha, (joking). It is the best car I have purchased, if I could give it a 10 star rating I would have but I could only give 5 stars and after too many cars to list this is the best. I had a bit of a problem with no hand brake but ok now.

Volvo V70 D5 SE Lux 2008

A great car - very comfortable and well equipped, but let down by poor dealer service and low mpg. I would suggest avoiding the D5 and the auto gearbox.

Volvo V70 D5 2008

I am not really in Volvo’s target market being only 30 years old and preferring cars with a lot of get up and go. However I have been amazed by the V70 and can say its the best car I’ve owned to date. My reason for getting one was two rather large dogs (mine). It is a very confortable cruiser be it at 75mph where you get 40mpg, to a lot higher speeds should you want to use them. Like someone said before if you drive "enthusiastically" you will really have to try to get less than 32mpg. The seats are superb highly supportive and very comfortable. The fit and standard of kit is also excellent. The stereo is the best standard fit I’ve ever seen. Performance wise I would def go for the D5 or the T6 if you want any sort of decent performance feel. If your not bothered about this then by all means the other cars are worth it, but I feel somewhat underpowered. The D5 is mostly about straight line speed, through the corners its not bad, not lots of body roll but you don’t get the tweaked feel of the German marques. Load space is huge with the seats down, although quite shallow. There are some good built in tweaks like a built in dog guard, and something to stop your shopping moving all over the boot. Ok this car isn’t up there with the 530D in terms of prestige and performance and driving pleasure. That said I got such a ridiculous credit crunch lease deal that I would much rather have 85% of what the BMW is and save £250 p/m This car always makes me smile especially on motorway sliproads, where its performance is often underestimated by some unfortunate rep mobile. It is a bit of a sleeper....enjoy...

Responses to this review

I’ve had the car now for two and a half years and after repeated trips to the dealer to get problems sorted, I have finally changed the car for a year old Volvo XC70 with 13K on the clock. Guess what? Within three weeks of purchase, the car has been back to the dealers twice to get problems sorted and now the trim has started to fall off! Come on Volvo, get your act together! Wish I had purchased an Audi! - Sean Swindells from Mid-Lothian (Edinburghshire)

Volvo V70 1996

My last 3 cars were Volvo’s. My current 940 estate is now 13 years old with 254.000 miles. I have owned it since 1997. I have kept it in top condition by simply replacing whatever it needed. Most major parts are original. I have tried the V70s but they fail for me I am sorry to say and I am giving my car to my daughter who loves driving it particularly as it is automatic. Her children are safe in this car and of course have known it for years. For me the 940 was the last true Volvo so I am forced to look elsewhere and I will probably move over to the Ford’s. As you see I don’t agree with your statement that the V70 is the best wagon Volvo has ever built.

Responses to this review

I also have the 940 turbo estate. I bought it in 1997 and like the previous review have simply replaced parts as they failed or required renewing "tyres/brakes etc". It is in excellent condition though the sun roof started leaking some months back but is probably better for never being garaged. At 287,000 miles it runs and cruises almost as good as new. Its value on the market is somewhere between £500 and £1000 yet to me it is worth a great deal more. What can I replace it with? I tried the V70 some time back and it felt a lightweight after the 940. I have ruled out Mercedes and BMW estates as being grossly over-priced and expensive to service. Like your previous reviewer, if and when I finally part company with the 940 I simply cannot see another estate to match it. I’m like him, after owning mine for close on 14 years, it must be classed as the best all round estate ever made - Geoff Jones from Kent

Volvo V70 D5 Geartronic 2008

Does everything remarkably well. Great long distance cruiser. Good economy. Quick and comfortable. Don’t let the badge put you off! This is a serious piece of metal.

Volvo V70 D5 SE Lux 2008

I can’t understand the previous guys statement about the car being unstable (!) - he must work for BMW/Audi/Merc as Volvo don’t make "unstable" cars. Safety is their middle name. Anyway let me share my thoughts. 1st of all I should point out that my last car was a 2006 BMW M3 Cabriolet and prior to that I flirted with an Audi A4 1.8t Cabriolet (plus I’ve owned MX5’s and other cabriolets). I was very very sceptical about spending my hard earned cash on a top of the range Volvo as I’m not exactly in what i would call Volvo’s demographic (I’m not retired/over 50 or what you would call sensible). Having owned and driven many thousands of miles in the usual German crop of sports cabriolets I’d convinced myself that their typically hard ride, high fuel consumption and ridiculous running/servicing costs of these cars was normal and acceptable. Having owned my D5 SE Lux spec C70 now for 3 months and racking up 4k miles all I can say is that you really can have your cake and eat it - the car will manage 35-40mpg to the gallon (never less than 32 even when driven like you’ve stolen it) it also has THE best seats I’ve ever parked my backside on and has a stereo thats so audiophile perfect you’d think you were listening to the artist live. Couple all this with the fact it’s got a folding hard roof, looks a million dollars and doesn’t come with the cabrio BMW/Audi/Mercedes stigma and you have a winner. Take my word for it having spent far too much money on cars in the past. The C70 is the best looking, most comfortable, most economical, best riding, best equipped 4 seater cabrio available.

Volvo V70 C70 T5 SE 2006

Had the car 6 months now, and its great. Ours has 17" wheels, and doesn’t tramline at all (we had a BMW that did!), so it does not appear to happen to all cars. Most annoying thing would be when the windows wind down, any water on the roof falls on you. Radio is superb.

Volvo V70 2.0 SE 2007

I’ve had my V70 for 6 months now and I’m very pleased indeed with it’s performance. It’s everything you would expect of a Volvo, solid, safe and reliable but I think it’s anything but boring. There are not many cars that I have driven that I would give 5 stars to but this one really does deserve the highest praise.

Volvo V70 V70 2.4D 2008

I’m delighted with my new V70. The fit and finish puts many more expensive cars to shame. The 2.4D is economical, yet has more than enough, smoothly delivered, power to cruise at 80-90mph. It’s no "hot hatch" in handling terms, but, then again, why should it be....

Volvo V70 d5 s geartronic 2003

Great economy, great performance, enough toys, quiet enough for 500 mile days, inoffensive Bad points, poor turning circle, poor rear legroom, low height of tailgate when open (I’m only 5’8") slightly soggy handling (I should have paid more for the sports suspension) This is my fourth Volvo estate, I’m looking for another because I can’t find anything that does the job better at a sensible price.

Volvo V70 2.5 T 2007

Everything you expect from a Volvo, practical, safe and spacious but not exciting.

Volvo V70 2.4D5 SE Sport 5dr 2007

I am very pleased that I chose this Estate. It has very comfortable and supportive seats, which my wife finds very comfortable as she has a bad back. It is a lovely car to drive and once you get used to there being no handbrake (you find yourself grabbing for it and finding thin air, which can be disconcerting at first) you soon get used to the fact it’s electronic. Very spacious and of course it’s a very safe car to be in. Very well designed all round.