Volvo V70/S70 (1996 – 2000) Review

Volvo V70/S70 (1996 – 2000) At A Glance

Solidly built saloon and estate with tidy handling. T5s are real flyers, TDIs strong and economical. Owners rate them.

Front tyre wear can be heavy. Estates are practical but don't have the load capacity of previous big Volvo load-carriers.

Model History

• January 0001

Driving Volvo V70/S70 (1996 – 2000)

Technobabble alert. To pitch its 300bhp Type Rs against Audis 340bhp S4, BMWs 343bhp M3, Mercedes 354bhp C32 AMG and Mercedes forthcoming 371bhp C55AMG, Volvo had to come up with a better way of getting its power to the road. 

Volvo calls it Four C active chassis technology. The four Cs stand for Continuously Controlled Chassis Concept. But rather than continue with all this gobbledgook Ill try and explain it in language we can all understand. 

The car is four-wheel drive with a Haldex centre clutch, like an Audi Quattro. It has ABS with Emergency Brake Assist and Dynamic Stability Traction Control, like a Mercedes. But what makes it different from anything else is the way the systems are linked, are controlled and are also individually controllable. 

The system always compensates for load; prevents bottoming; stops wheel-hop on washboard surfaces; prevents front-end dive and rear-end squat on braking and acceleration; calculates the optimum damping needed according to the speed the steering wheel is being turned; and minimises both understeer and oversteer (the tendencies for a car to plough straight on or for the rear-end to slide sideways). 

Using three buttons at the top of the dash the driver can select Comfort, Sport or Advanced chassis settings. Volvo reckons Comfort equates to the ride comfort of a normal car, Sport to a sports car, and Advanced to a competition car. 

As well as that, the driver can play with the DSTC button. One firm, push partially disables the DSTC system, allowing some oversteer and wheelspin; five firm pushes while stationary completely disables the system. 

So does it all work? 

First we had the car out on a fairly tight handling circuit, trying it in Comfort, Sport and Advanced modes. Basically, in Comfort, you get normal body roll and all that brings with it; in Advanced you get virtually no roll; and Sport is a compromise in-between. Next we tried it on a slalom in Comfort and Advanced. In Advanced the car is much more precisely controllable and can be taken through the cones at higher speeds safely. From the back seat. it feels like a giant hand has come down from the sky and is preventing the car from oversteering like a child holding a Dinky toy. Next, a washboard surface, for which everyone will switch to Comfort if they dont want to rattle their bones. 

On, then, to check out the DSTC on a watersprayed tiled surface which is as slippery as sheet ice. With the DSTC partially disabled you get wheelspin; with it enabled you dont. Try to brake with it disabled and you sail straight on. Try to brake with it enabled and you stop. You can even steer while braking and, though the body will move at the back, it refuses to spin. 

Penultimate test: following a racing driver around a high speed track at up to 110mph with the Four-C system set to Advanced and the DSTC partially disabled. Good, safe and confidence-inspiring fun. A bad driver rapidly thinks he can drive a lot faster than he would do normally because the car looks after him so well. By the third lap hes happily four-wheel drifting at 80mph and taking a quick chicane at over 100mph. Yes, the car is extremely capable. It gets its power down very well indeed, which is exactly what the engineers intended. 

Final test, though, was the road and oh, dear, Comfort isnt. You still feel every ridge, pothole and cats eye. Youre not jogged around by them as you are in Advanced and youre not in any discomfort but each one sends a shockwave through the car. At least it does with the standard 18 wheels and 235/40 Pirelli P-Zero Rosso tyres. Fully aware of this, Volvo offers as a no cost option 17 wheels with 235/45 P-Zero Rossos and for 
road use these have to be the tyres of choice. 

Then. when a good road with great sight-lines opens up in front of you, you might find yourself pressing Advanced and the DSTC button once. 

Surprisingly, sports high performance salons and estates dont sell in the numbers youd imagine. Just 3,500 S4s, S6s, RS6s, M3s and C32s in total, with the M3 and M3 convertible taking the lions share. 

Volvo reckons on shifting a mere 400 S60Rs and 400 V70Rs in the remainder of 2003, then 350 of each next year. Since its already taken orders for 198 S60Rs and 179 V70Rs, meeting the targets wont be a problem. Just watch out for any parked at the roadside containing two men wearing peaked caps.

Volvo V70/S70 (1996 – 2000) Buying Guide

Good

Original S70 earned Three-Star NCAP crash test rating. Late 1999 mods earned Four-Star NCAP rating.

Rock-solid build quality. Good, predictable, safe handling.

Volvo self-help site: www.brickboard.com

Bad

Estates are only commodious if you load them to the roof. 

Hard ride and sharper steering came as a shock to old-school, traditional Volvo owners. 

Front tyre wear of TDI, T5 and T5R can be severe: manuals 6,000-8,000 miles; autos 12,000-14,000 miles. 

Serious reliability problems reported by ADAC (the German breakdown organisation) in its 2001 report.

Watch

Kerb-damaged front suspension and front driveshafts. 

Front tyre wear. 

Retrimmed, clocked ex-police cars. 

Make sure aircon blows freezing cold. Spate of aircon evaporator failures at 2 to 4 years old. £1,000 job to put right. Problem with a/c pump clutch with either fails to engage or can seize altogether, throwing off the drive belt which might then become entangled in the timing belt. Volvo does a kit with varying thickness clutch plates to repair this, which costs £170, but the job is difficult and knuckle-scraping. More on the bulletin board at www.volvoclub.org.uk 

TDI timing belt drives water pump and, if water pump fails, so does belt. Have also been repeated problems of timing belt tensioners failing and throwing off the belt. 
Replace timing belt, tensioner and water pump of TDI at 60k max. 

A low revs misfire graduating to misfire at higher revs may be caused by a slightly perished distributor end camsaft end seal sending a very fine spray of oil into the distributor, maming it pre-ignite and causing the misfire. 

Electronic Throttle Module on petrol models can pack up leaving the engine in limp home mode. ECU upgrade available that may cure it. If not, car needs a new £650 ETM. 

Complaints of failed heater matrixes and early front wheel bearing failure. 

Starting problems can often be cured by a new 'antenna ring', costing £27, on the receiver for the signals from the remote key.

25-10-2011: Timing belt tensioner of 2.5 litre Volvo engine can fail in as little as 50,000 miles, flinging off the belt and wrecking the engine, then landing the owner with a £6,000 bill.

Recalls

1997 (1996 and 1997 model years): check for sticking throttle.

1997 (19,400 TDI models built 1995 and 1996): TSB to Volvo dealers worldwide warning of leak in rubber hose from brake vacuum pump to servo could cause loss of brake servo assistance. Many cars were never checked for this.

(unspecified date): Recall of TDIs to replace timing belt tensioner.

2000: S70 & V70 1997 and 1998 model years: side airbags may inflate for no reason. Headlamps may fail. 2001: TDI brake vacuum pipe problem made subject of a safety recall in the UK affecting 1,300 UK imports.

11-7-2002: 1,042 Volvo Towbar kits recalled because tow ball can prematurely detach itself from rest of assembly. All towbars to be modified, then replaced at a later date once supplies are available.

10/1/2003: Under certain conditions the detachable towbar may work loose resulting in the bar becoming detached from the car. Replace the tow ball and housing with a calibrated unit.

September 2004: Worldwide recall of 500,000 S60s, V70s, XC70s and S80s built 1999 - 2001 because radiator fan could overheat and start and engine compartment fire.