Minuit's Hus of Volvo

[Pete M]

apparently they are addictive too   

[Minuit]

OK, time to expand a little...

 

 

This (somewhat sooner than planned) acquisition is the result of a few things all happening at about the same time. In my opinion, my parents deserve a nicer, safer car than what they have now (a base model ex-fleet Impala that I found out has had the side airbags deleted and a 20 year old Northstar Cadillac), and something that that could trust to go on day trips, which they really can't in either of their current cars. The S60 has given me 20,000 miles of faultless service, and I'd change the oil and drive across the country in it today. I've also gotten my feet planted in my new job, and my mental state, bank account, and everything else is better for it. I'm busy, but I wouldn't go back for a second.

 

Finished in Electric Silver Metallic, this S80 is a one-owner, almost fully-loaded car with an almost perfect service history and signs that it was truly loved by its original owners. Anyway, that means it's a T6, and in pre-4-cylinder Volvo speak, that means a 3.0L turbocharged inline 6 good for 300 horsepower and 325 ft-lb of torque, all wheel drive, and a 6 speed automatic.

 

The S80 is not exactly a common car, especially if you're as picky about condition and options as me. Tennessee isn't exactly Volvo Country to begin with, and not many of those that we have are 2012 or newer (much improved infotainment and dashboard), most of those aren't T6s (the alternative is a "blah" 3.2L non-turbo inline 6), most of those don't have the Platinum trim level (which gets you the excellent 625W premium sound system, a backup camera, and some other stuff), most of those don't have the Technology package (adaptive cruise control with automatic braking, xenon headlights, and some other stuff), and most of those that do either have no service history or are white.

 

The way I see it is this: Before the S60 everything I drove was either a Comanche or old and ratty, sometimes both. The S60 was my first nice car. This is my first nice car. With the S60 I proved I didn't need to fear the extra maintenance requirements of a European car. Now it's time for one with all of the bells and whistles. Plus, it looks good in my spot at work.

 

 

So, I went to Georgia for the S60. How far did I have to go to find this one?

 

A suburb of Cincinnatti! This made me concerned about corrosion, and while I haven't put the car on jackstands yet, sticking my head underneath has thus far revealed nothing to be concerned about. I haven't seen a bit of corrosion on the entire car, so I don't think this car actually saw Ohio winters. There's a handful of exterior scratches, and all seem to have been immediately touched up. Waking up at 3:30, picking up my usual road trip buddy at 5:30, arriving at around noon, spending several hours doing paperwork, and not getting home until nearly midnight made for a brutal Saturday, but when you're looking for a very particular sort of car, it's just part of the hunt.

 

I also found the original dealership brochure in the glove box, where they circled the wheels they wanted:

I probably would've gone for the ones on the right, but judging by the seat memory settings, the first owner was a little old lady.

 

You might think that a 4,000 lb (DAMN!) car with a 300 horsepower 6-cylinder engine would get terrible gas mileage. So did I:

I have so far averaged 27.5 mpg in 75/25 highway/city driving, which is nearly what I get in the smaller, slower S60.

 

Thus far I have not been able to pinpoint anything I don't like about this car. I also can't think of anything I need to fix on this car. The S60 needed about $1000 worth of repairs and maintenance including a timing belt before I felt good about it. On this, a VIDA scan reveals a dead battery (revealed by a bunch of weird codes being set in almost every module at the same time) in 2017, some miscellaneous stuff further back, and not a single current active code. It's going to be time for the 100,000 mile service soon, which according to the Volvo schedule is just an oil change and air filter replacement. This car, in a revolutionary twist, came with paperwork proving that all of the services were done on time, but since I'm me, I've decided on the following:

 

- Oil change (8 QUARTS!)

- Air filter replacement

- Cabin air filter replacement (This also has the fancy activated charcoal multi-layer filter system, a must for someone with seasonal allergies as bad as mine)

- Full AWD system service: transmission fluid change, transfer case fluid change, active coupling motor cleaning, rear differential fluid change. Not part of regular maintenance schedule, but "sealed for life" is bull$#!&. I'll also take the opportunity to reset the transmission adaptation.

- New wiper blades. I don't know what happened to make the current blades make the windshield dirtier every time they wipe. But damn.

- New hood and trunk struts. The hood struts still have some life left, the trunk struts are borderline.

- Tires are General Altimax RT43s. Not a bad tire, but these are 6 years old, worn down to about 35% tread, and noisy. Gotta fix that.

- A trip to the dealer to have the navigation maps updated to the newest version, as the current maps are from 2014.

 

So, since there's nothing I really need to do to this car, and even the maintenance items I have planned might be going overboard just a little bit, I have to do something, right?

 

Allow me to introduce you to the line of Genuine Volvo Accessories!

 

European S60s had this fantastic looking spoiler as an accessory, but in my opinion it looks just as good on the S80. The real question, is am I brave enough to drill into my trunk?

 

It has the rear camera, but I'd really like to add the front camera. Pretty spendy, though.

 

One downside of this generation of Volvo is the leather dye - it tends to prematurely wear. The leather itself is plenty durable, but the dye comes off. The driver seat on this car is showing some bare leather, and so is the steering wheel. Here's the fix to the steering wheel part. Also pretty spendy, but I've heard that the R-design steering wheel feels great.

 

 

I'm gonna be honest, I'm not 100% in love with the wheels. I don't exactly dislike them, but two of them have curb rash, and I'm going to need tires relatively soon. Volvo offers no less than 17 styles of 18" wheel (and several 19" and 17" options, but I'm staying with the original size) that will fit this car, and some of them I really like.

 

 

I'm likewise not totally sold on the genuine wood interior trim. From the factory, US spec cars normally came with non-wood trim only if they had the sport package, but the dealer would happily sell you a kit of interior trim in several different patterns. Not all of these are available, but I think the "sanded silver" shown below, found typically on the extremely rare Sport package, looks particularly nice:

 

Anyway, that's about it for right now. I own two Volvos now. I owe money on one, and I'm still trying to get used to that.

[Gojira94]

We have THREE Volvos...

 

2005 V50 2.4i - wife found for oldest daughter's first car; I did timing belt service kit, struts/ upper bearings, oil breather/PCV unit, tires, interior leather recondition, engine mounts, rear sway bar links, overhead interior lights unit, vanity lamps wiring repair. It has the exterior fuel pump control module, that went a few months ago; found one at LKQ for 29.00. Good car, reliable.

 

2008 V50 T5 - I found this one on Craigslist with a broken t-belt; 110k miles. Got it for 1,100.00 Guy and his mother went to Sweden and bought it and had it shipped back (that was a thing apparently, then). 530.00 for head work including all new valves/ guides/ seats/ light resurface/ pressure test. Pistons that got hit only had light kisses. 155.00 top end bolt & gasket kit. Tow was like 125.00. I recall that for < 2000.00 all in minus tires, it was back on the road. I did an interior restoration so it would be perfect and prepared to put a sign on it for 6500.00... until my oldest daughter saw it and wanted it. Since my middle daughter now also needed a car, I gave her (oldest) this one and middle kid got the 2005 2.4i.

 

2010 XC70 - wife's car. She calls it "Sharky" because of the fin antenna. bought at private sale for 11,000.00 with 62k miles on the clock. She's driven through 2 additional sets of tires and 2 all-around sets of brakes.

 

Ironic my first car was a '74 Volvo wagon (thanks ma!). Now I'm maintaining 3 Swedish wagons lolol.

 

The 2008-12 P1 (C30, C70, S40, V50) platform shares the turbo B5254T7 that's in your model year S60. Very fun engine. Your S60 is a beauty. I've always wanted a white car, never had one lol. The 80 is top notch classy. My compliments.