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I am a little bit unclear on what the difference is between the XC 70 and the regulat V70. I know that XC stands for Cross country, but what did they change?
Than you. That shop is about 40 to 50 miles away, but that is not bad for Michigan standards. Here we drive 30 miles for a good meal. Some people have said that vilvos are really Fords made in Belgium. Can a ford dealer service a volvo and get parts?
You're welcome. It's not that bad of a trek by Michigan standards to get out there, though my friend said it was a bit of a hike for their family and she a little further up the river. But, for a complicated Volvo issue, they're pretty decent to the best of her recollection.
The XC has the AWD standard, and had skid plates underneath and slightly higher ground clearance. The V70 is the same wagon without AWD and skid plates. The XCs are generally higher trim levels, since few people would have ordered a base with the AWD, opting for leather interiors, which are pretty much par for the course with a modern Volvo. One has to search to find the cloth in many markets, since most sold here are well appointed to reinforce the luxury element.
An FWD V70 with traction control will do very well in inclement weather, so don't let that deter you from the V70, especially if you have other vehicles for very heavy snow. The AWD offers more ground clearance and an extra edge in handling in the worst of wet conditions, but I have driven both in heavy rain/snow and didn't notice too many issues. It's not a vast difference between the two in terms of holding the road, since properly equipped with a set of snow tires as opposed to the all-season, the V70 with traction does well. It's on streets with heavy snow cover where the AWD is extremely helpful, especially parking out of doors and such, were it's able to pull itself out of the snow as opposed to needing more of it shoveled out of the way.
As for a Ford dealer being able to fix a Volvo, I have not heard of that being the case with any that I know of, but we have a good number of Volvo dealers on the East Coast. I think that a regular garage could fix most issues with the wagon, and the specialist for a pre-purchase inspection and/or a complex issue.
EDIT: I'd also pick up a shop manual to have to bring to your trusted mechanic, or for issues that you can fix yourself. I don't work on my own vehicles, so I rely on experts for maintenance/repairs, but the shop manual can be helpful in either case.
Getting stuck in the snow is more about the driver than the car.
Yes and we have very bad drivers on our hands. I want to give them every advantage that I can.
I do not thnk that I could have gotten my truck stuck if I tried. I put it through some very difficult mud, snow water and ice and never even swerved. I did have to rock it a bit once, but that was in mud not snow. Our clay front yard is at least as slippery as snow.
If the AWD VOlvo has reliability problems and I gowith FWD instead, is there any reason not to drop back to an 850 rather than a V70? The 850s are a lot cheaper.
The V70 is a freshened 850. It's the same drivetrain and slightly different interior appointments. The 850 debuted the side impact airbags and other safety appointments on the FWD Volvo wagons, and is well engineered. The 960/V90 was rear drive and larger, with the 6-cylinder engine.
The 98 70 series is an 850, they are almost identical except for slight exterior and interior tweaks. The 99 and 2000 are newer slightly redesigned cars however they share similar components. The big difference between the 98 70 and 99-2000 is they have an electronic throttle module (ETM). These are life limited to about 10 years and Volvo has warrantied them (by lawsuit) for 10 years. So if you buy a car with the old ETM in it you are SOL after 10 years. Around $1k at Volvo to replace but there is an aftermarket one now being made available for around $600 that is non-contactable and should last the life of the car.
If you can find a cherry 850 go for it, however I would hate for you to get one and have problems because I recommended it! The 850's are probably too old and most that are getting sold these days are complete crap, I know as I have been looking. Plan to spend around $800-$1000 after purchase to get it in tip-top shape doing things like the PCV system, tune-up, coolant and tranny changes, etc. Personally I have a 95 850 and would prefer a 98 S/V 70 for my wife over another 850. I think I mentioned before I missed a 73k mile 98 V70 by about 5 minutes, it was gone from the dealer within 12 hours of being posted. I don't want a 99-2000 for the ETM issues. But they are still good cars. We can afford much more but I don't care, I want an older reliable car that I can fix myself. But I also want it to be luxurious and drive well. Volvos hit all of those points.
EDIT: I'd also pick up a shop manual to have to bring to your trusted mechanic, or for issues that you can fix yourself. I don't work on my own vehicles, so I rely on experts for maintenance/repairs, but the shop manual can be helpful in either case.
Forget about the shop manual- the only one on the market (for the 70 series) is from Haynes and it's pretty worthless. It's more a general maintenance manual instead of "shop manual". It was also printed for the UK. So a lot of the pictures show a right hand drive- which can be aggravating when left and right are used in descriptions. There are supposed CD's out there that are from the factory that authorized mechanics used- but a lot of them are bootleg copies that don't work.
There is a free shop manual for the 850 series available in PDF format on www.matthewsvolvosite.com for free. Since the 98 70 series is essentially an 850 it covers it.
Can you still get Chiltons? I cannot find them. Only Haynes which are pretty useless.
I think that a large part of the business went away from printed manuals, though they still have those, and went to DVD or CD. Here are a couple of links that do sell the Chilton's manuals.
Last edited by bmwguydc; 06-10-2009 at 09:38 AM..
Reason: links
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