T5 and R cars - common faults? Opinions?

Right guys,

More than likely going to be parting ways with my S60R soon because i'm fed up with the problems.

IF i decide to stay Volvo, then it'll be an S70/V70 T5 or R model.

Could you guys list the common faults so I know what to watch out for? And also give me your HONEST opinion on whether or not to buy one.

My criteria is:


1. Must look decent (but I love the old school box looks anyway).

2. Must be nippy, not after a space rocket, but I like poke.

3. MUST MUST MUST be able to get in this car and it start and drive as it should 99% of the time. I don't expect a 12 year old car to be faultless, but there's too many decent reliable cars out there for me to waste more time and money on an unreliable daily driver.


I'm aware you can pick up the T5's for approx 1500 and the R's for a few grand when they come up for sale. Don't really want AWD again if i'm honest.

Opinions? Thoughts?

Thanks :)

The damn ETMs fail often!

Did you read the buyers guide on here already?

I'll probably get jumped-on for mentioning this but...
http://www.expolicecar.co.uk/stock_special.asp
There some bargains here and there are many other dealerships around too.

As the ex-owner of a Phase 1 ex-police car - it seemed great at the time, but in hindsight, and knowing what I know now, it was a total heap of ****.

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Originally Posted by Al115

The damn ETMs fail often!

Did you read the buyers guide on here already?

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What's the ETM mate?

...and no, admittedly I hadn't read the buyers guide.

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Originally Posted by martinrpeachey

I'll probably get jumped-on for mentioning this but...
http://www.expolicecar.co.uk/stock_special.asp
There some bargains here and there are many other dealerships around too.

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Do they sell P1 ex police cars?

I thought by now they would only be selling the later P2 stuff, which I shall not be buying again :)

a common problem with S/V70's is there not as fast as 850's :)

ETM is the electric throttle module, ME7 (99-) cars use fly-by-wire & have known problems with the unit

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Originally Posted by p fandango

a common problem with S/V70's is there not as fast as 850's :)

ETM is the electric throttle module, ME7 (99-) cars use fly-by-wire & have known problems with the unit

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Lol this made me giggle!

I'm sure it's true, unfortunately almost every manual 850 T5 has been round the world three times, even the T5R and R models usually have sky high miles :(

So is the ETM a cheap fix?

What's the symptoms? Involuntary traffic light launches? :)

Do the S/V70 before '99 have a cable throttle then? Would these be a better choice?


Thanks

ETM would fail making pottering about around town very difficult. They were replaced around 2001/2002 with a bosch unit if I recall. Post 2004 models are excellent but as previously posted, not as quick. After a bit of work and a new DIM mine is luurrvely ;) and looking forward to impending remap...

How about chopping the S60r against a later S60 2.4 T5?

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Originally Posted by Leeds_finest

So is the ETM a cheap fix?

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NO. £500 or so. There's a thread on here (that I wrote) about the fix, if you search (I sound like a broken record!)

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Originally Posted by Leeds_finest

What's the symptoms? Involuntary traffic light launches? :)

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The car becomes pretty much undriveable... locked into limp-home mode. Can sometimes be temporarily fixed by tirmomg car off and on... often not.

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Originally Posted by Leeds_finest

Do the S/V70 before '99 have a cable throttle then? Would these be a better choice?

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Yes if you are looking for reliability (and they are easier to tune too).

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Originally Posted by Santa

How about chopping the S60r against a later S60 2.4 T5?

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That is a good plan!

I still rate the earlier cars as more reliable, plus cheaper to run and cheaper to tune, though - so they might tick the box.

Leeds - suggest you meet up with someone who has a nicely tuned P1 and go for a drive...?

The more electrical fitments you have in a car or anything else(white goods) the more problems you are likely to have.
There is nothing wrong with the phase 2 R's but some people will no doubt disagree!
Buying an older car could turn out to be a bigger moneypit and not as refined as you already have.It could also be a total waste of money.
Get your motor sorted and enjoy it

you can get a t5 for £500 upwards and an "R" for £1100 upwards mate. if it was me i would get a low mileage (under 130000) 850r manual saloon as these are the best specced 850's. or a nice mint s70r manual

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Originally Posted by Jimmie

There is nothing wrong with the phase 2 R's but some people will no doubt disagree!

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They have more "white goods" - so go wrong more often I think! Nothing more than that.

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Originally Posted by Jimmie

Buying an older car could turn out to be a bigger moneypit and not as refined as you already have.It could also be a total waste of money.
Get your motor sorted and enjoy it

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There's not an awful lot to go wrong on the older cars, to be honest - basic maintenance with the spanners can fix most things, as opposed to having to go to the dealer for "software" all the time (which is a scam if ever I heard it!!!)

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Originally Posted by Al115

There's not an awful lot to go wrong on the older cars, to be honest - basic maintenance with the spanners can fix most things, as opposed to having to go to the dealer for "software" all the time (which is a scam if ever I heard it!!!)

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Old cars can often cost more money and time than there worth unless you want to work on them yourselfand know what your doing.Been there done that and bought the tee shirt many moons ago.
Name a top of the range motor that doesn't have dealer software issues now and then,Rs are no worse than others?:duck:

Yep - was assuming that he'd fix mechanical stuff himself, it's true.

And I wasn't bashing Volvo more than any other marque about the software - it's a common issue these days sadly.

When it comes to refinement the older cars are a bit behind the later s60s, but can't be that bad as i was looking at S60T5s and ended up getting an S70R. lol

If you do decide to go for an older car, i'll be selling my s70r soon (after i'v put it through another mot).

Although mines an auto, its a decent enough car.

Personnally though, i'd find it a bit difficult going from an S60R to an 850 or S/V70, just my opinion though.

i think the refinement is all in the mileage of a car if its low it will drive sweet, my 89000 mile 850 drives smooth as silk compared to my 209000 v70

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Originally Posted by t5frankie

i think the refinement is all in the mileage of a car if its low it will drive sweet, my 89000 mile 850 drives smooth as silk compared to my 209000 v70

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Surely part of that is due to the v70 having harder suspension and the fact its running on 19s with tyres so thin it looks like they'v just been painted on. lol

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Originally Posted by LiamT4

Surely part of that is due to the v70 having harder suspension and the fact its running on 19s with tyres so thin it looks like they'v just been painted on. lol

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might be lol it was hard with 17's on though, the s70r was much softer