The new family bus!

[S70T5Chris]

Slight impulse buy! But when Mo wanted to shift his V8 XC90 (previously belonged to Peacey), I saw an opportunity to A: own a car i'd had my eye on for quite some time and B: get the wife into something that would be much more appealing to me than a Zafira!

So after a couple of weeks of driving around in it, the Mrs is used to the size and the gearbox (first time driving an auto), so we can officially get rid of the Poxhall! Woohoo!

It's not going to be much of a project car. It's very well up together. The day before I picked it up it was at Tim's for an MOT (no advisories), services, including gearbox flush, and a once over. It wants for nothing. Mo's done his usual in the 6 months he owned it, and Peacey kept well on top of the maintenance in his ownership.

It's just about as highly spec'd as an XC90 of the year can get, sat nav, phone, PDC, leather, sunroof, factory running boards and roof rails. Also in Peacey's ownership he added a gen Volvo bluetooth kit and Ipod connection. Also, even mental than me(!), he spent £800 odd replacing the speakers with high end Hertz components! The stereo sounds amazing!

After a few days of owning the car I drew up a list (very smal list!) of things that need sorting out!

- Peacey had scrapped the passenger rear door handle and wheel arch (blames his wife, tut tut), so that needed attention (ref; my Chips away rant!). Already done at my local bodyshop last week!
- The Ipod lead needs looking at, the sound only comes through one speaker.
- The front number plate surround is held together with tape. New ones in hand, just need fitting!
- The centre armrest (that removes), falls off if you just breathe on it, so needs some sort of bracket to hold it in place.
- Load cover missing. Peacey still got it, just need to get it from him!
- The big one(!) Mo fitted a powerflow stainless exhaust. Not mental loud, but not my cup of tea, so new cat back from Volvo ordered and being fitted by Tim this week!

All in all, very minor bits and bobs that I've found just to make it 100% spot on.

It is booked in for a valet in a couple of weeks. And my valeter is also going to restore the headlight lenses, as they've faded as they typically do!

It's a fantastic drive, smooth, plenty of grunt at any revs. It's not blisteringly fast, but it is swift when you want it to be. It's just an ideal engine for such a big thing. It's not actually that bad on fuel. The first tank was mixed driving and did 420 miles to 65 litres. It's not actually any worse than our 1.8 petrol Zafira, so far!

So. No modding. Just getting up together, and looking after. Still I thought it was worthy of a thread. Here's a couple of recent pics.

[JUDGENINJA]

Very nice... You've got some proper variety now!

[LiamT4]

From my experiences with v8's, its just town driving that they're poor on. When you're out of stop start traffic they aint that bad, better than what most people think.

Looks great, my type of family car

[Ettienne]

Very nice, Ive been thinking about one for a while as a school run car, but I'd need to sell something first.

Keep the exhaust! I bet it sounds good, should bring to the next vine meet!!

6sp's are a nice box, pretty good in a straight line and cruising around town.

You running it on vpower etc?

[The Flying Moose]

Lovely car Chris and quite a rare beast too I understand?

Have you any interior shots? Does it vary much to a standard XC90?

Bet that sounds lovely on WOT (if a little loud and drony with a powerflow!)

[Ettienne]

I believe about 140 or so in uk.

[stephenevans99]

Very nice.....thought I recognised it too lol

[stribo]

The only XC90 we'd have, loved the ride in the T6, but the gearbox was just crap, even when working properly.

[Ettienne]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rSDtrCxpKKI

This sounds lovely especially the over run (on headphones)

[kmb]

That looks very nice, good spec too.

[S70T5Chris]

Update:

Last weekend Tim came down and fitted a new standard Volvo exhaust. WOW! Just what the doctor ordered! As great as it is to have a beefy sounding V8, the standard exhaust is a huge improvement over the Powerflow stainless Mo had fitted! (sorry Mo, actually no, I'm not sorry, you cost me money boy!) No more drone, no more waking the neighbours up in the morning, bliss! It's sounds and looks so much better!

Went on holiday to sunny Bognor last week with the Mrs and kids, and it was spot on. Beautiful motorway cruiser, mountains of luggage space (even our Zafira struggled for space on occasion), and it used less than a quarter of a tank of fuel to over 100 miles, it's really not bad on fuel on a run.

Today it was professionally valeted inside and out by my new best friend! Not been polished, just a coat of quick detailer after he'd finished the many several washing stages it goes through! He's done a fantastic job, I look forward to getting a coat of polish and wax on it at some point! I also had him restore the headlights as they were very mirky. They are not 100% perfect, but a thousand times better than they were!












Still got a couple of the minor bits and bobs to resolve from my initial list. But it's proving to be a great family bus, and the Mrs loves it! I couldn't be happier with it!

[S70T5Chris]

Not a huge amount to report....

Before Christmas the rear handbrake shoes ££££ themselves, so she had new discs/pad/shoes on the rear. Other than that it's been spot on.

The Mrs is doing a sterling job of filling up the interior and boot with empty CD cases, rubbish, general kids ££££ and female paraphernalia.

The biggest development; I've been on the look out for some new wheels ever since I bought the car. The current ones are a bit curbed, the tyres are winter's, 2 of which are past their best. Ideally 19's or 20's was what I wanted. And finally the holy grail of XC90 wheels came up for auction on eBay, genuine XC90 20" Cratus alloys! I had to have them. Won them on auction for a steal. With the help of Ashok, Redbrick & Ryan, got them picked up and delivered (again, many thanks guys, much appreciated). Refurbished (powder coated) in factory silver and new tyres. Well chuffed, just need the car cleaned now!

[Kizzer]

Good to see this beast is still going, lovely car

[S70T5Chris]

Good to see this beast is still going, lovely car

Yeah the "famous" V8 still going well!

[stribo]

Not a huge amount to report....

Before Christmas the rear handbrake shoes ££££ themselves, so she had new discs/pad/shoes on the rear. Other than that it's been spot on.

The Mrs is doing a sterling job of filling up the interior and boot with empty CD cases, rubbish, general kids ££££ and female paraphernalia.

The biggest development; I've been on the look out for some new wheels ever since I bought the car. The current ones are a bit curbed, the tyres are winter's, 2 of which are past their best. Ideally 19's or 20's was what I wanted. And finally the holy grail of XC90 wheels came up for auction on eBay, genuine XC90 20" Cratus alloys! I had to have them. Won them on auction for a steal. With the help of Ashok, Redbrick & Ryan, got them picked up and delivered (again, many thanks guys, much appreciated). Refurbished (powder coated) in factory silver and new tyres. Well chuffed, just need the car cleaned now!

Looks very nice mate, what are you doing with the old wheels? BTW, that's not dirty:



You really don't want to se the inside of it.

[jimka]

Smart looking motor Chris. You've got the lineup!