Being without my own Volvo and as part of quite a rare occasion I had chance to clean a newer Volvo today. The reason I say rare is because it's usually in use somewhere in or out of the Essex area. This means it rarely gets cleaned, until today that is. I'm not going to lie there were several points when I felt the "why did I bother starting this". The bug splats were well and truly baked on and the wheels were a mess with brake dust. There's a lot to be said to those who think cleaning a car regularly is a time wasting event. Fortunately, despite not being cleaned for around 5 months there doesn't appear to be any paintwork damage and once I'd removed the mud, dust and sawdust from the interior that also came up very well. Unfortunately I didn't get any before shots but did manage to get a couple of after shots.

Having cleaned and driven the car I have to say these phase 3 V70's are a lovely car, some really nice styling lines and design to them. Also with this one being the 205 hp D5 in R design spec means it boasts a stiffer and lower suspension set up with a stiffer steering setup and also it's variable rate dependant on speed... It's also got a very nice soft leather seat trim and blue anodised clocks so being inside looking out is as nice as being outside looking in. The twin turbo 5 pot diesel is audible, but in a nice way, and it's fair to say it's got a nice turn of speed with very useable low down acceleration, and for a standard car, which at a guess must weigh around 17-1800kgs it handles and stops well to.

Oh and the wheel colour was my idea, they were originally silver...