Been after something to replace my 1998 Passat TDI with for a while now, was looking at Bora TDIs and Audi A4 TDIs mainly but then came across this and decided to make a bit of a change.
Only picked it up last night so have only driven it about 40 miles so far but pretty happy with it, it's bloody comfy and the engine sounds surprisingly nice for a diesel.
It's a Volvo S60 D5. 5-pot diesel with 163bhp. I plan on getting it remapped as they go to between 190-210bhp depending how far you want to push it, however I've read that you are pretty much guaranteed to pop the intercooler due to the increased boost pressure so I want to find a suitable replacement IC first and fit that.
(http://derby.polog40.co.uk/photos/volvo/volvo.jpeg)
(http://derby.polog40.co.uk/photos/volvo/volvo2.jpeg)
(http://derby.polog40.co.uk/photos/volvo/volvo3.jpeg)
It has a tow bar fitted which is good as once I've sold the passat I plan to use the money to buy a trailer so I can start trailering my polo to track days instead of driving it to them and back (which is a pain in the arse).
Black car with cream leathers. Welcome to the club, you are entitled to 15% off on the new range of slipper/robe combinations at M&S. They are ideal for the winter months.
G40s are nice but not as nice as heated leathers ;D
I even care about mpg these days - you into the 60s?
Looks nice! What sort of mpg do they do?
Just got the Saab back on the road with a rebuilt 'box - going back to a comfy Swedish barge after driving the Polo as a daily for a month is awesome!
What happens to the intercooler? Blow the end tanks off? If so, you could always strap the i/c together rather than having to fanny around fitting something different. If it's owt like the Saab the cooling pack's a tightly packaged affair - with a/c radiator, coolant radiator, intercooler and oil cooler to all fit in.
Fit a couple of dummy mini antennas to it, and take to wearing a fluorescent jacket when driving and see what chaos it causes.
bling bling. they chrome rims?
MPG wise it'll do about 50mpg during a normal motorway drive at 70-80mph which is about the same as my passat. I could get 60mpg+ from my passat if I drove it at 65-70mph on the motorway.
Andy, the IC tends to burst the actual tubes in the core. Can even happen on standard unmapped D5s. The good news is that there does seem to be a reasonable amount of room at the front even with air con & coolant rads (dont think there is a water-to-air oil cooler). Lots of people on volvo forums (yes I've been going on volvo forums :) ) have put aftermarket ICs on, some stupidly expensive off the shelf kits and others just by buying generic ebay ICs and making them fit (which is my preferred option!).
They aren't chrome wheels, I think it's just the odd colouring in those photos that makes them look like that. They are just the sale photos of it (anyone who knows where I live will know it's no where near as nice as the place in those photos which is near Knutsford where I bought it from).
That looks very nice indeed - always have a soft spot for Volvos though.
Lovely combination with the interior and wheels. Spot on!
Nice, bit of a step up from the Passat. Are you going to actually clean this one?
pipe down you!
looks very nice, as you get older a bit of comfort is nice.
how baout posting pictures of the passat then ? ;D
This is my passat about a year/18 months ago. It doesn't have the alloys on it anymore though, back on steels:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117580&id=522466448&l=82e26618bb
Had the passat about 3.5 years, has been a great car but it was time for a change.
i meant now in its dirty condition ha ha
but cheers anyway
oh right, dont have any pics of it right now. basically the same as that but with standard passat 15" steels and some dirt.
Swish! 8)
i always liked the T5 and D5 Volvo's
alot better than my winter bus! i now run a dog shit 206 diesel.....................NON TURBO!
love 65-70 mpg though! dont love that they couldnt even be arsed to change the wipers over from lhd models to rhd!
did you pass before 97 mate? or you gonna do a trailer licence/ have one already?
Pimp in slippers mobile :)
I like it. Wish i had somewhere to store the G40 whilst driving a nice comfy Diesel around.
no was only just 17 in 1997 so didnt pass in time. You can drive up to 3.5 tonnes combined total weight of car & whatever is being towed anyway. Kerb weight of the volvo is 1427kgs, weight of polo is about 750kgs so I can't see any need to do an expensive trailer test.
trailer cant be over 750kgs and has to be single axel and un braked. i only know cos i looked into it as its what i was gonna do.
750kgs for an unbraked trailer but I've not seen anywhere that says you arent allowed to tow a braked trailer without doing a test, where did you read that? The guidelines on direct.gov.uk are very muddy to say the least, it doesn't even seem like police know what the rules are, seems a total grey area that will vary on the mood of a copper who might pull you over.
actually having said that, it is the max authorised weights of both car & trailer so need to figure those out.
yea its the max weight of both vehicles but the trailer including whats on it has to be less than 750kgs, i was gutted when i found it out too, just another way to get money out of people. i asked on that police forum website after looking on direct.gov and it not really telling you the full crack.
but where did you hear that as it doesn't seem to agree with direct.gov.uk or the dvla who both say:
QuoteMotor vehicles with a MAM not exceeding 3500kg having not more than eight passenger seats with a trailer up to 750kg. Combinations of towing vehicles in category B and a trailer, where the MAM of the combination does not exceed 3500kg and the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen mass of the towing vehicle
I believe the max trailer weight of 750kgs only applies when the total weight of car + trailer is more than 3500kgs. The trailer can be any weight as long as the total is not more than 3500kgs and the car is type approved for the weight of the trailer.
As I say, I have heard stories of obvious cases where the rules have gone against people as they are too open to interpretation so it wouldn't surprise me to hear police saying different things (they are only human after all).
also found this:
http://www.stevedavisadi.co.uk/DO%20I%20NEED%20A%20B+E.pdf
obviously it's not an official DVLA/government doc but it confirms the rules as I understand them (I think!!?)
just going of what i was told on the police forum, uk police online i think as i was unsure i thought id ask on there as a few people had told me different things, reading on http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/WhatCanYouDriveAndYourObligations/DG_4022547
i can see where you are coming from so maybe i was told the wrong thing, i just didnt wanna risk anything after being told so many different things from different people!
QuoteExample of category B with a trailer weighing over 750 kg: Motor vehicle with an unladen weight of 1,500 kg and a maximum weight of 2,000 kg towing a fully loaded trailer with a weight of 1,500 kg – total weight 3500.
that makes me belive you can tow but im still unsure as a few police said different!
I guess the only way to be 100% safe is to do the trailer test but it's not cheap.
no thats why i didnt do it! its a rip off and a shit test to do too. oer the top on safty, that steve davis page you just found is interesting though id love it if i could tow a trailer!
I guess the key is finding a trailer with a MAM of not much more than the weight of my polo. I wonder what happens with all those pikey trailers made from old caravan chassis which have no data plates on them?!? Not that I'm considering buying one of them.
How much is the test then? Glad I passed my test in 1996!
An intensive course over a few days is anything between 700 to a grand. Apparently you will need the lessons to pass it, not supposed to be an easy test.
I too am totally confused by the actual law on this as are a few people i know who tow race cars on trailers, if its not clear either way then what are you meant to do? I have looked into this properly and even phoned the DVLA and no-one has been able to give me a clear cut answer. I have had loads of people tell me that you can tow a combined vehicle/trailer of 3500kg with a regular license and others say about this 750kg max gross weight trailer. To be honest most of the people i know dont have a trailer license and as far as i know none of them have been pulled over and or questioned about it. The problem comes when you are pulled over or worse still if you are involved in an accidient senario!
What really fustrates me more than anything though is: if you passed your test before the cut off date, are you a more compentent 'tower' than someone who has passed after this date? NO. For example i passed after '97 but have towed many big trailers (under the 750kg weight obviously). when i got my old man to tow my brain james trailer he struggled as he had never done it before!
the way i understand it is you have to do a trailer test as they wont sell you a car trailer or caravan (new)
until you have the liecence to drive it if you passed your test before 1997
Brian James didn't refuse £2.2k from a friend when he bought his- hire companies will usually ask for proof if train weight is over 3.5ton though.
A good friend completed his trailer test, cost almost £1k all in. If you're post 1997 you must meet the following rules:
Car & towbar type approved for towing 'x'kg
Car able to tow > MAM of trailer
Car + Occupant + MAM of trailer < 3500kg
Basically with a Polo weighing in at 830kg max, you're easily allowed to tow with a 1500kg MAM trailer, using a normal family size saloon (Volvo S60, Audi A4 etc).
In my experience, providing the trailer, the tow car, and what's on the back of the trailer look reasonably good, everything is strapped down, lights working, and you're not being a bell end doing 90mph the police will be fine- I'd say 90% aren't aware of the towing weights/laws.
I am in total agreement with you yoof! I pull my brian james trailer with my renault trafic van which weights 2,200kg (1700kg+500kg) that leaves me 1,300kg for the car and tools and passengers which is plenty. Both the van and trailer are in very clean looking condition, (all lights and a proper number plate) the cars i have transported are always properly strapped down with nothing hanging off etc etc. Basically i dont leave anything to chance and make sure there is no reason to pull me over, after that is just unlucky if you get pulled into a random dvla road-side test somewhere!
QuoteCar + Occupant
it's the MAM of the car not the actual weight of car + person in it.
This plus MAM of trailer has to be less than 3500kgs OR any total weight as long as the trailer is less than 750kgs.
I think you are unlikely to get pulled as long as you aren't clearly towing a massive trailer with a tiny car, the trailer doesn't look pikey and you arent doing anything stupid.
But as far as I'm concerned as long as I get a trailer with a MAM of about 1000kgs then I'm easily OK within the limit.
To be fair, how many massive caravans do you see on the motorway limping along behind a sagging and struggling Rover 25?!
You see no end of small family hatchbacks dragging caravans too heavy for them and I've never seen any of them get pulled over - even when the towing weight's blatantly being exceeded. I reckon as people have said, if it looks sensible and you're driving nicely you're unlikely to get grief.
not long ago I saw a crappy looking mk3 astra with lexus lights broke down in the hard shoulder (bonnet up) which was towing a bit caravan. I made me say el oh el.
Pah, thats nowt. For Uni field work back in '99 me and few mates bought an old skool (70's non of this fibreglass n plastic crap) 3 berth caravan. The only one of us who had a towbar fitted at the time was my mate Dan with his 1.3L mk2 Astra. Made it up to the Highlands of Scotland via some single track roads; and back with the clutch surviving :P Never got stopped by the rozzers :D