2000 Volvo C70 T5 Coupe from UK and Ireland - Comments

Rear main oil seal

Air conditioning

Drivers seat split and wearing

Drop links

Track rod ends

Rear suspension mount

Front disks and pads

MAF sensor

Turbo boost controller valve

Front tyres

Dump valve

Front O2 sensor

CD changer

This car IS a real head turner, especially with the Comet wheels. The C70 MK1 still looks beautiful today, especially the less popular coupe, of which I believe only 5000 were made. The car is quite exclusive, being designed by Tom Walkinshaw racing and hand built by Volvo (pre-Ford) in Sweden, no-where near as common as the Mercedes SLK.

The 5 cylinder HPT engine has plenty of grunt and a very meaty 5 cylinder growl. However, the T5 is quick, but not THAT quick: it's not the M3 killer it was initially made out to be for several reasons: 0-60 is under 7 seconds in the T5 but the M3 and S4 beat it hands down. Off the mark during normal driving a C70 can feel VERY sluggish and lacking in torque - don't be surprised to see little shopping trolleys zooming past you when pulling off at roundabouts etc. However, these ARE good engines, currently re-engineered for the Focus ST and various more modern cars. The turbo boost (and lag) from a T5 is quite significant and this has quite a bearing on the seemingly sluggish 0-60 time. The turbo kicks in at around the 3500 rev mark with a fair bit of lag before you get a real kick in the back. You could boot one of these from a stand, but the combination of front wheel drive, lack of grip and zero to swathes of power means that all that power is wasted in serious, tyre damaging wheel spin.

These cars have a reputation for torque steer and while there's some there, it's not as bad or as frightening as you'd expect, although, obviously there is some loss of control.

So these aren't really sports cars at all: the front wheel drive setup, suspension balance, weight distribution, power delivery, chassis (derived from the very old 850/S70) etc etc is simply not up to the job. These cars do not corner particularly well and they can feel very unstable at speed. In fact, making no bones about it, the front end set up on the C70 is quite crude, nasty and horrible.

Where all the power comes in though is for everyday driving and overtaking. Power delivery between 40 and 100+ (watch out for cameras as make no mistake, this is a VERY quick car that will top 150 and your apparent speed when driving can be very deceptive) is terrific. There's plenty of power and torque to get you quickly and safely past the vehicle in front.

As previously mentioned, the overall suspension setup on the C70 is not the greatest. Mine also has sports suspension, which doesn't really make things better. You get a harder, less comfortable ride, but there's no sharpness in the handling. On the 17" rims these cars are also prone to very bad 'tramlining' which is down to front suspension/steering geometry, tyre radius to width ratio, rubbish roads etc. Lumps, bumps and ridges in the road pull the front end of the car all over. Even with brand new tyres, pumped up to the maximum recommended 36psi (the tramlining gets worse at lower psis) the tramlining effects are considerable and really not very nice at all.

C70s are also notorious for various clunks, knocks, bangs and grinding sounds from both the front and rear suspension. Has anyone mentioned the turning circle? Especially with the 17" rims? Absolutely pathetic! Car parks are an absolute nightmare: there are very few spaces you can drive straight in. Get practicing your reversing (while hanging out of the door because you can't see back there) and praying that no-one parks near enough to your front that you can't get out again. 4 point turns to get in and out of multi-storey ramps is the norm, just don't expect Hilda in her Citroen Saxo right up your back-end to understand when you start reversing at her. Be prepared to get pipped at a lot. Did I mention mini roudabouts?

Inside the car is very nice. There's nothing earth shattering about the interior which is now starting to look dated, but it's very functional, well made and comfortable (best seats ever?). However the leather doesn't seem to weather very well, even when cleaned regularly and conditioned well, the seats (mainly drivers) are wearing and splitting. The steering wheel is a nightmare to keep clean and most end up sticky and gunk-filled.

As with most coupes it's quite difficult for people to get in and out of the back. My seats are manual, which is one plus point as the electric ones are too slow. Why Volvo didn't allow the front seats to slide further forwards I don't know because it certainly looks possible.

The stereo is fantastic, probably one of the best sounding stock stereos out there. However, the CD changers are absolutely lousy and break with tremendous regularity (I've given up on mine). The Alpine head unit isn't equiped with the facility for line-ins so it's either a case of swapping out the stereo (most people would want to keep the original installed) or going for one of the MP3 retrofits that are now available.

While the car itself is now becoming very affordable to buy second- hand do not be fooled, this is a very expensive car to run. When the car is running properly you can expect around 30 miles to the gallon on straight runs if you don't boot it too often. When it's not running properly, which will be often, you can expect 18 to 20 MPG and worse for stop-start motoring. Where things fall down is the costs of repairs etc. There doesn't seem to be a week that goes by without something breaking or wearing out. Servicing costs are not cheap, it may have only cost you £4000 to £10000 to buy one second hand, but this is still a £30000 plus motor and you can expect to be either under your bonnet or driving to and from the garage with alarming regularity. Buy an engine code reader: you're going to need one. Join the various Volvo forums out there: there are some very good ones and everyone is really friendly, helpful and generous.

So, do I like this car...

In spite of everything (yes I AM mad), it's a resounding YES. Why? How many relatively exclusive, beautiful looking, hand-built, 'race developed', 150mph plus, 4 seater coupes can you buy in superb condition for less than £7000??? Just don't expect sports handling or the myth of Volvo reliability, yes I'm sure the car will run to 200,000 miles and last 20 years, but I will have replaced every component in it 4 times over.

Would I buy one again? Probably not.

Oh...and 'The Saint ' was ruddy awful so no cache there.

Excellent review.

Just one thing i'd disagree with. 'The Saint' movie (with Val Kilmer) was actually pretty good. And when the C70 featured (end scene) it was a cool touch to have Roger Moore as the DJ on the Radio as the car drove away.

Sorry:

Looking back over the list I can see several breaks/repairs that I've not mentioned:

Brakes bled 4 times

Master Cylinder

Sticking wastegate

PCV system

Lots of wind noise from drivers door - poor seal at the top. This is common with pillarless doors. These doors are a nitemare to adjust though - 46 points of adjustment. Leave well alone and put up with it.

Bulbs go quite often even with the running lights switched off.

Even with new discs (302mm), pads and master cylinder, the brakes are not as sharp as you would expect in a 'sports' coupe.

Etc.

Thanks. I've just been reviewing the list of repairs

and there's actually a lot more on there -

Bottom engine mount

Battery died (OK that can be put down to maintenance)

Lots of other things.

Just be in about 3000 miles almost £1800 has gone on fixes and maintenance - just something to be aware of when budgeting.

The Saint...Hmm. It was so so... compared to Bourne or even Bond? C'mon 3 out of 5 at best... and the car wasn't featured nearly enough ;)

I have a C70 T5 and I have had none of these problems. Have you been thrashing it?

The problems showed up 500 miles after buying the vehicle... so the accusation of 'thrashing' is, frankly ridiculous, sorry. Apart from that, if you're going to drive a T5 auto and EVER going to get any kind of performance (or boost) you are going to HAVE to floor it to kick down. If you count that as 'thrashing' then yes I have 'thrashed' it occasionally in the 4 thousand miles or so I've done over the last year. All of the problems the vehicle has had are very common. It's very well known that certain suspension components are only good for about 20K for example and the drop-links, wheel bearings etc are common issues with Volvos. None of which have ANYTHING to do with 'thrashing'

Oh yes, forgot to mention. Has now been running fine for the last 2 months.

Current issues for maintenance:

Return of clunks and bangs front offside suspension: suspected link (again)

Warble from front nearside - suspected wheel-bearing.

Front tyres both losing around 10psi every three days and all wheels now needing a refurb.

All absolutely nothing to do with thrashing.

I have just bought a c70 t5, from my limited experience I am very happy with the car. I have 3 associates with exactly the same model and they have all owned them for over a year without any of the problems listed here at all, I think this guy has bought a dodgy one and has been thrashing it loads, don't take this review too seriously and take the advice of an enthusiast that knows what they are doing rather than some guy who is generalizing because of his bad experiences. good luck, lovely cars.

To be fair it is a T5 auto in question isn't it? they are less powerful. my family all own volvo's and we never have suffered high maintainence bills. my 440 es has covered 135,000 miles the last mot it needed only a light bulb! the recommended list was just the rear brake pads. my brother and father both own s70's with similar stories to tell.

The last two comments can't be real can they? The original review seems to be an enthusiast and quite knowledgeable about this car. I don't quite know how because someone has had to spend a lot repairing a car it means they have been abusing it. Frankly that is a ridiculous idea and not worthy of this site. The T5 is the most powerful model - don't understand the persons comment, what box is on the car is irrelevent, it's still got the same engine in it???

BTW I am a Volvo specialist and all of the original reviewers coments w.r.t the drop link design not being suitable for the car etc are quite correct, the design is from the 850 and we see numerous 850 and 70 models again and again with general front drive train issues. MAF failure is fairly common and wheel bearings generally last about 20K. These cars were never designed for 17" rims. Why are you being hard on someone who has come on here and been honest? I suggest it is because there are a lot of C70 owners out there at that moment not able to sell their vehicles because of the credit crunch and they are frightened by a review like this.

Has anyone mentioned ETM failure yet and the debacle with Volvo over that...thought not? ME7 or not that's the question.

I've owned a 1998 C70 T5 for just over a year and have put 25k miles on it - it now stands at 128k in total. I think that the original reviewer may have been somewhat unlucky with the number of issues they experienced but agree whole-heartedly about the front end setup. The droplinks are appalling but are only a £30 fix and should last a minimum 20k miles.

The torque steer is nowhere near as bad as my previous 440 and the lolloping roll through bends at speed is easily corrected by adding a strut-brace (about £60 from Volvo).

Turning circle is woeful but this is a big car.

Overall a lovely car to own & drive.