Road trip report: 854 miles in my new V70 R

[matthew1]

Well, not a "new" V70, but new to us. It's a 2004 R we bought about 6 weeks ago.

Route

Denver, Colorado to Santa Rosa, New Mexico and back.

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Economy

Total miles: 854. Overall mileage: 25.3 mpg*. It was above 30 mpg for the first 100 or so miles because of lower speeds due to traffic on Friday evening. All economy figures are with AC running roughly 80% of the time, two adults, one infant, one 100-lbs dog and a bunch of camping gear.

The sweet spot for fuel economy seems to be 65-70mpg, based on this road trip and other, shorter highway loops. Because air resistance increases with the square of speed, economy quickly drops after 75mph or so.

Thoughts

• She's smooth and composed at 90-100 mph, feels like she could run all day. Several times on Route 84 I set the cruise at 90mph when the highway was deserted, and the car is mostly quiet and feels planted.
• The generally well-maintained and clear highways on this trip gave me a chance to taste the V70 R's "4C" suspension settings Sport and Advanced, without having my fillings shaken from my jaw.
• The car holds a lot of stuff.
• The back suspension was sagging a touch. I wish 4C had load leveling.
• Factory navi is tough to learn and use, but once a destination is in it, it works well enough.
• Seats are very comfortable, much like my 850, but with deeper side bolsters. Controls are the same.
• Speedo needs numbers between the current numbers. Increments of 20mph are too large to quickly see what your current speed is. I found myself counting ticks.
• The passenger seat's knee and footwell is confining. The glovebox should have been moved farther into the dash. Too bad.
• The HU-803 radio is too fiddly. Source should not be a (hyper-sensitive) rotary knob, it should be a 5 or so simple buttons. Same with changing the CD from one to another: if you're not careful, you'll skip two or three CDs with the knob. It's just too sensitive.
• Factory Xenons are good. Driving the lonely 7 miles from Santa Rosa to the Santa Rosa Lake campground after dark was easy. Brights throw the light out far.
• The courtesy exterior illumination (yellow button on the remote) is fantastic. The car, like my dad's S80, has small lights under the side mirrors that illuminates the sides of the car and the ground.

AC Recharge Gripe

The low side AC recharge port does not fit common recharge kits . I took a bottle knowing the trip would tax the AC, and knowing that the car wasn't recharged recently, if ever. When I tried to recharge it, the hose from the recharge kit I bought at K-Mart wouldn't fit over the port. It seems Volvo made this port slightly larger for P2 V70s. Anyone know anything about this?

* trip computer's calculation, not mine. I haven't verified the accuracy of it yet. I have no reason to believe it's inaccurate.

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[FCPEURO]

AC Recharge Gripe

The low side AC recharge port does not fit common recharge kits . I took a bottle knowing the trip would tax the AC, and knowing that the car wasn't recharged recently, if ever. When I tried to recharge it, the hose from the recharge kit I bought at K-Mart wouldn't fit over the port. It seems Volvo made this port slightly larger for P2 V70s. Anyone know anything about this?]

Nice trip, looks like you had a great time. Believe it or not, I just ran into the same AC issue with my S60R. The port that is to the right of the passenger side head light is actually the high pressure port which is why the connector does the fit. There is a low pressure port between the engine and the power steering container/coolant container.

[matthew1]

Thanks Andrew, that makes sense. I'll take a look when the car is back.

[JRL]

Now THAT's the way to have agood trip... Mexican food!
Reminds me, I have some homemade chili frozen (wife is out of town)

Matt, you will get used to the rotary knob and when you do, it really works well

[matthew1]

Oh man, I could eat Mexican every day till I'm in a nursing home, then I could eat it every day, blended.

That restaurant in the photo is the Comet II, been around since 1952 or so. Owned by the same family. Fresh pies baked daily. Red chile hotter than the green, oddly. Both are outstanding. I'm getting hungry thinking about it.

Anyway, Santa Rosa is on the old Route 66, so there's a few businesses around there with lots of rich history. Two years ago me and two buddies did a few days following it -- sometimes from afar because it's literally undrivable in sections -- and I got some good photos. I'll try to dig them up and post them tomorrow.

[stone36]

* trip computer's calculation, not mine. I haven't verified the accuracy of it yet. I have no reason to believe it's inaccurate.

If it is anything like my XC90, I find the computer is between 1.5-2.5 LESS than actual. Only once or twice has it been dead on, and its never been more than calculated. 300HP, AWD and 27-28 MPG ain't too bad...

[matthew1]

You're absolutely correct. While I don't have reason to suspect inaccuracy, I haven't done a tank-to-tank test yet. Take my numbers with a grain of salt until I report back on the gauge's accuracy.