impressions after 6 month with a 98 S70

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 11 Oct 2005, 00:17

Let's begin with the bad points noticed.

This car should be called the rattle mobile, every single component vibrates, squeeks or rattles on any bump on the road. I thought that this car was solid as a fortress, it may be the case structurally because even with a corner up on the jack, all doors open and close like if all wheels would be on the ground, but for the noises coming from the interior, it is incredible, the car has only 70K miles and the interior sounds like if it would be 600K miles on a taxi. Don't know what volvo did with the fastening of interior components, but they missed something big time. Metallic sqweeking in the back, dashboard cracking enough to drive me nuts, every day I discover a noise or a rattle coming from somewhere in the car. Tell me I'm not the only one having these rattles in a S70. In the past, I had 240's and 740's, those cars were real fortresses and after 240K miles, not a single rattle could be heard inside, with the S70, no need for a Radio, there is plenty of noise inside.

The rear brakes, everything is volvo parts, no aftermarket parts in there. When the rear brakes get warm(far from being too hot) I noticed several times big vibration(hi frequency, I'm not talking about warp disk vibs) probably generated between the pads and the disk, I can't believe it, they don't test the brakes at Volvo when they desing the cars. I found the shim kit in Vadis to prevent this vibration (they say it is most likely to happen with new pads, mine are 25% worn and I can make it vibrate as I wish).

Suspension, apart the handling being ok, what a disapointment, feels like I'm driving a 1 ton pick-up, every minor bump on the road feel like a big pot hole. Shocks are ok, bushings as well but it transmits all of the impact to the car. Volvo mechanic even told me it is a weak point of the S70's. I miss my RWD volvo a lot.

Now and then, engine misses on some cylinders for a second and picks up whether it is cold, warm, idling or at driving speed(tune-up was done at the dealer 9 months ago). I still get good fuel economy, on that I can't complain, especially on highways, in town it is another story. I never had any stalling issues, yet. engine mounts are ok, the flex pipe is still holding on. Throttle pedal is stiff, probably caused by the cruise control unit being mounted directly on the pedal ass'y. I'm more than happy to own a 98 model, won't have to spend 1000$ to replace the electronic throttle unit.

The car feels good, you know you're sitting in a Volvo, but all those noises coming from the interior makes me hate the car, I think I'll try to find an old 740 with 35k miles from an old man and laugh at all S70 I cross on the road , I can't believe S70 are that shitty, and I'm not talking about the outstanding amount of threads here about problems experienced by S70 owners.

looks like globalisation is affecting volvo product quality as much as the other manufacturers. I never thought I would prefer driving the wife's integra on bumpy roads, if we can call it bumpy. at least there's no sqweeks or rattles and I don't feel ALL the bumps in the road. I'm very disapointed of my S70, hope they are not all like that.

On more positive points, they don't pull that much (non turbo) but it is always fun to see an american sedan trying to follow me in a curve, I loose them in my mirror very early in the curve, and driving at 120 mph is not scary at all, it feels solid on the road. Too bad noises, rattles and poor designed suspension destroy all the agreements of this Volvo.

Please tell me if mine went through war before I got it or if they're all like that ?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 11 Oct 2005, 04:57

By a Honda and quit your bitchin'!

Post by **dosbricks** » 11 Oct 2005, 18:54

Anonymous wrote:
On more positive points, they don't pull that much (non turbo) but it is always fun to see an american sedan trying to follow me in a curve, I loose them in my mirror very early in the curve, and driving at 120 mph is not scary at all, it feels solid on the road. Too bad noises, rattles and poor designed suspension destroy all the agreements of this Volvo.

Our 98 S70 with 134K is relatively rattle/squeak free.

Sounds Like you want a Buick suspension with BMW handling. Not going to happen.

Guest2 · Post by **Guest2** » 12 Oct 2005, 10:33

Anonymous wrote:By a Honda and quit your bitchin'!

hehe, like he said, he already did! But 2 Hondas will be double goodness and half the repair cost...