Why do you (still) drive a P80?

[Clemens]

For me, growing up in the 80ies and 90ies, car experience develipment stopped by the end of the millenium. Whenever, once a month or so, I get into a newer car, I still get sick from the new car smell as I did as a kid and I wonder who needs all these blinking lights and assistant functions?
At the same time seats have definitely not improved in most cars and even things like an ECC and heated front seats are still not standard in alot of european base models.
So yes, even comfort wise I really like to get into my turbo wagons better than most cars around.
There are nice new cars out there, but as mentioned before, but they easily cost 500 to 1000 bucks a month. Not worth it.
As long as our environmentally oriented governments in Europe let us drive older cars, I'll happily keep my 850ies. And then I will have them declared historic and that should give me an exemption to operate them in the long run. Hopefully ...

[Cookeh]

I don't drive a P80 anymore, but would like to see the results of the poll. Is there a way to see without voting? Thanks, June

Click 'View results', just beneath the 'Submit vote' button.

[LOB]

I bought my 855 7 years ago and there's no reason for me to sell it now. Especially not since it's worth a lot more to me than any possible buyer. I've maintained it like it was new. Oil change every 5000 miles, flushing auto fluid, always using electric heater during the winter, sendt it twice to preemptive rust treatment. In short, I've invested to much, monetary and human, capital into it to sell it.
When petrol cars are forbidden in Norway I'll electrify it!

[abscate]

What ? Those are my only choices ? Nothing about the Goldilocks balance between power, comfort, style and practically ?

How stupid of me to forget the comfort. It still is teally comfortable. I guess I can't add that anymore, but should have.

I think matt can add this to the poll, but if try I’ll brick it.

[amblerman]

I answered that I like cars from the 90s. That is partially true as I feel like I prefer the layout of cars from the 90s and early 2000s when compared to newer cars.

I like button and dials instead of touch screen.
I do like bluetooth but that's easy to add to older cars.

However, my response is actually more complex.

I came to the volvo world only recently. I bought a 99 base s70 5 speed off of ebay. Kinda by accident. I put in a bid on a whim and no one bid higher than me. Whoops.

I was looking for a car for 3 reasons:
1) I had three drivers in my house and I found myself without a car too often (i know.. first world problems)
2) I wanted to teach my kids how to drive stick
3) I wanted to teach my kids about working on cars.

And now I have a nice basic s70 that is in a good stage 0 and the idea of just getting rid of a car like this bothers me. It works well. It drives nice, it's comfortable and it only has 130K on it.

There's really no reason for me to get rid of it at this point. Yes I could get a newer car that gets better gas mileage. Yes I could get a different car that is more fun.
The reality is I like my s70 and until it gives me a real issue I'll keep it.

If I could have done it all over again, I think I would prefer a turbo and/or a V70 from a newer generation. Those would have cost more than I paid for my s70 though.

-A

[raivis_rsn]

Because I love volvos.
I have always dreamed about owning one. And 3,5 years ago my dream turned into reality.
I'm glad that my first car is P80.
Wanted a saloon but ended up with buying a wagon.
It's 99 V70. Base model with great Audi diesel engine.
Some mods are done to it. Mostly rare OEM parts.
I'm still amazed by how good Swedish rust protection is.
There are some rust affected areas after 20 years but nothing to worry about.
We have 3 volvos in family. And they all are great cars.

[Goupil]

My 98 V70 is my first car, she's 2 years older than me
Reasons I bought it, and still own it:
-Confort
-You get a lot for what you pay (getting heated seat and a quality sound system for less than 2k around here is hella rare)
-Enjoyable to work on, and with a great community behind so you'll always find some help
-good old simple interiors, I like switches, having to use a 20" screen to turn on the AC isn't my thing
And the sound of the turbo L5, oh boy....

Sure there are some drawbacks like mileage and that godamn vessel steering radius, but I'm not getting another daily anytime soon (well except a V70R maybe )

[abscate]

We bought our first P80 when we had too many kids for the VW Transporter. The twins tipped the bucket over.

It was a kid hauler from 1999-2004, then Mom's career work car, then retired in 2013.

I couldn't find anything close as comfortable to drive, so I did about 3k in refurb and am still driving it today as my daily.

Its the seats and the heats

[misha]

I bought it almost brand new,from a family friend with 69k km back in 2000.

Car is pretty well maintained and in the same shape like it was new.
Not a single reason to sell it or trade it.

320k km+.

Even when i buy a new Volvo again,this one will stay in the family.

[bmdubya1198]

I love P80s... they make excellent daily drivers. Only drawback I can think of is the lack of decent cup holders. Beyond that, they're just great cars all around... fairly cheap to run, they look good, good aftermarket, comfortable, incredibly practical (SO much cargo space in the wagons), reliable (yes, they can actually be pretty reliable!), LOTS of owner resources (like MVS!), and a great community.
I bought my first P80 as my first car back in 2015 and and have daily driven a P80 since then... so I've never NOT dailied a P80. I learned a lot on these cars, and they're easy for me to come back to for that reason, among many others. I can practically work on them blindfolded .
I'm on my second daily driver P80 and I've owned a total of 4 (seems like it should be more by now) and I don't plan to change it any time soon! I've looked into P2s and I've even owned a couple, but they just don't compare. They're nice cars, but not nearly as comfortable and they feel way too computerized for my taste. There's a module for everything and they just have a feeling that I don't like... it's a little hard to describe.

Plus they're cheap... you can pick up a P80 that needs a little work for well under $1k. I've never paid more than $375 for a one, and that includes my V70R!