New to Me 98 V70

[HonestTodd]

After a year without a Volvo, I bought one yesterday.

This car was ordered for the U.S. market buy seems strange to me as it is beyond basic. Three things I've seen so far the strike me as unusual:

1. Cloth seats that are manually adjustable.

2. The A/C is purely manual. No way to set the temp and forget.

3. No CD player. Just a cassette.

Am I correct in thinking this is a "beyond basic' V70?

A couple mechanical questions.

The original owner stated that she was never happy with how the a/c worked and she's had several mechanics look at it over the years and they all said it operated properly but surmise that since this was a Sweden direct vehicle, the a/c could've been designed for Scandinavia, not the U.S. This strikes me as weird and I'll give the system a go over. Thoughts?

The ABS light was on when I drove it home about 30 minutes. She had told me about the ABS light and said that her mechanic told her the brake pump would need to be replaced in the future. She included a quote for the work in her receipts. I drove it couple times later in the evening and the ABS light was not on. I know that she has not driven it much the last few months. Is it possible that the ABS light being on, then going off is a function of her not having used the car very much recently? Just want to brace myself for upcoming costs.

Thanks for your input.

Todd
98 V70 115,500 miles

[abscate]

On the ABS, the modules often need reworking by having the solder joints reflowed. MattyMoo at Midwest Auto will do this for you, test the unit, and warranty it. To be certain of the diagnosis , you need to read off the BCM codes with a higher end reader

Volvo AC Is powerful and better than most makes. Find a shop that wants to fix it rather than make up,excuses like those. Yikes

The manual AC system uses the same thermo components as the automatic version, called ECC

[Eddystone]

I have a 98 with manual AC and a 99 with the temperature auto setting. They both cool perfectly well, and I don't really notice much difference between the two systems in actual use. I'm sure the auto system maintains temperature at a more stable level, but it isn't as if you have died and gone to heaven. Regarding the seats, what was available for sale in the USA was whatever the dealers ordered. In the USA, most Volvos were loaded, especially when there were promotional deals being offered. In the long run, you might be better off with the cloth seats because they wear like iron as opposed to the 98 and 99 leather seats which at this point are often in pretty bad shape. The leather in both of my cars is in unusually good condition, but I use some Sojoy IsoTowel Car Seat Cover because I prefer the cloth and want to protect the leather.

[HonestTodd]

Thank you both for your replies. Appreciate it!

This care drives so well and with cloth interior is incredibly comfortable.

Going to sort out the A/C and brake issues to determine whether this will be a four season vehicle or just a winter driver for my wife when she parks her MB convertible.

Have a line on 98 S70 T5 with the same mileage as my V70. Don't think the wife will approve of two 22-year old volvos in front of the house. Part of me loves the simplicity of my V70 but another part thinks the T5 would be more fun than a fella has a right to have.

[befarrer]

I have a 98 V70 AWD, it has the auto climate control, leather seats, drivers power, but no leather wheel or shifter, grey interior plastic trim, and no CD player, only cassette, also did not have speakers in the very back next to the hatch. It also has the basic instrument cluster.

[erikv11]

... Have a line on 98 S70 T5 with the same mileage as my V70. Don't think the wife will approve of two 22-year old volvos in front of the house. Part of me loves the simplicity of my V70 but another part thinks the T5 would be more fun than a fella has a right to have.

This is tough, having to choose between a wagon and a turbo. Best of luck.

[SonicAdventure]

After a year without a Volvo, I bought one yesterday.

This car was ordered for the U.S. market buy seems strange to me as it is beyond basic. Three things I've seen so far the strike me as unusual:

1. Cloth seats that are manually adjustable.

2. The A/C is purely manual. No way to set the temp and forget.

3. No CD player. Just a cassette.

Am I correct in thinking this is a "beyond basic' V70?

A couple mechanical questions.

The original owner stated that she was never happy with how the a/c worked and she's had several mechanics look at it over the years and they all said it operated properly but surmise that since this was a Sweden direct vehicle, the a/c could've been designed for Scandinavia, not the U.S. This strikes me as weird and I'll give the system a go over. Thoughts?

The ABS light was on when I drove it home about 30 minutes. She had told me about the ABS light and said that her mechanic told her the brake pump would need to be replaced in the future. She included a quote for the work in her receipts. I drove it couple times later in the evening and the ABS light was not on. I know that she has not driven it much the last few months. Is it possible that the ABS light being on, then going off is a function of her not having used the car very much recently? Just want to brace myself for upcoming costs.

Thanks for your input.

Todd
98 V70 115,500 miles

Hi HonestTodd, I also had a 98 V70 "base model" with the "winter package". It had no sunroof, but it did have leather interior, both front seats were manual adjust (which I honestly prefer).

There were basically 3 versions of interiors for U.S. Volvos of this vintage (4 if you count the R). The basic cloth (which I have in my 96 850), the combination cloth and vinyl, and leather. The cloth and cloth/vinyl combo seats came with door panels that had cloth on them vs. the vinyl that came with the leather interiors, the latter of which is now often puckered and peeling. If you have the cloth door panels on a 98-00 P80, I think you are better off. The glue must have stuck better to that material.

Re: the radio, some only came with cassette players, but its very easy to swap those with a CD/Cassette unit or even one with an in-dash changer (usually found in C series or the loaded XCs).

Good luck with your car. I had mine for 4+ years, at 265K the steering rack went and I decided it was time to call it quits. But it still ran good and is living on in many other user's cars on this site thanks to Abscate...