2003 V70 cross Country on snow and ice?

michaeljw · Post by **michaeljw** » 24 Aug 2008, 23:48

Well the fine members of this forum have convinced me not to get a v70 with viscous coupling 4wd, however in researching Haldex i have come across allot of information suggesting that it isn't really 4 wheel drive at all.

The Outback fanboys have made some videos showing the v70xc and xc90 getting stomped by subaru's cars. Unfortunately, i don't fit well in subaru's outback and don't want an SUV. But the videos have unnerved me a little about my ambition to own a cross country wagon. Will Volvo's haldex and dynamic braking really work like 4 wheel drive? Driving up to the mountain, will i notice an improvement over my Civic with X-Ice snow tires (I haven't chained up in 4 years of twice a week skiing on Mt. Hood in the Cascade Range, but I have needed to be pulled out of my parking space twice due to heavy snow fall because i only had 4'ish inches of ground clearance)? Deep snow is my biggest reason for choosing the XC, with its higher ground clearance. But if the rear wheels don't get much power wont the car be highly prone to spining out while cornering (the Civic hatch was so lite that the front wheels could usually pull it out of spin-outs before they got any worse than a nice "drifter" style turn).

I certainly will fit in a V70 much better than the Civic and with the rack and extra space i can haul friends to offset the mpg loss, but it is soooo much heavier than the Civic that if the AWD is mearly a lie told by Volvo's marketing dept. to sell cars i don't know that it would be safe to drive it. Atleast without chains, and chaining up every time i go skiing would defeat my whole outlook on life! Not to mention make buying new snow tires every year or two that mutch more painful.

Thanks for wading through that whole post, and any opinions/thoughts you can share will be most appriciated!

Michael W.

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 25 Aug 2008, 19:34

Why don't you post a link to one of those videos so we can evaluate what they are showing you? Are the Subarus they are showing you modified and running against unmodified Volvos?

I doubt that Volvo would add a drive system for the rear end of the car that didn't do anything to just sell some more cars that are more expensive to produce.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 25 Aug 2008, 19:59

I know the Subaru video and it is very biased.
Although the Subaru's are great cars, don't believe the hype that they out-perform a Volvo when all factors are equaled out.

895meztz94 · Post by **895meztz94** » 25 Aug 2008, 22:26

The video you speak of was a Subaru promotional video made by Subaru.

It's heavily biased.

Haldex AWD very much true AWD. It performs well and reactions instantly. Within 1/10 of a rotation of a tire, it can sense slip and redirect power just like that.

It will laugh in the face of the ski roads you speak of.