Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 13/11.

[SiC]

Nothing from a modern that might fit closely enough?

[SiC]

I guess you've seen this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335391555530

Collect in person though so might need a shitely relay. 

[Zelandeth]

With the Partner in work commuting use, the Invacar still boxed in behind a broken Trabant, the Trabant having only half an engine, and the Renault still as far from being road ready as it was at Christmas, the Rover was placed on Daily duty today.

She actually behaved impeccably today.  Still running a touch warmer than I'd like but not too worryingly so, the windscreen wiper blades are bloody hopeless, and on a wet road she is *exactly* as willing to go sideways as I expected given the age of the tyres currently fitted.

Oh, and that bloody sidelight has gone out again.  The holder in that just needs to be replaced as it's knackered.  If I clean the contacts it will work again for a couple of uses before packing in again.

Niggles aside though, we did probably 30 miles over four or five errands dotted around town, and she just did car things without complaint.  Do I dare believe that we're starting to turn a corner with things towards the car being properly usable?  Or do we have another exciting random failure waiting to pounce as soon as I believe that?  Don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

Now that we've got that oil leak under control I think I just need to make a point of using the car a bit more and try to get some miles covered to shake the remaining bugs out.

 

In other fleet news it looks like we actually have an upgrade coming in to take the place of the Partner.  I absolutely wasn't looking for anything in that regard, other than likely a newer generation Berlingo/Partner in a year or two.  Really the only black mark against it is that Abby doesn't find it particularly comfortable to drive, and given that she has to make a 2+ hour each way run to work every couple of weeks.  This being the main reason I'd really been trying to get cruise control working, but have so far been foiled by the fact that someone appears to have replaced one of the ECUs at some point which has resulted in it refusing to let us code it in.  I *like* having it there as an option, but as she learned to drive in the US where even the most knackered old clunkers have cruise and AC, it's something she finds not having being really annoying.

However despite my not actively looking for another car, one has cropped up which is such a complete and total home run as far as our wish list goes I'd be daft not to look in to it.

Also is a car which is just in really nice condition throughout as far as I can see.  While the Partner's in decent shape, she is a bit cosmetically rough around the edges in a few areas, and just has wear and tear as you'd expect from a car if this type that's heading towards 20 years and 130K miles old.  This one though really has obviously been looked after more carefully...and I admit that having a daily driver that is just a nice car which I can just keep nice rather than playing catch up from day one actually does sound nice.

[LightBulbFun]

12 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

and given that she has to make a 2+ hour each way run to work every couple of weeks.  This being the main reason I'd really been trying to get cruise control working, but have so far been foiled by the fact that someone appears to have replaced one of the ECUs at some point which has resulted in it refusing to let us code it in.  I *like* having it there as an option, but as she learned to drive in the US where even the most knackered old clunkers have cruise and AC, it's something she finds not having being really annoying.

They made a Cruise control module/addition for the Model 70,  Just saying

 

 

Very awesome to see the Rover P6 out and about its a fine looking beast and its good to hear it finally all digits crossed seems to be behaving itself  I still am very much looking forward to hearing/experiencing it for myself one day  (and the same for the Trabant also! one of the things I am most curious to know about that is how its coulmn shift compares to @Six-cylinder's Peugeot 404, because thats the only manual column shift I have driven thus far ) 

[Zelandeth]

18 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

They made a Cruise control module/addition for the Model 70,  Just saying

 

 

Very awesome to see the Rover P6 out and about its a fine looking beast and its good to hear it finally all digits crossed seems to be behaving itself  I still am very much looking forward to hearing/experiencing it for myself one day  (and the same for the Trabant also! one of the things I am most curious to know about that is how its coulmn shift compares to @Six-cylinder's Peugeot 404, because thats the only manual column shift I have driven thus far ) 

The gear change on the Trabant is lovely.  I haven't driven all that many cars with a column shift, but this is definitely up there with the best of them.  It's really light yet positive in action if that makes sense, and very precise.  Which I think stems from the fact that the linkage is so simple - just being a straight rod which is hooked basically straight on to the selector fork.

It's a really easy car to drive all round.  Takes a bit more skill to drive *smoothly* mind you!

Sure you'll have a chance at some point.  Imagine it will be at the FoD at some point in future. 

Won't be able to recreate the full bore launch I subjected you to in the XJ-S in it though!  Granted, the P6 does a pretty decent job of picking up her heels and go, doesn't have quite the same level of immediate and relentless shove though...Though admittedly not all that many things do.

[Zelandeth]

Sidelight has been repaired.  Again.

The whole back of the cluster is just rotten though so I don't expect it to stay fixed for more than five minutes.  Annoyingly I did get a couple of spare tail light assemblies with the car but no front ones.

Another reason I really need to get the car up on a proper lift is to get a better look at the rear suspension.  There is a really noticeable difference in the ride height between the two sides.

I'm assuming that the top one there (nearside) is closer to the correct height.

I did have a look around while I was wrestling with the fuel gauge wiring and couldn't see anything that looked obviously amiss like a broken spring, but something is obviously awry.  Not sure if maybe there was a broken spring at some point and only one was changed - so one is relatively new, and the other has 48 years and 101K miles of wear on it?

Edit: 

Also finally got around to replacing the vacuum line to the brake servo to get rid of this wonderful blanking invention for an apparently unused vacuum port.  No idea where it originally went.

All I know is that it didn't fully seal, and the hose was a good inch or two too short and as such was firmly wedged against the back of the alternator.

Much better.

Also added a couple of hose clips to the vacuum line between the two halves of the servo as that line was quite a loose fit.

Evidently this improved matters as first time I went for the brakes after doing this I just about launched myself through the windscreen.

Having fixed the sidelight meant I could have another shot at getting a halfway decent photo of the car.

Still breaks my brain a little to think how long ago this design was drawn up.  Not quite as much as it does to drive the car mind you.  It absolutely doesn't feel like a 60 year old design.

[Zelandeth]

It's funny to think that the P6 was considered a proper full size family car when it was launched.  However it even makes the Clio I parked next to today look positively bulky.  Never mind the eyesore SUV on the other side.

A maintenance job I'd never really properly tackled since I got the car was to balance the carbs.  I had a feeling that the engine was mostly idling on the offside carb just from the sound of things and given that that bank seemed to be running significantly warmer when I was doing some temperature checks last week.

I don't have a proper carb balancing kit here.  Not least because this is the first car I've owned which had more than one carb so it's just something I've never needed before.  I do however have an offcut of fuel hose and a reasonable understanding of how these things work.

Simply put, just disconnected the throttle linkage between the two carbs, then used the hose as a stethoscope to listen to each intake as I adjusted things until I got both the desires idle RPM and the same amount of air being drawn through both carbs.  The linkage was then adjusted to compensate for the rest position now being slightly different (as predicted, the car was really heavily leaning on the offside carb with virtually nothing being done by the nearside one at idle) and reconnected. 

Idle speed is sitting at 700-750rpm in neutral, dropping to 550-600ish in gear, which sounds reasonable enough to me.

Idle is definitely smoother.  The biggest difference though is that the engine feels far more responsive coming off idle on light throttle openings.  Which makes sense really.  One of those things that would be really hard to show in video, but is immediately apparent when you're the one whose foot is in control of the throttle and your behind is in the seat judging the level of go being provided. 

Definitely sounding a lot better now than when she arrived here.

The exhaust is generally pretty subtle, but has a hell of a bassy rumble at idle which I'm not sure if the mic will ever really pick up.

While I had the air cleaner off I took the opportunity to finally ask a question about what this unused hose connection on the back of the air cleaner is meant to be used for?

Given the surface rust on it I don't think it's had anything attached for a good number of years.  Answers on a postcard?

Evidently I do need to do some more leak searching on the cooling system as there's a bit of coolant which has gathered on the valley cover.

It looks like a lot there but one paper towel was fully able to soak it up, so not actually a massive amount.  Those heater hose clips are both secure (the lower one is actually on there fine - the fitting the hose goes on to extends a long way into the hose).  I'd be tending to look more suspiciously at the thermostat housing or the connection up front to the lower heater hose as they're really quite awkward to connect up as there isn't much space to play with.

Not trying to do that now though while the engine is hot.  Same reason I've kicked looking at fine tuning the kick down cable adjustment down the road - trying to do that now is just a recipe for burned fingers.

Last thing I did today was to provide a bit of protection for the coolant bleed line that runs between the top of the intake manifold and the top of the radiator.

This was chafing on the alternator belt shield - and given the direction the fitting coming off the radiator points I really don't see how it's meant to go anywhere else.

I realised when going to secure this though that I'd somehow actually managed to run out of zip ties...so securing it properly will need to wait until I've had a chance to pick some more up.

[Zelandeth]

Hopefully I've found the cause of the water sitting on top of the valley cover.

That's a new hose and the clip wasn't very tight.  Hopefully it had just loosened a bit as the hose compressed.  Have wiped it down and will see if the water reappears.

I've lost track of how many applications have been made now, but the leather is definitely improving compared to the cardboard like texture it had when the car arrived here.

Would be good to get some dye on it at some point to bring back out the original colour.   If the above was already too much orange for you, look away now.

Definitely not an interior colour choice for everyone this.  However I'm rather partial to bright colours in cars so suits me just fine.

I mean subtlety isn't really what this car is about is it?

[SiC]

On 02/07/2024 at 18:09, SiC said:

I guess you've seen this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335391555530

Collect in person though so might need a shitely relay. 

eBay has notified me it's been reduced by £75. Also they've put an option for it to be posted too. 

[Zelandeth]

14 hours ago, SiC said:

eBay has notified me it's been reduced by £75. Also they've put an option for it to be posted too. 

The thing is I'm not 100% sure that's the right rad.  For a start it has a hole for a fan temperature switch which mine doesn't.  There is also an additional medium bore return hose by the filler neck which on mine is just a 3/16" or thereabouts bleed line.  The overflow line also seems to be missing , suggesting this has been modified to be used with an external expansion tank.  Just seems odd. 

This is what the top of that end tank normally looks like.

So at the very least it's going to require some modification to fit.  I don't want to end up buying it and ending up with yet more junk engine up buried in the garage waiting for me to get around to decide what to do with it.  Have managed to find a couple of *slightly* less ridiculously priced options at least than when I last looked so that's something.

Had to run out briefly this evening (made a critical dog food mathematical error) and discovered that the side light is still working.  Two of the illumination lamps in the instrument panel, not so much.  Grr!

Did have someone randomly wind down their window at a junction just to say they liked the car though.

[Zelandeth]

Got the dash illumination in the P6 sorted again after wiggling a couple of lamp holders again.  I get a feeling this is going to be a running theme.  No photos as you all know what the inside of the P6 instrument panel looks like by now.

It has now been confirmed that we have a collection caper happening on Friday.  Thankfully I've been offered a lift as otherwise it was going to involve the best part of five hours of public transport - to do less than 90 miles.  Which seems a little ridiculous.  I always forget what a pain it is around here to get anywhere by public transport that isn't due north/south from where we are.  I did manage to trim that estimate down a bit after bashing my head against Google Maps and National Rail Enquiries for a while, but was still going to be a right old trek.  Especially given that the last four times I've used trains it has degenerated into very annoying chaos at some point during the journey due to something completely unnecessary going awry making the trip an absolute misery. 

[LightBulbFun]

bit of a random question I guess, but @Zelandeth what phone mount/holder do you use in TPA/would recommend one with a Model 70 get? I did pick one up a fair* while back but I seemed to have lost it (frustratingly rather recently) , so to ensure that I do suddenly find it I thought that I should order a replacement, but the question of what to buy so thought who best to ask  

[Christine]

3 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

bit of a random question I guess, but @Zelandeth what phone mount/holder do you use in TPA/would recommend one with a Model 70 get? I did pick one up a fair* while back but I seemed to have lost it (frustratingly rather recently) , so to ensure that I do suddenly find it I thought that I should order a replacement, but the question of what to buy so thought who best to ask  

Whooo hooo,  its coming home  at last  !!  

[Zelandeth]

11 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

bit of a random question I guess, but @Zelandeth what phone mount/holder do you use in TPA/would recommend one with a Model 70 get? I did pick one up a fair* while back but I seemed to have lost it (frustratingly rather recently) , so to ensure that I do suddenly find it I thought that I should order a replacement, but the question of what to buy so thought who best to ask  

I just use one of these, same one that's in all my vehicles.

Absolutely nothing special, they're £10 or so I think from Halfords.  Wobbles around a fair bit, but I've never found one that doesn't.  This at least seems to do a reasonable job of staying where I've put it.

Advice if using your phone for navigation is to turn off auto rotation, or the screen will keep randomly rotating itself whenever you're on anything other than a glass smooth road due to the amount it's getting bounced around.  The joys of driving a car with 10" wheels.

[LightBulbFun]

Awesome good to know! looks like they do still do it too

https://www.halfords.com/technology/mobile-phone-accessories/car-phone-holders/halfords-one-touch-universal-car-mount-holder-244621.html

23 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Advice if using your phone for navigation is to turn off auto rotation, or the screen will keep randomly rotating itself whenever you're on anything other than a glass smooth road due to the amount it's getting bounced around.  The joys of driving a car with 10" wheels.

thats exactly why a lightbulb went off in my head and I thought to ask you  as I sat there looking at all the different ones on Amazon thinking "how do I know which one of these would do well in a Model 70 and wont immediately fall off the first time I hit a bump/pot hole"  then I remembered back to this photo

and the fact you had a phone holder there (thats one of the things that I love about that shot, is it really shows that she is in use as an everyday vehicle, phone holder stuck to the windscreen and all ) 

[Zelandeth]

59 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Awesome good to know! looks like they do still do it too

https://www.halfords.com/technology/mobile-phone-accessories/car-phone-holders/halfords-one-touch-universal-car-mount-holder-244621.html

thats exactly why a lightbulb went off in my head and I thought to ask you  as I sat there looking at all the different ones on Amazon thinking "how do I know which one of these would do well in a Model 70 and wont immediately fall off the first time I hit a bump/pot hole"  then I remembered back to this photo

and the fact you had a phone holder there (thats one of the things that I love about that shot, is it really shows that she is in use as an everyday vehicle, phone holder stuck to the windscreen and all ) 

That's the one.  

That is still one of the best photos I've seen anywhere of TPA I reckon.  Nice to have a spotted photo where the car is actually in motion rather than just parked up somewhere.

[Christine]

Looks more than 82mph too  

[Zelandeth]

Spent a lot of this afternoon faffing about trying to get hold of funds to allow the collection mission for tomorrow to go ahead.  Eventually, despite the best efforts of Santander I got my hands on my money so can hand it over in exchange for a car tomorrow.

This afternoon I took the Rover along to the Motors at MK Museum event.  Actually remembered to photograph my own car for a change too to prove I was there.

Does highlight the strangely steep slope to the P6s bonnet from that angle.

Most of my photos today are actually on film so won't be seen for a while yet.  Did snap a few on my phone though.

The Rover did get quite warm on the way there.  Not quite to the red/green border, but damned close, before dropping back down as I parked up.  I don't know if the thermostat (which I did change) was just being a little lazy opening or what was going on (journey there is all of a couple of miles).  I did check the coolant level once things had cooled and it was a little low - topped up with a bottle of water kindly provided by the cafe.

Of course on the way home it stubbornly sat absolutely solidly here.

That was despite me driving around for about 15 minutes trying to see if it would warm up again.  That's actually cooler than the car has generally been running lately.  Ah, intermittent faults, everyone's favourite.  I wouldn't have expected the amount of coolant I'd added to make a huge difference - unless we have actually had an airlock somewhere which has just finally burped itself of course.

Anyhow, of course I'm about to thoroughly distract myself tomorrow by collecting another car... because I really need yet another one don't I?

[SiC]

Is it an engine driven fan or electric? Viscous coupling?

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, SiC said:

Is it an engine driven fan or electric? Viscous coupling?

Direct drive on these.  Metal fan too...mind your fingers when the engine is running!  Belt isn't slipping, that was one of the first things I checked.

Noticed that it actually ran a bit cooler on the way home than it generally has been, have to wonder if we just burped an air lock out of somewhere and that was the cause of the level drop.  Didn't have time to investigate further at the time.

[Zelandeth]

Collection mission is go.  Couple of friends have volunteered to give me a lift to save me the fight with public transport.

C4 is proving the transport there.

Few hours till we get there including a stop for lunch.

[Zelandeth]

New car!

No fuel stop needed as there was just under half a tank already in it.

Home without any incident.  Even if traffic did it's best to ensure I barely got above 50mph at any point!

You know the AC is doing a good job when it's this hot outside, but you have to turn the temperature up because it's too cold!

Seems a lovely thing, will properly start investigating what the several thousand buttons do now I'm less focused on just getting home before rush hour has a chance to get properly in full swing.

[timolloyd]

I think these are peak Volvo. I ran a 2002 V70 and it was brilliant. Better build quality than many other ‘quality’ brands I’ve owned. 
And seemingly mechanics don’t shy away from working on any aspect of them, which is telling.

[Six-cylinder]

That Volvo really does look a great car.

[Zelandeth]

Really haven't had a chance to look into things too much more as it was just too damned hot outside.  Did snap a couple more pictures once I shuffled cars around though.

Would rather not be parking anything here as the tree drops all manner of crap, but until we get the driveway extended something needs to go here.

Backing it in I made the discovery that this car has parking sensors.  That's a first for me.

Likewise apparently powered folding mirrors.  Oh and xenon headlights.  Which do the whole pointing around corners thing.  Cool.  

Many buttons.

Might need to see if I can get some new knobs for the ventilation controls as they do have a bit of wear - because soft touch plastics.  I actually had to set the climate control there as when I had it just set to "cold" it was way too cold despite being 32C outside.

There is apparently a Bluetooth module installed behind the stereo pretending to be the 10-disc CD changer, once I fathom out how to actually pair to it.  May need to do some research there.

Overall the interior is a very nice place to be.

Fancy segmented cover on the centre storage compartment.

Electric memory seats.

Second car I've ever had with cruise.

I'm assuming this button signifies automatic wipers.

Let's see if they're any less brainless than any of the VW/Audi/Skoda examples I've seen.

Nice clear instrument cluster, pretty sure this can't be far before they started to get silly.

Speaking of information displays.  For a 2.4 litre engined car of this size if the economy stays anywhere even vaguely in this ballpark I'll be very happy.

If like I was you were curious what the single square warning light at the bottom of the cluster was for - here's your answer.

Seems comfy enough in the back too.  Two of the family don't actually know I've bought this yet, will be surprising them when I collect them from the airport on Sunday evening, letting them travel home in style and comfort.

Loads of real estate in here too.

The fabric mats are in there too.  Dogs should have plenty of room in there.  A bit lower for them to get in to than the Partner too.

I think the first thing I really need to do now is read the handbook.  Which is possibly the longest non multi-lingual factory handbook I've seen to date.  There is a huge amount of "stuff" in this car which I'm likely to either take forever to figure out or even discover the existence of on my own.

Just a bit of paperwork with this one.  A big folder like this coming with a car does always seem to give a bit of confidence.

Which contains everything not only to the original new vehicle order...

But even the original brochure.  Do I know it's the one they got before they bought it?  No.  However given the folder and amount of other paperwork there it would make sense.

I'll spend a bit more time with it tomorrow hopefully and see what little things I want to do, but my initial impressions are very good.  Seats are supremely comfortable.  Ride could be a bit more compliant, but it's entirely acceptable and the seats are soft enough that they absorb a lot too.  Very quiet, accompanied by the always pleasant gentle thrum of a five cylinder engine.  Doesn't seem to hang around either.

Aside from the Pug 107 I bought new, this is the most expensive car I've ever bought.  It does feel though like a cut above anything I've ever really considered before.

Looking forward to getting to know it a bit better.

[ruffgeezer]

Just a quick note about the GROM unit attached to the stereo for the bluetooth: https://carputer-shop.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/grompdfs/instr_bt3.pdf

[LightBulbFun]

18 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Two of the family don't actually know I've bought this yet, will be surprising them when I collect them from the airport on Sunday evening, letting them travel home in style and comfort.

so they will see the new purchase once they arrive home in the Rover P6? I do approve of the Volvo of course! can never go wrong with a Volvo estate of any kind  

[Zelandeth]

4 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

so they will see the new purchase once they arrive home in the Rover P6? I do approve of the Volvo of course! can never go wrong with a Volvo estate of any kind  

Give it a year...For now there is absolutely no way I'd trust it anywhere near the M1, never mind the M25.  Suspect based on recent performance that I'd be playing a real life version of Frogger trying to get myself off the carriageway in a huge cloud of steam after about five miles.

4 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

Just a quick note about the GROM unit attached to the stereo for the bluetooth: https://carputer-shop.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/grompdfs/instr_bt3.pdf

Thanks for that.  I had tracked down what looks to be a very similar PDF earlier today as well.  All paired up now and working.

-- -- --

While a huge chunk of the day disappeared to having a proper clear out in the kitchen and finally getting around to repairing the stupid rotating corner cupboard thing (again) I did get a chance towards the end of the afternoon to have a look at the car.

As mentioned above, first order of business was getting this hooked up to my phone.

This has a Grom Bluetooth module installed which pretends to be the 10-CD changer unit.  This is nice as it means that you still have the ability to skip tracks using the transport controls on the head unit/steering wheel.  It also doesn't require me to mess about with tacky looking aftermarket solutions, which I doubt I'd find a really tidy answer for on a car this old.

Glad to report that the stereo is as decent as you'd expect on a car at this end of the market from this side of 2000.  Don't know how many speakers are involved, but it seems to do a decent job.  I like my music, so having a decent stereo is definitely a plus.

Have come up with a small to do list as I'm sure anyone does as soon as they get a new to them car.

Missing a surround for the cutout for the driver's seat belt in the B pillar.

There should be a piece in there like this on the passenger side.

Reckon a breaker is probably going to be the best bet for finding that.  Unless "they always break" and therefore they're all gone from cars people are breaking.

Likewise the backrest adjuster switch cover for the passenger seat.  This doesn't actually affect operation as you can just push the switch by hand, but it will look a lot better once the missing bit of switch is replaced.

The biggest thing letting the side down in terms of the interior though are the heater controls.  They have a soft touch rubber coating on them, and it's done the usual thing of going sticky and started peeling off. 

I count myself lucky that Volvo don't seem to have used this finish extensively, and these are the only things so afflicted.  Replacements are pretty readily available it seems based on a real quick search.  Though I need to find somewhere that will ship to the UK for less than the cost of the item in question.  Charging €35 to post three tiny bits of plastic seems a little excessive.  I don't reckon a breaker is likely to be any good here as I expect they'll all be at least on their way to doing this - especially given this is a low mileage example.

That really is the level we're down to when it comes to scrutiny though.  It could do with a good deep clean because it's been used as an everyday car, but I tend to end up doing that to any car when it comes on fleet anyway.  To be honest I prefer seeing a car I'm buying like this rather than having been valeted absolutely to death as it gives far more of a realistic view of what you're looking at.

Seats responded well to some leather conditioner.  So much nicer material than the plastic-like stuff that VAG seem to pass off as leather.  Aside from the material itself being supple, the seats actually have padding...that long lost thing that all modern cars seem to lack.

Think this is probably the only photo I've got so far which accurately captures the colour of the bits of wood trim.

On the subject of the seats, the whole key-related memory function is something which seems exceptionally upmarket to me given my usual automotive fare.  Whatever the seat and mirror settings are, they are then tied to whichever key was then used to lock the car.  When that key unlocks the car, the driver's seat and the wing mirrors will move back to the position they were in when the car was locked.  Which when you've got two people in the house with vastly different driving positions is really handy.  Plus opening the door to see the seat being automatically moved back into place for you is just really cool.

Headlights could do with a bit of polishing as they're starting to go a bit cloudy on the top.

Do have to admit that I'm slightly afraid of how expensive those could be to sort out if they were to go wrong.

There's a lot under here that's likely well above my pay grade to understand as well I do have to admit.

Here's crossing my fingers that staying on top of routine preventative maintenance will minimise the amount of times I need to go messing with anything under here.

They do get points for making the oil filter nice and accessible though.

I really had forgotten how pleasant a noise that five cylinder engines make until picking this up.  It's deceptively quick as well given that it's not the quickest actually getting moving unless provoked- feeling somewhat old-school auto-like there, but once rolling does gather speed absolutely relentlessly - I guess that's what 310lb-ft of torque will do.  This is very much like the Rover in that you really don't ever need to use anywhere beyond about the first 20% of the throttle pedal in any normal driving.  Even speeding up from 40-70 takes nothing but the tiniest blip of throttle, accompanied by that lovely gentle thrum from up front.

Still very happy with it so far.  Hoping it will meet with everyone else's approval in the family once they're introduced. 

[ruffgeezer]

Ah yea the seat belt trim is specific to the face-lift version, and they all seem to have been sawn in half by the seat belts.  I did enquire to the dealer fo a replacement and am still waiting...

Glad to see you are getting on well with Hector, though!

The seats look really good for a bit of tlc.

[SiC]

Elbow Grease degreaser is pretty effective at removing soft touch coatings without melting the underlying plastic. Ime, albeit not on Volvos, removing the coating improves the feel 100x and isn't too obvious that its gone.