Hi everyone. Just joined tonight as I have placed an order for my first Volvo. It will be an S60 D5 S which is the Diesel version sold in Europe. In the UK it is only available with the higher 163 Horse Power from it's 2.4 litre engine (elsewhere in Europe you can have a lower output 130hp version), and more Torque than you can shake a stick at (251 ft/lb - more than the 2.5T Petrol). Massive savings at the fuel pumps is also handy as are company car tax savings as I am a 30,000 mile a year Sales Guy. Petrol here in the UK is almost criminally taxed..........

The engine is suprisingly sporty, both in sound and shove, and puts the wind up many a BMW driver!

Most of this site seems USA - orientated. To get to see what we get Volvo-wise go to www.volvocars.co.uk and have a browse around. They are doing a big ad campaign here at the moment 'Life On Board' - maybe you have had the same in the USA? Worth a look if you havn't had it.

Love to here from anyone interested in a chat. For an idea of location where I am based I am in Wiltshire in the South West of England and I have Stonehenge and Avbury Stone circles within a 15 minute drive and within 2 mileswe have the largest reported incidences of Crop Circles (and, sorry to disappoint all you believers, they are all made by a small gang of clever people who drink in the local pub!).

Wish you all well,

Gavin

 

Welcome to the forum nice to meet you

 

Hi Gavin,
I'm just down the road from you on this relatively small little island on which we live. I used to be a 30,000/yr driver but that was just getting to and from work each day and a bit of socialising on the weekends. That was back in my Rover800 days which have now developed into a V40 which I have to admit from recent experience is somewhat more crashworthy. [&o]

At least our crop circles are somewhat more artistic than anything I've seen in the Tate gallery!
Watch out for the mobile police traps on the A303.

 

Likewise. Glad to be on board so to speak!

 

Glad to have you here.

 

To CWWorth,

Seems strange that on a site that seems to be predominantly USA based that we are so close location-wise! I avoid the A303 and use the motorways, less (fixed) cameras and I seem to get where I need to be quicker.

I tried a V40 before I bought the Ford Mondeo Estate I currently enjoy (and I mean enjoy, great car 2.0 petrol 1999 Ghia X with all the toys). The only problem with the V40 seemed to be long distance peace and quiet. The road noise was as bad as my 1997 Ford Escort and the boot was not much larger. Did I miss out or was my buy better at the time?

The Mondeo was exactly 1 year old (to the date of manufacture), 10,000 miles on the clock, full Ford Warranty (never needed) and at £12,000, virtually 1/2 the price new of £21,300. Leather, CD Changer, AirCon etc, etc. Has been a great car but the S60 offers some extra prestige as well as the fab Diesel engine. Looking forward to the delivery, but am worried I made a bad choice with the colour - Magic Blue Pearl. After having a metallic Black car (dirty in a day, even if not driven!) a dark blue suggests I am a gluton for punishment. That, and I have never seen the colour on another car or even at the dealer!!! (long story..........). Ho Hum.

The S60 will save me almost £500 a year in company car tax as well. Will cover a small part of my annual beer consumption I hope!

Cheers!

 

Dear 'Tech',

Are we unique in Europe to have the Diesel engines?.

It is such a big thing over here now because of their low CO2 emissions, but people like them because of the huge torque figures an superb day-to-day tractability, as well as such low fuel consumption. 57% of all S60's sold in the UK in 2004 (the second largest market after the USA) were D5 Diesel, five cylinder, 2.4 Litre turbocharged units.

I would be fascinated by your views on this.

Cheers!

 

Im not sure if you are unique but there is a lot of Diesel's here just not Volvo's.VW,Audi,Chevy,Dodge,Ford, and some other company's offer diesel.Im not sure why Volvo doesn't have diesel here but would be nice if they did.

 

When we come to choose our Volvo in the UK we have the option of Bi-Fuel also. (please velive me - Diesel is soo much better)

Either LPG or CNG (Liquid Petroleum Gas or Compressed Natural Gas - both 140 BHP). Because of the lack of filling stations for either, sales are slack (I would have said non-existent, but I was overtaken by a 2003 BiFuel today so it must work for someone!!!!). Also, if you want to take the Channel Tunnel to France, they will not take these cars on the train (at the moment).

You must bear in mind that we had just over 7,000 S60's sold here in the UK in 2004 compared with 10 times that amount in the USA and we are still the 2nd biggest market.

We are witnessing a rise of US exports to our shores of other makes, but with slightly poor results as our driving environment is soooooooooooooo different. The 300C Chrysler is amazingly well priced against BMW's 5 Series but is woefully poor in it's ride and suspension, let alone interior plastics quality. The STS sold about 3 cars here a few years ago as we demand cars that handle. The irony is tht we do not rate the S60R, as it is too twitchy on our quality roads (by quality I mean poor quality!). We have more roundabouts than you have Big Macs and funding for road repairs is scarce.I have literally never seen an S60R on the road in the UK.

The Chevrolet brand has just been lauched here with re-badged Daewoo's from Malaysia (or is it Korea?). Good cars for the price, if they didn't plummet in value the moment they are driven off the forecourt.

What would be interesting, is feedback as to whether UK cars such as Rover and Jaguar are well thought of by 'proper' drivers in the USA

 

What would be interesting, is feedback as to whether UK cars such as Rover and Jaguar are well thought of by 'proper' drivers in the USA
Those cars are concidered higher class cars here in tehe U.S..Yes daewoo's came from korea.My wife works with them here in the U.S.They are a big piece of S*** here.Thats why they went out of busniess.The warranty's were cancled.Unless you sold the car it has no warranty.

 

The Jags are considered high class (S-Type and XJ series). The X type is considered to be a Ford Mondeo with a different set of clothes by many people. Drives well and the new estate (station wagon) version looks good. Lots of the saloons on the road so must do it for some people.

The S Type isn't so popular and the quality of the first lot made left a lot to be desired. The XJ is what I would call a proper Jag and is a great drivers car as well as a long distance mile-eater.

Rover has had so many financial problems.

The 75 is a good car but with lots of problems with head gaskets that write-off engines on the petrol versions (nearly all K series petrol engines across the Rover range have this problem). The Diesel is from BMW and is good.

The financial problems at Rover mean that they are still limping on with face-lifted 25 and 45 series (formerly 200 and 400 range) which really should have been replaced years and years ago. The trouble is that there is no money in the company. They launched a City Rover here which is basically a re-badged Tata from India and this is truly dreadful with virtually none sold. They are awaiting news as to whether the Chinese Government will do a joint venture with them which will give them the investment they need. Without this I think they will close down in a matter of a few years.

As far as 'drivers' cars go then the slightly different MG range (body kitted and suspension tweeked versions of the 25, 45 and 75) are very good. These are badged as ZR, ZS and ZT respectively (ZT-T for the Estate / Station Wagon). They have also bought out a US engined 4.6 litre and they modified the chassis to make it run rear-wheel drive. 260 hp but very heavy and a bit agricultural. The MG TF 2 seater roadster is OK but again a little old and tired - especially when compared with a Lotus for example.

Do you have many Rovers / MGs over there?

 

We see some MG's here alot of people own them but keep them in the garage because they are so old.