Hello all. I'm new to the forum (but not to forums in general) after taking home my wife and my first Volvo. We've been Subaru owners (mine = '05 Impreza, hers = '02 Legacy traded in), but the wife was ready to move up to something more luxurious rather than sink a couple grand in upcoming major maintenance/repair into the Legacy. Subaru safety + luxury = Volvo.

I'm primarily interested in the technical information aspect of the forum. I'm a member of a couple dozen Subaru forums and they've been invaluable as I do all my own maintenance and minor repair work on our cars. I would like to continue this trend with the Volvo.

The S60 will be my wife's daily driver, and I promise now to keep closer tabs on her driving style, mileage, etc. to keep better care of the S60 than I did the Legacy. This will also be my first turbo car, so its a bit of a new ballgame with the maintenance.

I already am seeing that we use premium fuel (93 since 91 is hard to find in my area - Atlanta) and Castrol Syntec 5w-40 (anybody have opinions on Mobil 1?). I haven't quite got it all down yet, but it seems like the oil filter may not be a replaceable cartridge as a whole, but an insert? I also see that Volvo doesn't recommend coolant changes. Is this correct? Never?

Tech talk aside, albeit it is my primary goal here, I have a tendency to fall into the community aspect of a forum, so hopefully I find some new friends here too. Thanks for your ear/eye. I now return you to your regularly scheduled maintenance.

Edit: Almost forgot the all-important picture! Surprised the wife when she got home from school:

 

Oooh, she's pretty.

 

Coolant Flushes are always a good thing. I would say every 60k is a good interval. Some even due every 100k, just keep an eye on it, it can never hurt the system. Oil is kind of a subjective topic here and on every topic. On the Turbo cars I personally recomend some sort of synthetic Oil like Mobil 1, Castrol Syntec, Amsoil, etc..... I personally also change the thermostat and temp sensor (minimal in price) when flushing the cooling system in my 850. Also a lot of us use this site for quality euro parts since you are a DIYer http://www.fcpgroton.com/. Also make sure to to visit the S60 subforum forum for more info. Welcome to the forum.

 

That looks just like my 2006 S60... Sans the red bow and cluttered garage.

I just picked up mine a few months ago... I love it so far.

The car is mine, as to my wife; she won't drive it, which is cool with me.

I handed down my 98 528i to her and she's good with that; it has 251K on the clock. Now if I could only get her to clean the house and do some more laundry.

Good luck with the new ride it looks real nice.

DMac

 

Welcome fellow S60 driver.