We were looking for a good car to replace my girlfriend's 2002 Cavalier. The Cavalier was a great reliable car that got amazing mileage, but unfortunately it was purely unsafe. Any headon collision, you wouldn't be walking again. I'm a bimmer nut, so naturally that's the route we began taking initially, looking at '99+ 3-series. I've got a '98 540i 6-spd that's been nothing but great to me, but I couldn't get her into a 5-series, she said it was too big and powerful for her. We pulled into a dealer that had a 2001 330Ci, and it was a pretty good car, nothing special though. She "liked" it, it had nothing more than she wanted and nothing less. We were about to head out when i pointed out the silver 2001 C70 Coupe, a car i've always loved from afar. Immediately she wasn't real sure about it, and then i told her hold on and i went to get the keys to take a look at it. Immediately she began loving that car. We drove it, and for a FWD, I must say it is extremely well balanced. However it was $10k, which was more than we had to spend. Fast forward to last week, and poking around craigslist i found an ad that was fairly uninformative.

01 volvo c70
129,000 miles
Runs Great; Good Gas Mileage
Cold A/C
Tinted Windows

I figured it'd be the run of the mill convertible LPT that was everywhere. Exchanged a couple of emails and she was only asking $4000 for a silver 2001 Coupe HPT. It was nearly too good to be true, so we went and looked at it that night. It needed a very very thorough cleaning, had a coolant leak, and a bad mid-RPM miss. Turns out she had been running 87 in it for the few months she had it, and just wanted to unload it because the dash creaked real bad, and it got horrible gas mileage. She bought a 2000 Lexus GS4something to replace it. That night i did a LOT of research on the 70 series, and found out that it was most likely nothing big. At worst, i'd have to replace the radiator and get a major tuneup. We ended up picking the car up friday of last week and spent the weekend cleaning and checking stuff over. The coolant leak ended up being just the reservoir. It had cracked on the bottom where the hose connects. Now to chase the bad miss. I figured i'd start with spark plugs and sure enough, that cured ALL of the miss and bad mpg issues. We put on some new Toyos the next day and just got back from a 750mi road trip yesterday. After calculating the actual mileage, it got roughly 27 which is not bad by any means. It seems to be increasing still, maybe the computer is adjusting a new driving style. I am nothing but impressed with this Volvo. So much that i think my next car might actually be a V70R, not a 540i Touring. To boot, when i went to buy the coolant tank, I asked the service writer to pull up any service records it may have on a whim. Sure enough, the car was bought there, serviced there since day 1, and had a BRAND NEW transmission installed and the timing belt at 111k. Did we find the deal of the century? I think so, glad to be here. The end result, i'm happy my girlfriend has a fun and safe car, and she finally has a car she didn't feel she had to "settle" for. She absolutely loves everything about it, even the little quirks it has. Yes, it's the run of the mill silver coupe now, we're working on making it unique to us. Don't really have any mods planned as far as power goes, just aesthetic upgrades. So far it just has a Blitzsafe ipod adapter, she couldn't go without her tunes! The magazine for the SC-901 is the same price as the Blitzsafe, and who doesn't have an ipod or alternative these days?!?!?

 

.............the girl friend looks good also...................

r.

 

Haha thanks. What she's doing with me, i have no idea.

 

Car looks sweet!!

 

Thanks, it's as stock as it gets right now. Well, save the Monroe Sensa-tracs the PO put on there. I'm not too sure about them yet. They're shunned in the BMW world, but they seem to be alright on this C70. Are Bilsteins really worth it?

 

They are pretty good it all depends on the ride you are looking for.

 

I think if/when I grab a V70(r), i'll throw on some H&R's and Bilsteins or something, but for my g/f i think the Sensa-Tracs will do just fine. Uninformed previous owner apparently didn't know the Sensa-Tracs were more expensive than Bilsteins when she bought them. She paid $700 installed for just the fronts.

 

WOW can you say OVER PRICED!!!!

 

Yep, and to boot she took it to NTB. I have to take the thing apart to replace the strut mount that is being squeaky. i'm debating on just doing Bilsteins myself at this point since i have to take one off. I'm leary about lowering it, i dont like the wheel gap but i also don't want to be replacing bumpers every few months. I'm bad about tha ton my BMW, and she's never had a car with that problem.

 

I wouldn't lower it it is pretty low already.

 

According to an email I got today from blitzsafe, their stufff does not work with the SC-901. Are you saying you have already installed the blitzsafe and it works? if so which one did you get?

 

Lol I took the chance against what Blitzsafe said, and sure enough it works. I found a good amount of links around the forums here and elsewhere that said they work with all SC-xxx units. My g/f is happy to have her tunes.

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/detail.aspx?ID=791

ordered that exact unit from that place.