• Wanted
  • First Gen XC (For the mother)

Hey guys,

So mum is officially in the market for a Volvo. We are trying to avoid the same model as I have for a few reasons, number one being the gearbox gremlins, number two being the atrocious turning circle and number three being the general complexity of the thing (she wants a car just a touch simpler).

So I told her about the first gen XC. She would like an XC over a standard model because its a bit higher and wont crash into our driveway. She also plans on towing a small caravan (around a tonne) with it (I will be towing the same van with my car as well). Its also turbocharged, all wheel drive and doesnt have the useless geartronic transmission. The 1997-2000 model (this one):


in that colour as well haha

We recently missed out on a purchase of a green 1998 XC with 150000 on it. I told mum to allow 2 grand on the eBay bid but I dont think she quite realised how rare they are, so she didnt put that much on it. Understandably, I bought both of my cars combined for less than 2 grand so I feel like she didnt realise the cost of obtaining the XC.

Anyway, although she would like a green model, she really has her heart set on the burgandy model, with a cream interior. We would also like an XC because it is top of the range with every option.

Im having no luck tracking one down, Ive even looked interstate and hell even importing one from overseas. Both those paths are ones we'd like to avoid. Ive actually seen the exact car we're looking for (colour and all) drive down Lower Heidelberg Road near the Chandler highway a few times, so if anyone here owns that car, do you want to sell it? Haha!

We would possibly consider buying the first gen in standard from, provided the colour is right, the kilometers are right, and the price is right, and then we'd just fit the XC suspension to it (if thats possible), it does need to have the turbo though because mum doesnt like the noisy 850 exhaust that the standard models have. Also extra powerrrrrrr

We are also considering the second gen XC (this model):

as it is also uncommon to find one of those in a red, as long as it has a sunroof and we can save the gearbox.

The later model second gen is getting out of our price budget of around $10,000. We are also looking if worst comes to worst at an XC90 but getting one of those for 10 grand is a push. And the thing is huge and I think mum would hate it.

Throw me your first gen XC's people. We are negotiable on the colour if everything else is good, we can always respray it lol.
I've got an 01/02 XC with a good trans in silvery blue with a cream interior
$3000 and the head is freshly rebuilt with new timing belt/WP etc...
Has had all software updated so the trans should be safe (also had fluid flushed)

Respray would be $1000-1500 and is something I could organize

Personally...
http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Volvo-XC90-2005/SSE-AD-3118921/?Cr=6&sdmvc=1

or stretch the budget a little
http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Volvo-XC90-2006/SSE-AD-3107586/?Cr=1&sdmvc=1
the silvery blue colour, i think thats the same as mine, arctic dawn or something its called. how many kilometers on it? might be worth considering!
140 something
It's currently sitting out in Tamworth in a barn
any pics of the beast? might show her in the morning. Shes considering buying my 97 V70 off me, and me buying another (smaller) car to replace that, so she gets 'used' to the volvo before buying a good one haha.
V70 with new stock springs has almost the same clearance as the early xc and will tow a tonne all day every day. Will not chew rear tyres in the process like an early xc will also do.
really? my 97 seems so low, scrapes into the driveway all the time. Its using the 850's suspension. She will be glad to know it will 'tow a tonne all day every day'. The apparent max tow weight of my XC is 1800kilos, what if we tried to tow that all day every day? Mum seems to think a 2.5L T5 isnt enough haha.
I used to tow about 2t pretty commonly with my 99 na v70 and had no troubles with power or torque and was very stable to tow with. The key on the suspension is new and oem height and rates. Might also be a base spec thing with base getting less sporty suspension.
oh so you actually went over the recommended? naughty naughty :P its extremely unlikely that even with a mofo sized caravan and a car full of crap that we'd be near two tonnes haha. My 850 was a base model and so is this V70 and it looked as though the struts were the same. Car sits at the same height as before. Its using 850 tyres and wheels as well which are again the same size that came off the V70 originally. Most of our cars crash into the driveway. The only ones that havent are my XC and my old 89 Ford Telstar (that thing rode high for a sedan).
@Philia_Bear‌ mum wants to know what happened to the car that required a full head rebuild with timing belt and everything. Im suspecting the belt snapped, am i right?
she doesnt want a 'damaged' motor, but im sure you wouldnt have bothered fixing it if you couldnt fix it to a good standard, yes?
Hmm, @AshDVS‌ could probably recommend a spring to go a bit higher than stock.
Pin hole in hg leak
Suspect a minor overheat
if I take a head off I do everything properly and right
hence the new tbelt and other stuff as im not putting used wear items back on a good car

also just to note I would not be able to sell it until mid jan cause of vacation and work commitments
am working on some pics though
tyres are like new and aircon etc all cold
in many ways we are happy to wait for the right car, especially if its interstate we need time to organise travel and stuff.
yeah shoot us some pics when you can, it could be a good car. Mum does like the light blue colour i have, we might organise a respray depending if she wants the same colour car as i do, or we may end up just leaving it, ill let her know all this stuff :)
edit: what kind of spec does it have on it? is it base? does it have a sunroof?, we can fit everything else ourselves like i have done with my XC, but the sunroof is the stinging point as its not exactly recommended to chop the roof up
We are looking at a maroon second gen V70, its a 2.4T, 5-speed geartronic. 153,000 kays on it and the t-belt and jazz was all done at 150,000 so got plenty of life in the beast.
first things first (im the realest), no but really, i hear the gearbox gremlins is reserved mainly for the XC versions with all-wheel-drive and the front-drive-versions although not completely immune are more reliable. Is this true?
we are also thinking if in the event we need/want to make it higher, the XC suspension setup will bolt in just fine even though its front wheel drive only, true?
possibilities of hacking all-wheel-drive onto it?
the AWD versions had extra stuff that fails
oh i see haha, ah well, this seems to be the model she wants and she doesnt want a manual so i guess we will just throw money at it. Its a 2001 model so its definitely going to be an interesting one haha. on the good side it does have everything we want and more, its just not an XC, its also closer to home as well, its actually only like 2 suburbs away haha. What about an XC90? Its a bloody beast of the thing but does it not use the same 5-speed geartronic? And surely in an even heavier car its bound to be problematic? no?
Im unsurw how you would have scraping issues. My driveway is actually steep and cars don't scrape unless 140mm off the ground. Its about the angle of attack.
my old v70 hits ours all the time, possibly cos i fly in at >10km/h, but the XC flys over it with no problem haha. I believe it might be because it goes up kinda steep and then drops almost immediately again so like a really big speed hump, theres a big rut in the middle of it which catches most cars. If you go slow enough its fine. Actually, scrap that, in my old Eunos 500 it did not matter how slow you went it still hit haha. But all the standard Volvos seem okay if you grandma it.