Replaced a 1998 V70 AWD. Amazed at how much better this new car is -- handling, design, features, and all for just about the same price as six years ago. Or perhaps I've become a much better negotiator. Any others as pleased with their XC70?
About the price - Volvo prices haven't jumped drastically... In fact they have essentially gone down over 10 years (taking inflation into the mix). Our 960 had a list price of $42000 CND when we bought it new (minus 7000 we got knocked off because we got it year end, and a little bit more thru haggling for a better trade in and a bit more knocked off the car since we could only get one in charcoal silver, and only with black interior).... For around 45000-50000 you can get a comparably equiped V70 2.5T... More power, safer, more solid feeling car (after 11 years the 960 is pretty solid, but it's nothing compared to a new car...we have some good squeaks from the dash and the body seems to give a little more over bumps) with slightly improved features. Then again no really NEW features other then cupholders, dual zone climate, and a slightly better radio with CD now.... The sound quality IMO isn't much better, in fact the stereo seperation and distribution seems better in the 960, it just can't handle the same amount of bass, and there aren't as many speakers either, and no optional NAV system of course. The 2004 XC70 is the one my dad wants right now, either that or a Titanium Edition 2.5T. It's been test driven, but no one in the family feels we really need a new car, our 960 is young in mileage (going in for the 144K Km service next week) and there has been no headaches, we will take this car for long trips without second guessing the descition (okay, if it's only two people they steal my diesel Golf to save on fuel...then I get the Volvo, so all is well). Personally I want a normal V70.... maybe a T-5 so I can rake in the speeding tickets ;-), don't feel I need the added ground clearance or the body cladding... tho I love the seats in the XC, they seem beefier, with nicer stitching.
We really love our '04 as well. Two small issues: 1) I find the brightness of the readouts in the instrument cluster and the screen brightness of the navigation system to be far too dim in direct, bright sunlight; 2) the windshield acts like a partially-silvered mirror in the same situation, reflecting a great deal of the dash. I use polarized sunglasses for the latter--haven't figured out what to do about the former. Otherwise, it's been a wonderful car for the first 10,000 miles! Joel Cook
I have the same problem on my '01 V70 XC. The problem with wearing polarized sunglasses is that the radio display is polarized in such a way that I have to turn my head sideways to read it if I have my polarized sunglasses on. Did they fix that on the '04?
We have a 2003 XC70 (my 4th Volvo) that we put 30,000 miles on the first year that we had it, and we "love" it! Regarding seeeing the info in the LEDs (?) for the instruments and the radio, I could not see it through my sunglasses. I then bought a pair of driving sunglasses which have lenses that are not as dark at the bottom as they are at the middle and top of the lenses. I can now see all of the dash and radio info just fine. The pair I bought are Foster Grants "endorsed by a NASCAR driver" and sold at WalMart for $14.95 or $19.95, I don't remember the exact price. Sandy
I complained about this issue 3 years ago. Apparently this information never got back to the engineers. All of the other displays are polarized in such a way that you can see them with polaroid sunglasses on without turning your sideways. It seems like it would be easy to fix this.
You missed the point. All polaroid sunglasses have a plane of polarization which is vertical. Light reflecting off a highway or other horizontal surface is polarized horizontal and the glasses don't pass it. The digital display on Volvo radios is also polarized horizontal. If you rotate the glasses 90 degrees you can see it fine. It has nothing to do with the darkness of polaroid lenses. The advantage of polaroid lenses is that it selectively eliminates the reflection off the inside of the windshield if you light colored dash so that you can see out the windshield.
