2001 Volvo S60 - The Daily Driver

[vectra1903]

I thought it would be fitting to introduce the "Vectra replacement" which is this -



A 2001 Volvo S60, 5 speed manual gearbox with "spaceball" shifer, 2.4 litre 170 horsepower 5 cylinder petrol engine with an LPG conversion.
As I said I am not a smart person and after crying about the cost of driving a classic car I decided to buy a sophisticated Swedish couch on wheels.

I've been on the look-out for a Swede ever since Sept 2022 - first contender was a V70 but there were absolutely no examples worth buying - either too expensive or too broken, so I expanded my search and also considered the S60. In April 2023 this popped up and I jumped on it as it seemed tidy and the price was good.

The previous owner was a fanatic who had to sell the car due to his family expanding - he bought a Ford S-Max as a replacement.
Being a fanatic he had done all of the stuff that these cars need doing - he replaced the power steering reservoir for a facelift unit as the pre-facelift ones were prone to leaking, he replaced the VVT camshaft rings, the dual-mass clutch, the timing, every bushing, engine mount etc.

The car came with 17 inch Uniroyal Rainsport tyres on Borbet alloys for the summer and 2x Nokian + 2x Goodyear 15 inch tyres on steelies for the winter.

An interesting thing is I really hated the colour on the listing pictures but once I saw it in person it is probably one of the most interesting colours I have seen on a car this age and probably my favourite aspect of this car.

It is dark green metallic but when it's wet (or clean) it has a blue tint to it.


(excuse the summer tyres in winter - this was a day after I bought the car and the previous owner had already put summer tyres on)

The interior is beige (or I don't know, sand-coloured?) with fake wood accents and a real wood steering wheel (which I added myself as it came from factory with a rubber steering wheel and black plastic accents. The seats are half-leather half-some-other-kind-of-material (velour?) and according to the specs they are "sportsitze".


The car is unbelievably comfortable. It's so smooth, it feels as if it was driving itself. The seats are out of this world, the stereo even though it is the base option sounds great, the engine is maybe a bit underpowered for the weight of the car but it pulls nicely, the LPG conversion means that I am basically paying half of what I was paying to fuel up the Vectra.

As for maintenance as of now I had to:
- replace the oil,
- replace rear brake pads,
- replace LPG MAP sensor and filters,
- replace ignition coil
- replace ABS sensor
- replace front control arms (while doing this also replaced two CV joint boots, the CV axle carrier bearing and a ball joint)

All of these are just regular maintenance, the pads had to be replaced due to un-even wear because there was no grease and the caliper was pretty much stuck, the LPG MAP sensor is a faulty model and once the new one fails I'll adapt a different unit into the system, the ignition coil was the original 2001 part so I can't be angry about it failing, the ABS sensor was a cheap replacement part and the control arms had ripped bushings but were in a state in which it would be dangerous to replace the bushings themselves so I replaced the whole control arms for MeyleHD.

I also did some quality of life upgrades in the car like a cupholder and a bluetooth system.

Why a Volvo you may ask - well... I love the 5 cylinder engines and how well built these Swedish cars are. Also how ergonomic everything is. This car is really something that shows you that driving can be unbelievably comfortable, nice and not a chore. I always loved Saabs and Volvos and I always wanted one. So I guess it is a dream come true? I would say so.

And that's it for now! I don't know if I will update this as much as the Vectra thread but I at least want to show off the new machine.

[Robsey]

Of the Swedish makes, I think Volvo is far better than the Saab.

Volvos have some big engines, so can be quite thirsty.
The LPG / Autogas will definitely be a life saver for your bank balance.

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I read somewhere that since GM took over Saab in the mid-90's, the vehicles are not very well made.
The engines were very good, but not much else.
We have all read about fitting the B204 or B207 Saab units into the Cavalier / Vectra.

And since the launch of the Vectra-C, the Saab 9-3 is more or less a re-badged Vectra, with the same GM engines.

So if you want a proper Saab, you should be looking at the pre-GM cars. Such as the 99 and 900 from the early 90s.
These are the beasts that gave Saab their good reputation.

[vectra1903]

Of the Swedish makes, I think Volvo is far better than the Saab.

Volvos have some big engines, so can be quite thirsty.
The LPG / Autogas will definitely be a life saver for your bank balance.

-----------------

I read somewhere that since GM took over Saab in the mid-90's, the vehicles are not very well made.
The engines were very good, but not much else.
We have all read about fitting the B204 or B207 Saab units into the Cavalier / Vectra.

And since the launch of the Vectra-C, the Saab 9-3 is more or less a re-badged Vectra, with the same GM engines.

So if you want a proper Saab, you should be looking at the pre-GM cars. Such as the 99 and 900 from the early 90s.
These are the beasts that gave Saab their good reputation.

I pretty much ruled Saabs out because of this, I didn't want to switch from an Opel to a prettier Opel, also wanted something naturally aspirated as turbochargers intimidate me and the Saabs which would fit my budget all had turbocharged engines.

As for the fuel economy I seem to get a constant figure of around 12 litre per 100km, LPG is at around 2,70PLN per litre and 95 octane petrol is at around 6-6,5PLN so it's a no-brainer. These 2.4 naturally aspirated engines had a bi-fuel option from the factory with LPG or CNG - they are pretty much designed to run with autogas, so that rules out issues with burned out valve seats and valves which for example Toyota engines suffer with.

[Robsey]

You should not feel intimidated by them.
It is the same for any car part.
If serviced and maintained properly, a turbo will give a long reliable service.

Our 1.9 CDTi is approaching 195,000 miles (319,000 km), and the turbo is still working quite happily.

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I do like a Volvo... my first memories of them was being driven to work every morning by a colleague in his early 80's red 240 with a 2.1 engine.
The induction roar was awesome.

[vectra1903]

You should not feel intimidated by them.
It is the same for any car part.
If serviced and maintained properly, a turbo will give a long reliable service.

Our 1.9 CDTi is approaching 195,000 miles (319,000 km), and the turbo is still working quite happily.

I guess it it just the same problem as with anything in a car of this age - how did the previous owners maintain it. I wouldn't want to buy a turbo car and have the turbo blow out not long after, also the turbocharged engines in the S60 (except for the 2.3) are known for weak cylinder sleeves which crack and basically render the engine block unusable, the NA engines don't have this problem. I do like turbo diesel engines, I really enjoy the power delivery of them on the rare occasion that I do get to drive one, the Peugeot 1.6HDI or VW 1.9TDI really impressed me, I didn't like Fiat 1.3 and 1.6 Multijet engines though, the turbo lag was so big that trying to take off quickly to fit into a tight space in between cars on a busy road was very nerve wracking as you had to basically push the engine to its limits in 1st gear before the turbo spooled up.

[Robsey]

Well you mention the Fiat 1.3 Turbo diesel.
It is still a GM unit.
Same as the Corsa / Astra 1.3 CDTi.

Our 1.9 engine has a Fiat sticker on it. I have seen the same 150bhp engine fitted to the Fiat Uno and of course the Alfa Romeo JTD range.