xc70 - two irritants!

[MartinK]

Hello to all on the forum, this is my first post, so please be gentle with me...

I've been interested in the xc70 for some time to replace my ageing Land Rover Discovery (6 years old and 129k miles). My requirements are for a load-lugger, minor offroad capability (I'm a climber, mountain biker, and also run a couple of holiday homes in Northern Scotland), but with better speed/mpg than the Discovery...

So I test drove a 2008 xc70 for the first time last weekend. Fantastic! I really liked the car, even more than I wanted to.

But there's 2 items I would like to ask for advice on:

1. The headlights - the dealer advised me that they can work "normally" (i.e. normal on/off/side just like other cars), but it would cost £80 in the workshop, and I would have to sign a "disclaimer" (with the dealer) that the car was now non-standard... Have you heard of such a thing? Anyone any ideas?

2. A main dislike on the test drive was the replacement of a perfectly good handbrake leaver with an out-of-the-way button. As I'm after a manual gearbox, this just seems such a pain...anyone able to report any ownership experiences here?

Great forum, I hope to order a car soon, all being well!

Cheers

[chris_tx]

1. The headlights - the dealer advised me that they can work "normally" (i.e. normal on/off/side just like other cars), but it would cost £80 in the workshop, and I would have to sign a "disclaimer" (with the dealer) that the car was now non-standard... Have you heard of such a thing? Anyone any ideas?


That makes sense. In the States, there are changes the dealer can make to the car, and this is one of them. They charge for their labor, though I'm not sure about the "non-standard" disclaimer.

[brissim]

Martin,

Must admit, in my various test drives I also found the location of the handbrake button a minor irritant. But also liked the auto release operation of the handbrake. But its interesting you bring it up being (I assuming) a right-hand drive car and being located on the right hand side of the steering wheel. Every time you wanted to use it you had take your eyes off the road and go looking for it. A question therefore for those in continental Europe and North America with your left-hand drive cars - which side of the steering wheel is your handbrake button located? Just curious to see if its a problem with left-to-right hand drive conversion.

Tony

[exfive]

It is a weird system but I have found I just don't use it anyway !

It would be a major issue if I had a manual trans car though as the process would be a strange one. I do like the lack of a lever though...

[Oweny]

Hiya,

I bought a D5 back in Feb 08 - and to be honest I too was bemused by the handbrake button for the first week or so. Now I acutally like the fact that I don't have a lever. My D5 is an Auto though, which doesn't really need a handbrake if truth be told. I personally believe the D5 works brilliantly with the Auto and would recommend it.

As for the headlights - welcome to Volvo safety. I live in the north of Ireland so we do get a lot of grey days and long Winters so the headlights On I believe is a good thing, and I personally wouldn't tamper with it.

What does bug me is the Seatbelt warning chimes which operates at about the same volume level as an AC/DC concert !!! Sometimes I'll flip the belt off when reversing.


Enjoy your new XC70 - it is a fine car.

[brissim]

Oweny, are you saying the seatbeat warning chimes operate even when in reverse? With my MY06 XC70, the warning chimes cut-out when in reverse (I too like to take my seatbelt off when reversing). This must at least be able to be changed by the dealer.

Tony

[MartinK]

wrt the handbrake, it sits to the right of the steering wheel, well out of sight, and clumsy to use. I can see a real benefit with an auto box (even an improvement?), but with manual it's a real pain on a right-hand-drive car, and not at all intuitive.

I guess the auto is a great gearbox, but the extra 10% fuel economy is too enticing for the manual. Most of my annual 20,000+ miles is on dual carriageway and motorways (i.e. not town driving), so the manual probably suits me better...

The dealer where I test drove the car was on the 'phone yesterday, I can feel a deal coming on...

[TrueBlue]

wrt the handbrake, it sits to the right of the steering wheel, well out of sight, and clumsy to use. I can see a real benefit with an auto box (even an improvement?), but with manual it's a real pain on a right-hand-drive car, and not at all intuitive.

I guess the auto is a great gearbox, but the extra 10% fuel economy is too enticing for the manual. Most of my annual 20,000+ miles is on dual carriageway and motorways (i.e. not town driving), so the manual probably suits me better...

The dealer where I test drove the car was on the 'phone yesterday, I can feel a deal coming on...


Do you have to cancel the parking brake, in the manual? My first reaction was that the off control was linked to the throttle pedal. You are implying that you have do do something different with a manual box, which I agree could be a pain.

Just to be thoroughly contentious, I would never buy a manual Volvo, or a Volvo saloon either. I had a manual 850 once-upon-a-time but changed to an auto when i had to commute in London. Never looked back, such a sweet box. Diesels and auto go together.

Notwithstanding the above, do post some feedback, just for my anoraky interest!

[MartinK]

TrueBlue

I guess you can disengage the handbrake manually, but from a real-life perspective, you simply drive away and it disengages - completely transparent to the driver. You do have to apply it manually (i.e. press the button hidden below the light switch) when coming to a halt on a hill. It takes some nerve to take your foot off the foot-brake pedal and let the car stand on a steep hill when there's a car up close behind!

It simply doesn't work intuitively on manual cars... But I guess the vast majority of Volvo's are auto...

[tgwillard]

Dealer told me they would not change the headlights on feature. Actually I now don't mind them being on all the time.

[PJ810]

Dealer told me they would not change the headlights on feature. Actually I now don't mind them being on all the time.

It's safer. On cars that don't turn them on automatically I will do so. Habit now. I always drive with my headlights on.

[Michae1]

Regarding driving with headlights on during the day, I think it should be compulsory when driving on undivided country roads where there is always the potential for on-coming traffic to be on your side of the road whether it be while overtaking another vehicle or simply being distracted and drifting over to your side unintentionally. Either way, if you have your head lights on, the other driver is going to see you much sooner than if you don't.

Many thinking motorcyclists ride with their lights on and if you haven't noticed, airliners fly around with their lights on when below 10,000 ft regardless of the time of day. They do it for the same reason.

As far as I'm concerned there is much to gain and nothing to lose by having your headlights on all the time.

[gregorc73]

I have been using the electronic handbrake for about 5,000kms now & while initially finding it wierd I have become very used to it & find it a forward step for the auto box, not sure about am manual.

[exfive]

Regarding driving with headlights on during the day, I think it should be compulsory when driving on undivided country roads where there is always the potential for on-coming traffic to be on your side of the road whether it be while overtaking another vehicle or simply being distracted and drifting over to your side unintentionally. Either way, if you have your head lights on, the other driver is going to see you much sooner than if you don't.

Many thinking motorcyclists ride with their lights on and if you haven't noticed, airliners fly around with their lights on when below 10,000 ft regardless of the time of day. They do it for the same reason.

As far as I'm concerned there is much to gain and nothing to lose by having your headlights on all the time.

I really wish people didn't have their foglights/driving lights on though...

[MartinK]

I agree on the fog/driving light issue.

In the UK it's actually an OFFENCE to drive with fog/driving lights on when visibility is not impaired. Impaired visibility is classed (by our highway code) as less than 100 metre visibility - hardly ever truly happens in Britain.

Police will often single-out a person driving with fog lights on (front or rear) to stop and question/breathalyse the driver.

Bring it on I say, fog lights and driving lights are classed as full beam, and create unwanted glare for other road users - especially when roads are damp and a lot of reflection is created.

[DrJazz]

Wow, I didn't know about that UK law. Here in Canada, every car sold MUST have daytime running lights. These are not the "full-beam" regular headlights, but a somewhat dimmer headlight. However, it is common advice here for people to turn on their regular headlights in inclement weather, since daytime running lights are only on the front, thus a car's tail lights aren't on unless the regular headlights are on.

Personally, I'm in the "turn your headlights ON during the daytime" camp since I've never had a problem with glare, and I find it easier to notice other vehicles this way.


Cheers,