XC70 Review as a Tow Car

[Big Steve]

Hi there. I am new to the forum so please forgive me if my questions have already been answered - I have had a good luck around and it seems very informative and helpful.

I am thinking of buying a new "tow" car for my caravan and I have always been drawn to the XC70 Cross Country. I would like to know what other members views are on these cars as a towing vehicle. Also, what are the engines like to work on, are parts reasonably priced?

From what I have learned so far is that they are very good performance wise and comfort wise but would like to know if there are any other issues that I need to be aware of and what to look for when buying a new vehicle.

From what I have seen on ebay, I will be looking to pay somewhere in the region of £3k ish.

Any help would be most useful.

Cheers

Big STeve

[JRL]

Not the best cars to tow with, you need to watch the tranny
If your tow weight is 1500 lbs or less, it's OK, but you need to ALWAYS have clean transmission fluid and it's a REALLY GOOD IDEA to install an aux. tranny oil cooler

[vtl]

Double to what JRL said. Also install Magnefine inline filter and change it often (label says every 20k km ~14k mi).

Installed Hayden OC-1401 on wife's 2001 V70 last week, which is known for shot trannies and I indeed had complains when bought the car. It's not hard at all, took one very lazy evening. Effect is pretty awesome, I can't feel any bad shiftings anymore, even in traffic. You might need a bigger cooler though.

[sjonnie]

These cars tow just fine, pulled a 3,000lb trailer with mine no problem. My Dad tows an old-school 2,000lb caravan with his S80 on a regular basis which is essentially the same as the XC70 without the wagon body. Only problem is the rear springs are rather weak leading to excessive sagging in the rear. There are stiffer springs available but I don't know the part numbers.

[sjonnie]

These cars tow just fine, pulled a 3,000lb trailer with mine no problem. My Dad tows an old-school 2,000lb caravan with his S80 on a regular basis which is essentially the same as the XC70 without the wagon body. Only problem is the rear springs are rather weak leading to excessive sagging in the rear. There are stiffer springs available but I don't know the part numbers.

Lesjofors 4295844 might do the trick.

[Ars Gladius]

Lesjofors 4295844 might do the trick.

Those are the HD springs (aftermarket) for the car, however I can not locate a supplier in North America (there's ones that carry Lesjofors, but not that particular product). There's a few online stores from the UK, who will only ship in the UK and to some EU countries. :(

If you know where to get them in NA, please do tell.


Also, IPD has come out with poly spring spaces that attempt to do the same thing with the stock springs, however I am a little leery...

http://www.ipdusa.com/products/9427/120730-rear-spring-adjuster-kit

[MacNoob]

OP is in France. Just returned from Europe and it seems they have a completely different concept of towing there. Lots of tiny cars towing lightweight 16-18' trailers, on the highway and in the mountains.

An XC70 would probably be considered a huge heavy-duty tow vehicle there! And a couple hundred KM would be a long day on the highway.

[vtl]

You probably noticed that most of cars in Europe have manual transmissions...

[MacNoob]

That's true - that's probably better for towing.

[Forkster]

I towed my caravan with my XC70 for two years and no problems. Auto transmission 2.5T petrol engine. I did have the Stage I tune from IPD however (240hp/310lb) but I did tow for a year before tuning and a year with the tune. My caravan weighed around 1900# loaded and I averaged around 11-12L/100km - not bad for a petrol engine towing. I did also have electric brakes installed on my caravan as the brakes on our XC70 are rubbish when towing straight-up.

Either way, I thought the Volvo was a very stable platform for towing and the integrated light/power adaptor you can buy to plug into your trailer power/light connector helped a lot. Having a good brake controller is also highly recommended. Good luck with your search!

[John@CdnRockies]

Hello Steve. Welcome to the forum. I see you are based in France and quote purchase price in Euros. Please be aware that Euro-spec cars tend to have integrated suspension system (Nivomat) for towing as well as manual transmissions and an all-important diesel engine. Both the Nivomat suspension and diesel options are not available in North America and it makes a huge difference.

Some of the comments in the forum are based from people in North America where the XC-70 is rarely used as a tow vehicle. We opt for trucks and SUV's over here! USA/Canadian vehicles come with a standard coil spring (Nivomat is not sold here) which leads to very light tow hitch capacity (only 170 pounds at the hitch). We also only have gas engines a available in this market place. I am located in Canada and have spent much of the past 5 years in the UK. The Volvo is considered a strong tow vehicle in Europe and I have met many people who have used it in that capacity over there.

My personal use of our XC-70 includes about 20.000 kms of towing a 26 foot sailboat weighing ~3,000 lbs (fully loaded and including the trailer). My car model year is a 2004 which uses a more modern version of the automatic transmission (introduced in 2003). Note that automatic models prior to 2003 in NA are generally not recommended for towing. I have made no modifications to the car and tow the boat over the Rocky Mountains between Calgary and Victora, BC as well as across Canada. The drive across the Rockies includes lots of hills in the 5-6,000 feet range. I have not had any issues with the car despite using cruise control and consistently running at 110kph while towing. Please note that I don't recommend running in cruise as it has lots of sustained bursts of the turbo to maintain speed, but that is what I have done.

Our Volvo currently has 260,000 kms on the odometer and both tranny and engine are fine. The transmission continues to shift crisply and the gas engine uses a litre of oil every 8,000 km. I believe the car willl run to 350,000 km based on results to date (I have experience with my Toyota Camry to that kilometrage level). If you can find a Nivomat suspension car in Europe with a manual (or automatic post 2003) and it is a diesel - I think you will be pleased.

[sjonnie]

Those are the HD springs (aftermarket) for the car, however I can not locate a supplier in North America (there's ones that carry Lesjofors, but not that particular product). There's a few online stores from the UK, who will only ship in the UK and to some EU countries. :(
Bill at FCPEuro says the HD springs are on backorder with no time of return and that he couldn't find another supplier with them in stock in NA. I will visit the UK this Christmas so I might pick up a pair then, unless I can persuade my brother to ship some to me before hand ;-)