foxtrapper wrote:I don't know of any suspension goodies that the T5, or the R (or the T5R) got that the GLT doesn't have. At least in the early V70's.
Remember, Volvo does their best to drive you nuts with their designations and their mixing and matching of components on the same car.
The Nivomat suspension was anything but a performance upgrade.
AWD until they went to the stouter system was very fragile, VERY fragile! As well as the FWD works, I'd leave the AWD alone.
The GLT has a smaller turbo with less peak. But, it gets into boost faster than the larger turbos. So a GLT has a good chance of beating a T5 or R for the first block or two.
The automatic is boring, but it's not fragile.
The 1995 T5 R had front and rear sway bars with more aggressive valving in the dampers on the same springs at the turbo or na cars. most na and LPT cars of all years have no rear sway bar.
the 96-97 R has shorter higher rate springs with the F&R sway bars and re valved dampers. The Nivomants were standard on both wagon versions. I took mine off and put on volvo "heavy duty" wagon springs to positive effect. Still a understeering pig if pressed.
The 98-00 T5 is the same setup as the 96-97 R with the same 240 (or 238 depending on where you read it) map.
IMO the 15G and 16T HPT cars pull way harder than the 13g LPT cars after 60' if that. I have driven 3-4 of both. The Mitsu 15g and 16t are pretty small turbos too.
That said, you are right, there really is very little difference between a LPT car and the HPT or "R" cars. Many people bolt the 15g or 16t turbo with a manual boost controller at 12psi, drop in the appropriate HPT ecu and get 50 hp and 50ftlbs hp in an afternoon. Nearly all the bits are swap able between years and trim levels.
I totally agree on the 1998-2000 R AWD issue. Some people like it as it tones down the under steer and gives traction out of corners. I drove one and could not stand the feeling of 400lbs of crap being dragged around. It's still not going to really handle well. The inputs are very vague slow and imprecise and that is hard to fix. They are GT's
The 2004-2007 R's really are a substantially different beast than their stable mates.
