My dog is the proud new owner of a Volvo V70R

This is Violet. She is awesome, and I love her. She's what you might call a Good Dog.

She loves me too. She also loves everybody else. And everything. All the time. We like to go places and take walks. She loves that too.

The problem is that she's kind of a jerk in the car. When she was a puppy, I surmised that if I just took her someplace everyday, she would grow up to be one of those dogs who goes everywhere with me, sitting by my side in the truck, casually sniffing the air whisping in through the slightly open side window.

Didn't happen.

So anyway, she's a Big Jerk in the car. I have one of those dog hammocks for the back seat of my truck, and while she doesn't normally shed, the thing is made of polyester and she rolls and creates so much static that it's like a fur tornado back there. This was tolerable in the old truck, but I just bought a new truck and I plan on keeping it for a long, long time. I don't want dog hair in there.

Sedans also pose a problem, as there are usually three of us humans. She inevitably ends up stomping all over whomever draws the short straw and sits in the back seat with her.

Violet has become a challenge to transport.

After much research and many, many "Which Dog Hauler?" threads here on the forum, I finally stumbled upon this tasty little Swedish meatball, fourteen minutes after it was posted on Craigslist:

Emails were exchanged, phone calls were made and money changed hands.

It's a 1998 Volvo V70R. First year for Volvo's flagship hotrod under that name. Purchased from a mid 60-ish Volvo enthusiast with 109k miles. Everything works as it should. Timing belt was done when it was supposed to be done. PCV system is working as it should. A/C works. Heater works. It doesn't pressurize the cooling system. All four Michelin tires are evenly worn. Brakes and muffler are new. AWD system (pre-Haldex) works properly.  Books, title, tools...the whole Magilla. I wanted a car with full leather (dog hair), but I will have to settle for the leather / Alcantara sport seats (no tears).

Modifications are limited to an Ansa exhaust system, cross drilled brake rotors, and (for some unknown reason) blue painted brake calipers. The seller was very proud of his work. I shall do my best to remove the overspray. At least.

What does it need? A good cleaning, a new CHMSL, and a replacement for the retractable dog screen that is built into the back of the rear seat (EDIT: Dog screen is intact and functional. Operator Error!). With a little bit of care, it should be good for another 200,000 miles or so.

Violet, as always, is happy.

I say let her trash the new truck and keep the Volvo nice. You can always get a new truck. Those are getting harder to find in decent shape. 

Hey man, wanna sell that sexy wagon?

Awesome stuff!  Way to strike quickly. Enjoy it and drive the pants off it. 

In reply to Javelin :

I'll ask the dog.

In reply to Javelin :

She said, "No."

Beautiful. 

Nice wagon!

Woody said:

In reply to Javelin :

I'll ask the dog.

 

Tell her I'll throw in some bacon and a new ball!

Javelin said:

Woody said:

In reply to Javelin :

I'll ask the dog.

 

Tell her I'll throw in some bacon and a new ball!

She finds your offer to be a little boring.

Wow, good catch! Looks sweet! 

Cute doodle. Our dog loves my wagon because he can see out of all the windows.

I love this. My wife loves this too.

Well done!

Excellent find!

Initial inspection:

Lucky dog! 

Ohh, yummy chew toy, er ,tailgate seal

What breed is Violet? 

Jpbrienp said:

What breed is Violet? 

She’s a mutt, er...I mean a Goldendoodle. 

Yeah, we got lucky with our current dog that will just sit like a person when in a car. Here is a pic of the two of us in my wife's Z4

This is Hudson, our laberdoodle riding in my new truck. I really should have purchased him his own ride. 

I spent a lot of time on the car today, mostly cleaning, but I took care of a few issues as well.

First off, there is a flimsy aluminum heat shield that was hanging loose. There are five or six course threaded studs protruding from the spare tire well that it mounts to, but the aluminum had worn away and the newly enlarged holes got big enough to pass over the nuts holding it up.

At first, I was just going to pull the whole thing off, but because of the heat from the turbo and the proximity to the dog, I decided that it should stay. I added some fender washers and used some self threading nuts to secure it to what remains of the studs.

And then, the cleaning...

I do not enjoy cleaning cars.

I worked from back to front, and I'm only 2/3 of the way there, but it's cleaning up pretty nicely.

And as a bonus, the dog screen that I had thought was missing parts, is actually all there. Operator error. That will come in really handy.

The floor mats appear to be specific to the V70R, as they all have R’s embroidered into them. The material itself is in pretty good shape, but they have a lot of greasy stains on them. Oddly enough, the rears are worse than the front. There must have been kids involved.

I soaked them all down with Simple Green and will let them sit overnight. In the morning, I’ll hit them with the pressure washer. It’s supposed to be sunny and dry all week.

The only real bummer at this point is that it looks like someone fed an entire Coolatta directly into the Alcantara of the rear passenger’s seat. So far, it is mocking all of my efforts to remove it.

Woody said:

Violet, as always, is happy.

 

 

My dog is very well behaved in the car.  She rides beautifully.  However, there is no way in heck she would have sat still for that photo.  I think your dog just doesn’t like cars