Go Wagon – In which Adrian buys a car.

So, having lost a job with two company cars, then found a job that doesn’t provide a car, it was new (to us) car shopping time this year.  To sum up the old inventory, after returning the Flex and C-Max when Ford invited me to explore other opportunities in life, we were left with my 08 Volvo C30 and my 99 Boxster.  The Volvo has been an outstanding car, but with pushing 130k miles it’s starting to show it’s age in maintenance requirements plus I need something that can tow.  I bought an 07 Volvo S60 for my daughter and told my wife to buy what she really wanted for a change after years and years of driving my company car for years.  She’s had a series of SUV’s for towing with over the last few years.  She bought a 17 Mini Cooper S Clubman All 4, which I find to be the most preposterously long name for a car, especially one so small, but she loves it.  She  loves driving it, loves the size and economy.  It is a great little go kart.  When at Ford I had been planning to buy the new Bronco when it came out, but obviously no more.  This meant I needed a tow vehicle.  People may have noticed that I asked a lot of questions about Land Rover LR4’s over the last few months and that’s what I decided I wanted.  Lot’s of research led me to look for a 2013 as it was the last, and best,  year for the V8 before they went to the anemic supercharged V6 that lost 35hp and 50lb/ft of torque for a barely worth it 2mpg improvement in fuel econ.  Research led me to believe I could find a 70k mile 2013 LR4 in good condition for circa $18-20k.  I was prepared to go to $20K so it appeared to be feasible.  Now, in some part of the country these vehicles may exist, but not in Detroit or Chicago.  There are lot’s of them advertised as being right in this ballpark, but I drove five of them and checked on a few more.  Every one of them had issues and/or were way over my price range.  In the end I gave up.  What I wanted would have cost $23-25K for a no stories vehicle, that would still have 70-80k miles on it and already be at east six years old.  And as Tom Spangler is fond of saying ‘Have you ever heard of this organization called JD Power’.  I moved on.

I also checked out JL Wranglers, way too expensive, JK Wranglers, just as expensive as the LR4 for the same age and just not good enough on ride/NVH.  I looked into 4-Runners, but your still paying way over $20K for a nice one of similar age and mileage to the Land Rovers, plus it’s an old old design.  So I started double checking tow ratings for wagons.  Hmmmm, what’s this first Gen (2010-18 P3 Platform) Volvo V60’s can tow 3,300lb’s with a braked trailer, even better they are rated at up to 1,800kg’s (3,960lb’s) for the same model in Europe due to how Europe and America calculate towing capacity).  That means it can easily tow our 2,000lb (empty) camper with capacity, or future expansion, to spare. 

Over the years the V60 has come with a variety of engines from the classic T5 5 cyl and T6 6 cyl to the new modern high pressure turbo 4.  So research says I want either a T6 R-Design or Polestar.  As with the LR4 I found I was looking for a very specific model year 2015.5-2016 in this case.  The 2015.5 models got a face lift, new infotainment, navigation, 3G connectivity etc.  Before that is too old tech, this date range they replaced the engines with the mega boosted 4cyl that didn’t appeal to me.  The T-6 R-Design has 300hp/325tq while the Polestar ups that to 356/369 plus Ohlins dampers, six pot brakes, unique springs and bars etc.  The problem is Polestars tend to be $30K and up, so the R-Design it is and that’s what I was looking for.  Then I discovered that Volvo offered a Polestar flash tune for the R-Design that takes it too 325hp/354lb/ft.  Car and Driver recorded 0-60 in 4.9sec and the ¼ at 13.5 @ 105 for this exact spec.  The Polestar S60 sedan they recorded at 4.5 to 60 and 13.1@107 in the ¼ in a lighter body.  Not too shabby.  The search was on. 

There are very few around with only a handful for sale at anyone time, like three when I was looking.  The closest, and best deal, was at a Volvo dealer in Buffalo NY for just $19.5K and 40k miles.  It turns out I saw the ad right after it was put up when they first got the car, before pics were taken so it was just a stock photo.  I got on the phone and asked various question about the car, confirm the price, condition, Carfax etc.  One funny thing when I was asked if it was a certified car (I knew it wasn’t) they said ‘No, but we like to have cars like this on the lot for under $20k so younger people can get into the brand who can’t afford a new one’.  I was sat chuckling to myself as I’m 50, I bought my last Volvo new 11 years ago and if I didn’t care about retiring I could sign a loan for any car in the dealership.  After discussing the car I put down a $500 refundable deposit pending seeing it in person.  It turns out that was a smart move.  They could have sold the car literally 10 times in the following 11 days.  They were getting calls from all over the country and one local guy got really irate yelling at them they should return the deposit to the ‘out of stat guy’ and sell it to him as he was a local!  Once it was cleaned up and I got photo’s I was sure I was buying it.  It looked mint other some curb rash on the wheels.  Then things got better.  They put it through their pre-sale inspection and it turns out that under NY state law that a dealer must ensure everything is well within certain specs.  As the tires and brake pads were worn they had to change them so I got new OEM brake pads all round and four new Pirelli P7 Cinturato tires ($240 each on Tirerack)  So effectively I got over a grands worth of work done for free in the already agreed (very good) sale price.  This was getting better and better. 

A couple of pics they sent me.

I found the car on Tues Oct 1^st, the original plan was to go and pick it up that weekend, Sat 5^th.  But as it was so new to them they hadn’t got the paperwork done, let alone ordering the tires and pads so we re-scheduled for Friday 11^th.  In the meantime I organized the money, insurance etc.  Next, mini road trip time. 

I finished work early on Thursday, drove home, dropped off the old C30 and jumped in the Mini with my wife and pulled off the driveway at 4:44pm.  We headed up to Port Huron and crossed the bridge to Sarnia.  At Canadian customs we asked about driving the car back with temporary paper tags and were told it was no issue, just as people had assured us here.  Next stop London ON for dinner at our favorite restaurant the Church key Bistro.  After a relaxing dinner we headed on to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  My wife is a genius at finding good deals and snagged a $400 hotel room for only $150 complete with two person jacuzzi bath tub and walk in multi head steam shower, a nice luxury after being on the road.  Saturday morning saw a relaxed breakfast in bed then a 20 min walk down to the falls.  Now, I’ve seen the falls probably 10 times over the years, but this was the most impressive yet.  I think all the recent rain means the river was running high and fast.  The water above the falls looked angrier than normal and the mist was so dense it was literally raining heavily near the top.  There was beautiful rainbows to be seen, and I can now disprove the story of ta pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Walking back the rainbow was so vivid and strong it came to within a couple of feet of, well my feet!  All that was there was very wet sidewalk, not a pot of gold in sight.  Oh well, I feel I’ve had good luck finding the car so wasn’t too upset at the lack of gold.  Back to the hotel to check out and it was a short 50 min hop over the border to Northtown Volvo of Buffalo and a first look at my car!

Inspecting the car and going for a drive revealed it to be exactly as advertised and in great condition.  The curb rash is bad, worse that it seemed in the pictures, I’ll need to do something about that at some point.  The only issue or fault was how rusty the calipers were for such a low mileage young vehicle.  Even coming from SE Michigan where Detroit is literally built on top of a salt mine, so I’m used to the effects of salt, I was surprised by how rusty they are.  Still, nothing a wire brush and some paint can’t cure down the line.  The body is perfect, just like my 130K mile 08 C30 that’s seen 10 salty Michigan winters.  Volvo know body protection.  The car drove perfectly and felt reasonably quick, although I wasn’t’ honing it yet.  Back to the dealer for the paperwork.  Man, the State of NY sure likes paperwork.  This isn’t a complaint, it looks like the State takes customer protection seriously.  Even though this was a cash sale for them (I brought a certified check) there was something like eight forms to sign, one I even had to copy and write verbatim a disclosure about Pre-Auction used car condition and limited state warranty.  Lots of  stuff, but I’m not complaining.  As we were doing this a couple of other people there walked up and asked if I was the guy buying the V60, yup.  They also confirmed the phone had been ringing off the hook.  It was one of them that told me about the irate local demanding they sell it to him not me.  I think they realized after putting it up that they could have got a lot more based on the interest.  After I’d finished signing them I did tell them I thought it was at least a couple of grand underpriced 

We left the dealer around 2:00 so stopped in Buffalo proper for lunch at a gastro pub, then back across the border with just a little apprehension but no issues and right into Friday afternoon traffic made worse as this was Canadian Thanksgiving so everyone was on the road.  One mildly concerning thing was when I hit full throttle for the first time my wife called to say there was a significant puff of gray smoke.  I wasn’t too concerned as I figured a) it could just be a bit of carbon build up from a gently driven car and an Italian tune up would sort it out. B) if there was an issue I was still covered by the 30 day state mandated warranty and c) if all else failed and it was a bad turbo or rings it would be covered by the Federal emissions warranty.  It looks like it was covered by A as frequent use of the go peddle over the next couple of hundred miles has eliminated any signs of smoke.  With the traffic being so bad our progress back Westbound was slower than expected so we decided to be highly original and stop in London again at the same restaurant, I told you it was our favorite.  Leaving London at 8:30pm meant that traffic had cleared and we were on a relatively quiet 402 heading to Sarnia.  This is where we made a couple of interesting discoveries.  With the cruise set at 75mph (I figure that was safe in a 110kmh limit) GPS via Waze said my speed was actually 76mph so my speedo reads about 1mph slow.  My wife’s Mini speedo was reading 80, so hers over read by 4mph.  What is it with German cars and speedo’s?  My, and all other, 986’s read exactly 5 mph high from 5-137mph (No experience about that to report on)  Again the US crossing was no issue and we were home by 10:30 much to our daughters surprise who just assumed we’d be gone for the weekend.  Getting up Saturday morning and the car was immediately put into ‘work truck’ mode with a trip to Home Depot then down to one of the rental properties to strip and paint the garage door, do some gutter work etc.

So how’s the car?  It’s supremely comfortable.  The seats look aggressively bolstered, but they fit me perfectly.  Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever sat in a more comfortable car seat ever.  They are superb.  The six speed auto is nicely calibrated for daily driving, smoothness and economy, but it’s still responsive enough to feel quick.  Put it across into Sport mode and you can either continue to let it shift itself or use the really nice aluminum paddles on the steering wheel.  Wow, what a difference that makes.  It really wakes the car up with lightning throttle response.  The flappy paddles are awesome, much much better than the plastic ones I’m used to in Ford products.  Not only do they feel nicer, they are light, but have a nice positive click you can feel with a positive stop rather than the plasticky feel in Ford products.  I must admit I can’t find how much boost the turbo makes or what model it is, but there is a bit more lag than my old C30 T5.  It’s not bad, this isn’t old school 80’s lag, more a slightly delayed softness of boost beginning to build off the line.  Once moving it feels fast.  Not modern Pony car fast, but about what you’d expect from 325/354 hp/tq pushing a bit under 4,000lb’s down the road.  Where it’s really really impressive is on the freeway.  Nail it at 60 and you’re doing 80 in a flash.  It’s a solid hard shove in the back.  Ride and handling are perfect for the intended purpose.  It’s a daily driver and long distance hauler, it’s not a back road barnstormer.  I haven’t really pushed it in the corners much yet, but it soaks up road imperfections wonderfully while still felling responsive.  I hope to head up North in a few weeks for a weekend away with my wife and I’ll seek out some fun roads then to put it through it’s paces, right now I’m just intoxicated with the acceleration.

Next steps will be sorting out a roof rack (hopefully just new mounting pads for my Thule) a tow bar, electrics and brake controller.  The first long tow will be late Feb with 5 people and the camper heading for Florida. 

And here it is.  Mine all mine.

write faster!

EDIT:  lol nevermind, your wrap-up post beat my complaint by a couple seconds.

EXCELLENT choice! 

I came >-< this close to buying a 2017 leftover V60 R-Design this spring but let it sit too long and somebody scooped it while I was waiting for the asking price to notch down.  Then while I was shopping for the 2019 I came across a 2018 leftover Polestar V60.  They made an offer to me on it that was right about what I could get the 2019 R-Design for.  I still sort of wish I had played hardball on the 2018 P* and gotten them down another $5k.  It would be the older generation but the body and interior would have been matchy matchy with DW's 2017 S60.

Massive congratulations - that is an awesome car and I'm sure it will serve you well!

What is with all the drop dead gorgeous new Volvo's being bought around here lately?!? 

That is a sweeeet wagon.

Is it just the photo or does it look not much bigger than the "mini". 

Great choice!  

There has been a white V90 running around my neck of the woods lately.  It really looks great in white.  

Nice find!

However, even though well within the max (empty) towing capacity limits, with a full load in the car and a loaded PUP behind keep an eye on the GAWR and GCWR.

Lovely.

Would there be enough open space in the way-back for a 70 pound dog?

I demand a picture of the three Volvos together.

In reply to Tom_Spangler :

That'll have to wait for the weekend, but trust me, it's planned.