What is this car’s history?
10 June 1997 – Imported to Newark, NJ
30 Sept 1998 – Registered as a commercial lease vehicle with 1,098 miles
03 Dec 2001 – Sold in Falls Church, VA with 47,474 miles
01 Apr 2007 – Sold in Columbus, OH with 151,602 miles
14 Sept 2018 – Sold in Franklin County, OH with 248,036 miles
26 June 2020 – Sold in Delaware, OH with 278,462 miles
21 Feb 2023 – Sold to me with 302,143 miles
Fun Fact: I bought this V70 exactly one year after I bought my S70, to the exact day.
What does this car need so far?
Well, considering that it has 302k miles, it needs just about everything. The passenger’s side inner tie rod is probably the loosest one I have ever seen despite the steering rack supposedly being refreshed 30k miles ago. All the bushings that I have seen so far look original to the car so those are tired.
There is a humming coming from the driver’s headlight wiper motor whenever the key is in position two or when the car is on. All the motor mounts are very worn and there is horrible NVH in the cabin on acceleration. The power steering is quite heavy as well, so I imagine it needs a new pump soon. The timing belt service is 30k miles overdue as well.
The interior does not hide the fact that it has 302k miles, either. The headliner is sagging and the driver’s seat is torn in multiple places.
I think you can see where this is going…
What is my vision for this car?
Well, given that nearly everything in this car is tired, this car will be getting a proper stage zero. This does not come as a surprise to me at all, I bought this car fully intending on refreshing everything. Eventually I might swap an M56LK with a Quaife LSD into the car, but that is certainly not a priority. It is almost completely rust free and in pretty great cosmetic condition, so I have no problem putting considerable money into making this car great.
This car replaces my Mistral 2001 V70 T5M in my fleet, meaning this will become my GT car that I take out on road trips when the roads are not salty. I wanted the 2001 T5M to be that car for me, but with the electronics in that car throwing fits constantly, I could not go any significant distance comfortably. My friend needed a new daily, and I\we both thought that car would fit that position better.
I have a particular OEM+ look I am going to go for with this car. I will be getting rear mud flaps, a factory wing, 17″ Arrakis wheels, and an egg crate grille. For the interior, I am debating on keeping it tan, going with black Alcantara, or going with the two tone P2 sport seats from my 2001 T5M. That is to be decided.
Pictures
I apologize for how insanely dirty the car is in these pictures. This car was being transported from Ohio during a snow storm, so it got very salty. I wanted to spend today washing it until I realized it was about 20 degrees outside. I wanted to get pictures regardless, so here they are. I will wash the car soon and get better shots.
With my prior Swedespeed threads, I have not been as active in them as I would have liked to be, so one of my goals with this car is to be very thorough and responsive in this thread. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or comments about this car, I look forward to hearing them!