Well,

I decided to by the 2000 AWD R that was for sale about a 25-30 hour drive from where I live in Ottawa, Ontario. Deposit is put down, and I should be flying out to get it next weekend, for the drive home. I hope Volvo ownership will be an enjoyable experience, and I have a feeling with this car, it will be!! whoo hooo :)

Thanks to those who responded to my questions. I'm sure I'll have many more.

Stacy

(will have my R in a week)

Stacy,

I'm glad things have gone well for you on this. Just remember though that when you get it back to Ottawa it still won't be the fastest Volvo in town :)

Garth

'96 850 Turbo Wagon, IPD ECU and Sport Exhaust

Kanata, Ontario (sleepy suburb of Ottawa)

not AWD, but big honking snow tires and a driver who

learnt to drive in Saskatchewan winters

Yes, but it has the potential to really KICK YOUR ASS, especially in the wet! :)

Yannis

Yannis,

I'm just razzing Stacy !

He's already a faster go-karter than me, and has a good reputation for track driving (we're both in the local Porsche club).

As to the Volvos in the wet, I'm not sure which car would have the sustained edge. My new summer tires (mounted but not used yet, we are still covered in snow here) are a set of Michelin Pilot Sports which are supposed to be pretty good in the wet, and I've got a lot of upcoming handling mods (IPD sway bars, strut brace, and Bilsteins on order). Off the line in the wet, the R AWD obviously has an edge, but on a twisty road course good tires and balanced handling can be competitive with AWD.

Garth

'96 850 Turbo Wagon

'78 Porsche 911 (engine was rebuilt over the winter and still sitting

on the dyno being broken in, it's still a long time

till Spring !)

Garth,

Maybe we'll have to bring the wagons to one of the Tremblant track days and try them on the skip pad with the sprinklers :) You'll have to let me know how you like your new Michelins as the all seasons on the R will be chucked for a good set of summers as soon as spring hits.

Stacy

98 Subrau (now for sale)

87 911 track car

00 V70 R (in a week or so)

Stacy,

I should be able to give you lots of feedback on the Michelins when I return from the One Lap of America mid-May. I'll be putting on about 9,000 km during that week, with lots of road course, oval, and drag strip content. Equal to at least a few months of "normal" driving.

Garth

Are you saying you're the fastest Volvo in town? ;)

We should get together some time. I'm putting in a PES/GIAC chip with a 3" downpipe, 3":2.5" cat, and a 2.5" cat-back, with an open element air filter either at the end of the month or in early April.

I gotta wait for the weather to warm up before I can devote the TLC on the car I'd like to before adding that much power to the car in one shot.

I do a little drag racing with friends at St. Thomas/Cayuga. But the majority of the racing I do is the gathering with people every Fri and Sat night in Toronto/Scarborough to race. Interested?

Sin,

It may be the fastest Volvo in town, but I'm probably the slowest driver !

From what I understand from previous correspondence, I suspect you've got the edge on launch technique, and your upcoming mods sound like you'll have even more of an edge.

If I roll close to your area this summer, I'll drop you an e-mail.

Garth

Sounds good! I'd love to go to or run some event that I could make it to, and finally see and race some of these incredible Volvos on this board.

I own a 95 T5-R and love it. Blk/Blk leather/suede. 63000 on the clock and I plan to do some upgrades over the summer. Possibly a level II or III from Eastern Aerospace. I thought the car was untouchable until a loss against a 98 GTP Pontiac in the 1/4 mile. Although a 98 Ford SHO could not catch it last night. Take care fellow Volvo owners.

How about their Level IV? 120 spanking HP!! I thought they used to have a kit to get your car up to 400 or 500hp. You will beat almost anything on the road with just those minor upgrades. Who said Volvo is slow? I can't wait to see their level VI to come out.

KAI, lets be serious........I realize the tranny goes south at anything around 300 horses so I've been told. I would just like to get some extra ponies out of it. A friend did some upgrades to a 96 850 Turbo, 3inch down pipe, 2.5 cat back, chip, etc and the car flies.

Nope, tranny will not be your first concern. Don't believe everything you hear. But you thought you were going to get that level II or III thingy from them, why not give their other packages a try? I'm very interested in these packages that tuners offer. They give you so many choices...so many decisions to make, like shopping at WalMart or something.

JAYT5R, do you know if the GTP was modded? Stock to stock you should win. I have a modded 95 850 turbo (chip, 3" downpipe, 2.5" cat back, K&N drop in etc.)and my best buddy has a modded '98 GTP (w/ 3.4 pully, borla exhaust, K&N cone etc.) We are pretty much dead even in the little racing we've done.

-Michael

THX FOR THE INFO MIKE, MY FRIEND REFUSED TO DO ANOTHER PASS..I WILL ATTEMPT THE 1320 FEET WITH HIM AGAIN BEFORE HE ADDS ON THE RAM AIR SET UP.

BY THE WAY BOTH VEHICLES WERE STOCK AT THE TIME OF THE LAUNCH.

Haven't seen any of the cars in question, but Garth's could very well be faster. Unless I'm mistaken, the 850s had a higher top speed than the V70 (might just be the speed limiter) and from the factory, the FWDs are faster than the AWDs. Obviously, if you throw enough money at it, you can always make it faster, but with comparable upgrades, the Rs will have a hard time against the T5s.

Mike

Garth's car is probably faster than mine, but that's for a reason. Garth has decided to do the One Lap Of America again, only this time in his wagon!

I don't think I'll do any development on this car since all of my modifying dollars/time go into my 911. But considering I've modified every car I've owned (except the Subaru), I many not be able to resist the challenge :)

Stacy