Hi

I now have 1300 miles on my T5 (pseudo manual). So far the car has been a joy. Only defect was in the 10CD changer, which had to be replaced. Since I assume that Volvo doesn;t make the changer, hard to blame them. Dealer (SD Volvo) replaced on the spot, though of course I was out the 2 hours. Next time I will remember to bring my notebook to the dealer!

Finally got to open the car up on a Tgiving drive from SD to Palm Springs on the backroads. A real joy for the 5 minutes I was not behind some camper or car that thought that 40MPH was the right speed for a twisty road. But the car was a joy. There were a few times when I could do a hard acceleration from 50 to 80 and the engine clearly enjoyed it. Was very nice passing cars, especially downshifting to 3rd. Only suprise was that the acceleration seemed very smooth, nothing I would call a "kick." But it did get to 90 very fast, so I assume that the turbo must be working well (else that is one hell of a 2.3L engine in a wagon with three people and lots of gear).

My only disappointment, other than no kick, is that I am still only getting 20-21 MPG, even on the trip to Palm Springs. This is measured both by fillups and the onboard trip computer (remembering to reset at fillups). This does seem low, I expected closer to 30MPG to Palm Springs, though there was a lot of 40MPH driving plus the climb out of Palm Springs. Should I be nervous or I am still well before steady state here?

For whatever reason, and knock on wood, no unusual rattlers (other than the cup in my daughter's cup holder), no tick tick in steering, and seemingly good turbo performance (my first turbo, so hard to judge, but V70 does seem to outperform my wife's Acura 3.2TL).

Thanks for any input on the gas mileage. I am running Chevron premium (93 Octane as I recollect), so I doubt it is the gas.

Neal