hi all, ive been thinking of selling my impreza sadly ! i love it to bits but it is costing way too much and i cant really justify the running costs to be honest . now i know, i know a volvo but it makes alot of sense to me really

. solid build quality
. 250bhp standard
. 155mph
. 0-60 6.7
. very cheap insurance
. sleeper looks " butt ugly at the same time "
. and £1,500 gets a v nice example

anyway its done great on road tests and probably one of the safest motors out there with its sips too ? has anyone on here ever driven / owned one on here ? my plans would be to have powerflow make a straight through exhaust and get it mapped to make it a bit more lively and maybe a retrim interior and vinyl wrap ? i think it will satisfy and also improve the cash flow



thanks for any help guys and dont take the **** out of me too much

 

Nice safe,sound comfy car ... I always wanted the old yellow ones the cops use to chase me in lol

 

Look good cars and police used them so got to be reliable

 

I thought you were selling the scoob to save money and time?

 

id save a fortune mate , insurance is nearly a quarter of the price ! id get rid of my garage because a volvo will go un-noticed saving me nearly £60 a month , petrol costs will be down too and i still get a lively motor to play with = win

 

even with a new exhaust and a remap still be a lively car its just a tad heavy im sure u could sort that though

 

I had one mapped to 300bhp. Very nice car.

Although, span front wheels in second gear when boost came in. Even without the map it still did this on anything but the straightest, driest and most level road.

Disappointing that full boost wasn't available in first gear which meant it never felt that fast. Managed to get about 34mpg out of it on a run. Torque steer is monumental.

Because of it's size it never felt particularly quick, although you actually were

 

I doubt you will save much in fuel, especially with plans to remap it etc

 

not sure if i would need to fill up with the expensive stuff ? that alone would save a bit

 

been having a quick search and found a few companys that remap volvos and the prices are resonable too most claim average results on a standard s60 t5 goes from 250-285bhp so having a decent exhaust system made without cats and an induction kit should achieve over 300 ? i believe the engines to be quite strong but need to read up a bit more about the standard turbos , what boost and power they can make ? and what other bolt on mods can be done to improve power ? starting to really want one now , ill defo get a black one and get it looking sleek and stealthy i think . Black tints , black wheels with subtle body styling and quite fancy an iterior retrim with black vinyl bolsters suade centres and red stitching been planning

 

As well as the scoob I also run a V40 T4 (basically same engine with a cylinder lopped off) and my inlaws used to have an 850 T5.
I like my T4 but am thinking of getting rid because it is expensive to run, it is probably worse on fuel than the subaru. It also suffers tremendous torque steer (have heard the S60 T5's do as well) and is pretty useless at putting the power down in the first couple of gears even with traction control, in the wet it makes rapid progress near impossible.
My inlaws sold their T5 because it was terrible on fuel also.
The turbo does not allow full boost in the first two gears, a safety precaution to stop it going pop.

Good cars, comfortable and I like the fact that mine in particular looks nothing special at all but will crack on to 150mph so surprises a lot of BMW/Audi drivers, just don't expect it to be cheap to run.

Look out for a rattle when you blip the throttle and the revs begin to drop, this is a sign that the turbo wastegate actuator arm has become worn (likely on an example for £1500). This is a fairly simple fix though and can be done by simply turning the actuator rod so the wear is on the other side of the rod.

The D5 diesel is a good engine if your looking to safe on fuel costs, just over a second or so slower than the T5 to 60 and still do 140mph. Earlier ones have 163bhp, later ones 180bhp but probably have the dreaded dpf (not too problematic on the D5 though) but have bags of torque.

And yes you will need to fill up with expensive stuff with a T5 or you'll be throwing up engine codes all the time.

 

glad to hear good things what other mods did you have fella ? and who mapped it for you ?

 

Standard engine and turbo will handle 300bhp all day long. They actually made an S60R that had 300bhp straight out of the box but the engine on those were actually weaker, the normal T5 engine is better. This might be a good place to look for an upgraded turbo though if your going down that route. Volvo use Mitsubishi turbochargers.

 

thanks for the advice there fella i suppose the low boost in 1st-2nd is no big deal as it will torque steer and spin up anyway . i like the scoob very much but to be honest i find the 4wd a bit boring personally ! having a wrx gearbox limits me alot really , i cant make the most out of my car in terms of accelarating as the power could easily brake the box !! and im quite dissapointed in its mid range pace . so the t5 is more about the mid range for me really i know 4wd is for handling and would out perform the t5 easily round the twistys , but i only drive fast on a clear straight "private" road anyway

 

ok, so are the tdo5 series turbos common upgrade ? and direct replacement ?
i was thinking of a s60r before my scoob but got put off by the top gear test drive ! the suspension system is way to complicated for my liking and there are just too many gadgets in general , more to go wrong in my opinion eh ?

 

Mine is 1.9 4 cylinder turbo with 200bhp. Full boost is around 11psi I believe but think in the first couple of gears they are limited to around 6 or 7 and no I wouldn't want to run full boost in the first couple of gears it's bad enough if I boot it in 3rd gear overtaking on a straight piece of road. Boost can be increased by playing around with the wastegate but probably not advisable to go to far with it (you have to be carefull when turning the wastegate actuator arm not to tear the diaphram inside the wastegate).
The Subaru is much more a drivers car.

 

im thinking this style with a heavily louvered bonnet ? i think me minds made up for sure .
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL143.../289556918.jpg

 

They use TD04 series turbos, 14T on the T4 and 16T on T5 I think, have a look on T5D5 forum, should find all you need to know on there.
The V40 is my third Volvo that I have had in the last 11 years and have not had any real problems with any off them, never had a problem with any gadgets. S60r suffered from cylinder bores that were too wide and caused them to crack. Also the haldex 4wd system are prone to going kaput as well leaving them with no drive to rear wheels. Normal T5 has narrower bores so not affected, 05 onwards use KKK turbo.
A lot of Volvos suffer from brake calipers seizing but not had this problem myself yet (touch wood).

 

cheers mate ill check that forum out

 

The T5 is a great car, responds very well and handles all surfaces well despite being so heavy.

I have mine mapped and it generates a good 300bhp (done before purchased). Bare in mind that when the Turbo goes (changed mine at 100k) it can be rather expensive. Parts to the T5 is also more expensive than standard Volvo parts.

However, it is good fun and when you put your foot down, people get suprised. Fuel economy???? Pushing the car in Europe and averaging 145mph, I got about 25mpg. It did prompt me to install LPG which sit perfect where the spare wheel is supposed to be. At an installation cost of £1100 plus VAT and cost saving of £3000 in year one, it is a no brainer. You can easily switch from LPG to petrol when you wan't to feel the full force of the engine. LPG makes it a tad sluggish when accelerating (I'm harsh here) but with such a big saving, it is a no brainer.

Just completed a road trip in Europe and as long as you have winter tyres on, it ploughs through most areas without problem. Keep the diff ON though as without it, it can be too much "fun".

I drive roughly 30k per year and in the two years I had it, never let me down (apart from new turbo which was precautionary). Starts without problem even in -30 celcius.

Great car, comfortable to drive but not the best looking on the road.