New XC70 owner
 

I have now upgraded from my old V70 (2005) to a 2015 XC70. It has been a long time coming but was decided by my V70 gearbox losing its reverse gear. So far I am absolutely delighted with my new one, but need to calm down a bit and get my head out of the clouds. It is a dream to drive and although a D4 still has more power than my old D5 and the auto gearbox is so easy, but my left foot and left hand still keep wanting change gears. I will be looking on here for mods and upgrades to make this motor even better. :teeth_smile:

The D4 is only a lesser tuned version of the D5 but still the same basic engine which was 163bhp when first developed and later upgraded to 185bhp, so you have the same amount of power 163bhp as your previous Volvo in a far more modified engine.

2008 XC70 D5 Se Lux Geartronic

Performance specs state 178bhp. Although I have seen it stated in other places between 180 and 185. Either way I doubt my D5 was kicking out much above 150 due to its age and condition. I am looking at a possible re-map mainly for economy but you always get s little extra bhp to boot :teeth_smile:

Shop around Volvo dealers and see if you can get a Polestar upgrade on the cheap. It transformed my 215 bhp D5 and I'd recommend it to any Volvo owner.

further investigation suggests that a re-map would void my 12 month warranty, so it looks like i should wait for a year and if still happy with the car, then have it remapped for economy. :cool:

The 181 hp D4 engine with Polestar turns into the D5 original specification of 220 hp. At least for a 2016. Maybe you get only 215 hp in a 2015. Numbers here are from the Swedish market.

Doing a Polestar upgrade will, perhaps, do a very tiny improvement in the economy corner. But it's not worth the cost. If you add Polestar, then it's for the increased performance. The economy thing is so minor that it's sole purpose is to tell your missus that you did the upgrade to save money...

From whom is the warranty? If it is from a Volvo dealer and is the Selekt warranty, which is about the best second hand car warranty you can get, it is unlikely that an official Polestar upgrade would invalidate it. It's an approved Volvo option so an official Volvo warranty couldn't exclude it. And if it's not, as long as you didn't stick the Polestar badge on the tailgate, how would anyone other than a Volvo dealer with a diagnostics kit even know that the Polestar option was resident. It's not like it's a backstreet boy racer engine busting rewrite. Would it invalidate the warranty if you fitted an alternative set of genuine Volvo wheels with winter tyres? Of course it wouldn't. Seems like a restrictive practice to me and if you want the Polestar, I'd just go ahead and do it.

Polestar upgrades are fully supported by Volvo and do not affect new or used car warranties. Also some insurers treat them more favourably than performance upgrade maps. What's also noticeable is Volvo market and sell them as "software optimisation" rather and a performance upgrade.

i didn't by the car from a ''Volvo'' dealership. the mainly sell BMW/Audi/VW , Dace German Motor Dealers. i will check my warranty to see if anything specific resided within ;)

I know the garage well.

There’s a very good independent Volvo Specialist just up the road too (Hallmark).