[Big Will]

Hi all,

I know this a pretty old thread but thought I'd add a bit of info.

The P80 AWD cars were indeed available with a manual gearbox as already mentioned. It all started with the 1996/1997 850 AWD. I originally believed that all of those came with the M58 gearbox but supposedly there were a few automatics out there (I've never seen one!). This was Volvo's first AWD attempt and the components remained pretty unchanged through 2000 (functionally through 2002 when Volvo started using a Haldex AWD system).

The 1997, 98, 99 and 2000 V70 AWD was available with the M58 AWD gearbox.
Same for the XC version. I was lucky enough to own a 2000 XC SE manual in Sweden years ago.

The 1998 V70 R AWD was also available with the M58 but the 99 and 2000 (ME7 computer equipped cars) did not get a manual option from the factory.

In the U.S. market, the AWD manual gearbox was never available. In Canada the 850 AWD was sold and 7 1998 V70 AWD manuals were sold. Of those original 7, a few have made their way into the U.S. over the years. No manual Rs came to North America.

By now, a few of us have converted their automatic P80 AWDs using the M58 gearbox as this was tough to find in North America. More people have used the more modern M66 gearbox for their conversions. It's pretty straightforward and all the original AWD components work. No need to use a more modern angle gear. For a -1998 model the original automatic axles also work. It's more complicated for 99 and 2000s but there are axles out there that work.

Software on -1998s is easy. Either use a manual ECU from a T5 or manual R/AWD/XC or there are upgraded tunes available now from several tuners. For the ME7 cars there are also now some options through tuners.