General: 70: V70R Volvo Inspection East Lothian / Edinburgh

[Cramond]

Hi, I'm looking to buy a sporty Volvo Estate & have been offered a V70R unregistered import that I think I want to have inspected the by someone that knows a little bit about Volvos.

The car seems to have reasonably low mileage at under 70,000 and from the pictures and description looks rust free and the price seems reasonable assuming that there are no glitches from the UK registration.

The one thing that is unusual is that the 4 C active suspension appears to have been removed and regular suspension fitted. Is this normal? Bad/Good ? Its an AWD by the way.

The traditional Car Inspection services don't seem to be willing to carry out an inspection on an unregistered car so I'm needing a local specialist in Edinburgh or East Lothian to undertake this for me. Any recommendations of who to contact ? I've read through the registration process & it seems straightforward if admin heavy as long as all documents are present. Any top tips here useful as well!

Thanks in advance

Cramond

[Rich850R]

Originally Posted by Cramond

Hi, I'm looking to buy a sporty Volvo Estate & have been offered a V70R unregistered import that I think I want to have inspected the by someone that knows a little bit about Volvos.

The car seems to have reasonably low mileage at under 70,000 and from the pictures and description looks rust free and the price seems reasonable assuming that there are no glitches from the UK registration.

The one thing that is unusual is that the 4 C active suspension appears to have been removed and regular suspension fitted. Is this normal? Bad/Good ? Its an AWD by the way.

The traditional Car Inspection services don't seem to be willing to carry out an inspection on an unregistered car so I'm needing a local specialist in Edinburgh or East Lothian to undertake this for me. Any recommendations of who to contact ? I've read through the registration process & it seems straightforward if admin heavy as long as all documents are present. Any top tips here useful as well!

Thanks in advance

Cramond

I’d be going no where near it if the 4C Suspension has been swapped out, reeks of what else has been done on the cheap

Unless it was KW coilovers etc which it sounds like it hasn’t

I’m soon to be selling my dads sonic blue with Atacama with low mileage V70R with low miles soon

Cars wanted for nothing and is near perfect

[100K+]

Originally Posted by Rich850R

I’d be going no where near it if the 4C Suspension has been swapped out, reeks of what else has been done on the cheap

+1 on the above.

Cheers
Bob

[SwedishScotsman]

Originally Posted by Cramond

Hi, I'm looking to buy a sporty Volvo Estate & have been offered a V70R unregistered import that I think I want to have inspected the by someone that knows a little bit about Volvos.

The car seems to have reasonably low mileage at under 70,000 and from the pictures and description looks rust free and the price seems reasonable assuming that there are no glitches from the UK registration.

The one thing that is unusual is that the 4 C active suspension appears to have been removed and regular suspension fitted. Is this normal? Bad/Good ? Its an AWD by the way.

The traditional Car Inspection services don't seem to be willing to carry out an inspection on an unregistered car so I'm needing a local specialist in Edinburgh or East Lothian to undertake this for me. Any recommendations of who to contact ? I've read through the registration process & it seems straightforward if admin heavy as long as all documents are present. Any top tips here useful as well!

Thanks in advance

Cramond

I’m not a mechanic but quite mechanically minded and nearby. If you don’t have much of a clue about cars I’m happy to come along. I’m not far.

[Turbodave]

I assume you'd need somebody mobile? If you can get it to them, then there's the likes of Craig Moncrieff at Hermiston Gait, Ron Sealey over in Cowdenbeath and also Car Craft in Broxburn. I've used the latter two personally for work on my now departed V70R and would have no issues recommending them.

I'd also echo the comments about the 4C removal. I'd be very very wary about investing in a car that has been modified in this sense, more so a standard one as it does reek of the cheaper option but not always the best. On which note, these things aren't that cheap to run so avoid any that have been run of a budget or have cheap modifications.

I think I'd tread very carefully with any Japanese import... yes they may have less rust concerns but from what I've seen and read, an import and paying top money is absolutely no guarantee of a good car. I debated one when I was looking for mine and instead, bought an honest UK manual and then spent the balance fixing it's many many many issues.

Then sold it...

With respect, if you're knowledge of these cars is minimal then I'd research them to death and be very prepared to spend a lot on maintenance. The issue being, they're very old hat these days and very complicated thus most garages would struggle so you'd really need to find a good specialist.

I adored mine but it was hard work, especially coming from a long line of 850 and earlier V70 T-5's which are about as complicated as a house brick. In some ways i'm glad I did it but in others, I wish I'd gone with those who advised buying a manual T-5 instead.

Being honest, I don't think I'd have another P2... they're of an age where they're now just complicated and old and thus keeping one in good condition can be quite expensive. For a V70R, dial that up several notches. Don't be put off my my tales of woe, but go in with your eyes and your wallet fully open as a bad one could be ruinous.