Leaderboard

So I've got a new car, and surprisingly it's not a 130i, or even a BMW 😅 It's a Volvo. Yes, not what you'd expect but I have some history with this car. It was my Dads, and it's extremely well maintained and in amazing condition. Completely stock, super dark tints and all. Bit of a luxury sleeper, this is one of ten NZ New sold. About 15 total in the country. S60 R-Design T6, Polestar Enhanced. S60: Sedan, 3 series sized R-Design is a bit like an M-Sport, exterior and interior trim package with upgraded brakes and springs/shocks etc. T6, Straight six turbocharged and AWD. Top of the tree model. They did make an S60 Polestar Halo model, kind of like an M3. Polestar Enhanced, is a factory tune to 330hp and 480NM(355lb/ft). Probably most equivalent to a 335i but more luxury, has the most comfortable seats you'll ever sit in. This thing is rapid, torque galore and grippy with the AWD that can split power up to 50:50 depending on traction/right foot buried. The exhaust sound is expecially meaty, with a bit of turbo noise at higher rpms. Somewhat different to what my 130i was, which is immediately confident in corners etc whereas the Volvo requires more to be confident with the grip. Volvo is faster, that same torquey-ness style of power delivery, but more, everywhere. And it's really nice place to be in. So far have absolutely nothing to do to it, I had it detailed and ceramic coated so nice and shiny + protected. She's pretty thirsty when you're getting down the road but I knew that going in. I don't do a whole lot of kms these days so it's great for me. Car has done less than 100k kms, mint condition and I got made an offer I couldn't refuse so now I'm an old man Volvo driver. Photos below after/before ceramic coat and detail. Now blindingly white. I will get some interior pics, it's very Scandinavian. Lots of leather.

Love a VOLVO! Great stuff, looks awesome. I often find myself checking trademe for V70R estates 🙂

Replacement bonnet got given the same treatment as the rest of car. Before After

Yup - Yamaha v8 which I’m sure had a specific 6 spd autobox mated to it too - wanna say Aisin. Both Japanese! Heard S80 sedan is epic. am liking your S60!

Had 2 of these common in recently for rear main seal failure/vacuum leak, not a cheap fix. I'd be changing the pcv if it hasn't been done.

Tend to go for Erling gaskets but used Victor Reinz ones plenty on M30 and M20 engines, like you said been around forever . There was a bad batch of them many many years ago, but not sure if that was localized to M30 engined ones or not, probably a non issue.

Yes it's verging on proper quick, apparently Volvo is a bit understated with the torque on these, and it just picks ups and goes with no loss of traction. Interior is definitely top tier, just a beautiful place to sit. The driver dash is all digital, it's quite nicely done with the tacho in the middle. That S60R is epic! I've been doing a bit of reading up on the performance Volvos. They've got a bit of history with spicy cars.

This one is pretty rough, and appears to have been dicked with a bit, judging by the springs in the boot, and it's a repo! https://www.turners.co.nz/Damaged-Vehicles/Damaged-Cars-for-Sale/bmw/320ise/26607615 An SE is always nice. There seems to be a lot of manual SE models. Dad had a 325i SE manual for 18 years. Plus a 320i is a waste of time as an auto. slowest and hungriest of them all.

Thought I’d update this, car is pretty much how I want it now so no real need to change much, especially with having picked up an e30 as a new project (there’s a thread for it on here too if you’re interested). car drives great, works perfectly, couldn’t be happier with it, feels special to drive. Took it out for a summers evening drive and got some photos.

Hi Guys, just closing the loop on this in case someone is searching for one of these in the future... I ended up purchasing one from Chaos Calibrations in USA: https://www.chaoscalibrations.com/store/CHAOS-BMW-K-DCAN-INPA-OBD2-USB-Cable-p410327542 Timely delivery, reasonable price, and a nice quality unit. It is basically on a par with the Bimmergeeks cable in terms of updated chip / firmware etc it worked perfectly to flash the DME on my e60 M5 to Euro tune spec. cheers paul