Volvo V70 XC: the birth of Volvo's off-road history

When you thought of the Swedish brand Volvo in the early 90s, you immediately thought of a large 'square' station wagon or a sedan, which is not surprising! During this time, the Volvo 850 and Volvo 940 were the two showpieces of the Swedish brand. However, that changed in the mid-90s. A change that seemed to be necessary in view of the European sales figures: where Volvo sold 234,539 cars in Europe in 1990, only 171,612 units were sold in 1993. Fortunately, a new generation of Volvo cars arrived in 1996.

The S40 sedan and V40 station wagon were both rounder and smaller, so these cars belonged to the popular compact middle class. A year later, Volvo introduced the C70, which was available as a coupé and convertible. During this period, Volvo also released the successor to the 850: the V70. And this last car is the car that needs some explanation. All the more reason to continue reading here!

The Volvo V70 as successor to the Volvo 850

As mentioned, the V70 was based on the Volvo 850. The 850 was the first car with side impact airbags and because of the somewhat 'grey image' that Volvo had in the late 1980s, it had to become a modern, safe, but also sporty car. And it worked out nicely! With its striking performance in various racing classes, this station wagon gained popularity of the characteristic sound of the 5-cylinder. However, after five years in production, the plug was pulled from the 850. Or well, kind of.

As mentioned, the Volvo V70 arrived in late 1996. The car was made on the basis of the "Volvo P80 platform". This platform uses a transaxle design with the engines and gearboxes mounted transversely to a subframe. This turned out to be just about the only thing in which the 850 and V70 looked alike, because a total of 1800 changes were made to the 850 to create the V70! Among other things, the angular lines of the 850 were exchanged for rounder shapes, the front was renewed and fully painted, the seats were new, the dashboard was new, the car received central door locking and the brakes were equipped with ABS functionality thanks to the ATE MK20. The car was available as petrol / diesel, 2WD / 4WD and automatic / manual transmission.

The V70 XC comes insight

The first year of the V70 was a great success. In the first year after the introduction of the V70 (1997), Volvo sold more than 12 percent cars than they did in 1996. A success that was partly due to the V70. In September of that year, Volvo presented a new version of the V70 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. There they unveiled the V70 XC, which was also referred to as the V70 Cross Country.

In addition to the visual differences such as the bumpers, sills, grill and the addition of a mudplate, the car received standard four-wheel drive and a Visco clutch. In addition, the car was higher than his brother, which increased the ground clearance by 2.6 centimeters. This transformed the V70 from station wagon to a real crossover! That meant that Volvo's first crossover was born and would compete with the Subaru Legacy Outback. Together with the original V70 and the later revealed sporty V70 R, Volvo sold more than 370,000 of these cars between 1996 and 2000. About 53,000 of them were a V70 XC.

1st generation Volvo V70 XC

Second generation V70 XC

In the spring of 2000, Volvo already introduced the second-generation V70, which also included the V70 Cross Country. The new generation was built on the new P2 platform. Critical points of the body of the car were glued instead of spot welded. As a result, according to Volvo, the new body was about 70 percent stiffer than the first generation. In addition, the space in the car was designed more effectively: the wheelbase was extended by 5 centimeters, without increasing the total length. The car received more loading space as a result of this change. The ground clearance increased from 16.6 centimeters to 21 centimeters thanks to a bigger suspension.

The grill was changed, mudguard extensions were used to accommodate the large tires, the bumpers were given a tough and black appearance, and the AWD's Visco clutch was replaced with a Haldex clutch. Where you see with many modern cars that a few bumpers are added to spice up the car and make it cooler, the V70 XC is really a crossover with AWD. This rugged character was further underlined in 2002 after Volvo became the official namesake of the Ocean Race. A number of "Ocean Race Special Edition" XC70s were introduced and were painted in a unique color blue with a number of silver-colored accents, such as the roof racks.

The part that was not renewed in this second generation was the throttle body. Years later, we can say that this throttle body is one of the all-time most notorious throttle bodies. The position sensors in this Magneti Marelli throttle body still used sliding contacts on the position sensors, which are subject to heavy wear. This causes the sensors to wear out over time, preventing them from functioning properly.

Another fun electronics fact: The S60, V70, S80, XC70 and XC90 all shared the same instrument panel!

On their own

After three years as a variant of the V70 on the market, this changed in 2003. This had everything to do with another car that Volvo launched in 2002. In that year Volvo presented the XC90, the first SUV of the brand that was extremely popular in America, among others. Now that this off-road model got its "own name", the off-road V70 XC couldn't be left behind. That's why in 2003 the name was changed to XC70. Surprisingly, this model received a facelift a year later. While the adjustments were mostly visual, the infamous throttle body was replaced with a new Bosch throttle body.

2nd generation Volvo XC70 facelift

Third generation

Four years after the facelift, the second iteration of Volvo's first all-terrain vehicle was said goodbye. In 2007, the V70 was completely renewed together with the XC70. The proven second-generation concept was redesigned in this third generation. The station wagon was again made off-road-proof in both visual and mechanical aspects. In addition, the choices in engines were also greatly expanded. New variants of the turbo diesel engines, often equipped with the Hella turbo actuator, were presented. The petrol engines now had six cylinders, instead of five in the previous generations.

The XC70 Mk3 became extra popular in a number of countries because the car was used there as a police car. Especially in Sweden and England, there were plenty of XC70 police cars on the road. And to be honest: such a tough off-roader in police colors doesn't look wrong, does it?!

3rd generation Volvo XC70 from the Swedish police

Unlike the second generation, this version was not given a facelift. In fact, the XC70 was not even followed up at all. In the spring of 2016, the last XC70 rolled off the production line and was succeeded by the Volvo V90 Cross Country. Although the XC70 is no longer part of Volvo's SUV / Crossover program, it was the very beginning of Volvo's off-road range afterwards. In the current Volvo range, you also have the option of choosing a slightly more compact V60 Cross Country in addition to the V90 Cross Country. Volvo uses the name "XC" only for their SUVs / cross-country vehicles (the XC40, XC60 and XC90). Who could have imagined all this Volvo SUV buzz in 1997 !?

Remanufacturable parts for the Volvo XC70

1rd generation Volvo V70 XC 1997-2000

ABS-unit

2rd generation Volvo V70 XC / XC70 2000-2007

ABS-units

BCU

Instrument clusters

ACC

Hella Turbo Actuator

3rd generation Volvo XC70 2007-2016

ABS-unit

Throttle bodies

Instrument cluster

Hella Turbo Actuator