I'm driving a 2k Volvo V70 these days, getting it ready to sell for longtime customer. It reinforces my belief that cars built right around 2000 are just about perfect. New enough to have the good electronics to run the important stuff, but old enough the window switch is a switch, not a module. No CAN bus lines. Right sized- no 19 inch tires, no bulbous pedestrian friendly hood, smooth and right, no Bangle butt, no transformer angles, just a civilised car.
You could buy a V8 efi 20 mpg pickup truck that you could see over the side of the box without a stepladder, semis had electronic controls for pretty clean exhaust pipes, but no EGR and particulate traps to halve your gas mileage.
ABS and traction control could be disabled with the pull of a fuse.
All good things, I think.
In reply to Streetwiseguy:
I hear ya. I have the same thought nearly whenever I drive my 2000 Silverado 6.0. New enough to be refined and reliable, but very little in the way of tech for the sake of tech.
Plus I can afford many of them! That's a biggie.
Streetwiseguy wrote:
I'm driving a 2k Volvo V70 these days, getting it ready to sell for longtime customer. It reinforces my belief that cars built right around 2000 are just about perfect. New enough to have the good electronics to run the important stuff, but old enough the window switch is a switch, not a module. No CAN bus lines. Right sized- no 19 inch tires, no bulbous pedestrian friendly hood, smooth and right, no Bangle butt, no transformer angles, just a civilised car.
You could buy a V8 efi 20 mpg pickup truck that you could see over the side of the box without a stepladder, semis had electronic controls for pretty clean exhaust pipes, but no EGR and particulate traps to halve your gas mileage.
ABS and traction control could be disabled with the pull of a fuse.
All good things, I think.
"No EGR" means "has VVT, which gunks up and is a right pain in the ass to fix."
At least, it does on the B4204T engine, which is the little pile of aluminum in my S40. I'll probably scrap the car before pulling the engine apart to de-gunk it so it will pass emissions. Time is money, ain't got time, gotta spend money.
CANbus is awesome. Everything talks to everything else. Having diagnosed problems on pre-CAN vehicles, I'll take a CAN system anyday. (If you have an OBDII test port, your car already has some form of CAN, by definition)
