Love the way our new shoes and brakes look on our P3 Volvo wagon. Must resist the urge to lower it…ugh!!!
The new finish on our stock P3 V70 wheels looks amazing and matches the silver R-Design accents of the fog lamp covers and rear view mirrors almost perfectly. The Corvette Electron Blue Metallic G2 finish on our calipers is very subtle and looks like a factory option the car could have come with from the Swedish assembly line.
No doubt our cosmetic mods worked out, but how did our tire upgrade perform? We are happy to report that the wider Nitto Motivos are performing flawlessly. We wanted a comfortable and quiet tire, and the Motivo definitely delivered as promised in those departments. We also wanted to increase the cornering performance of our heavy wagon and the Nitto Motivo delivered again! The car’s front grip no longer washes out when entering high load turns and steering wheel feedback when giving any steering wheel input feels more precise. This is the biggest benefit of our new Motivos over other all season high mileage tire options available, as it really makes driving the car a much more fun and rewarding experience. Really looking forward to the next road trip, aka opportunity to find new windy roads.
Living in sunny Southern California hasn’t given us the chance to really test the wet handling of our Volvo with its new Nitto Motivos, but we have no doubt it will perform flawlessly. When the tires were first introduced to the market we conducted a driving experience for the Nitto Motivo initial launch where we put the tires through numerous tests in various conditions. The Motivo’s wet and dry performance were outstanding!
If you are looking for a tire for the one stock car in your driveway, look no further than the Nitto Motivo. The wife will be happy with the comfort and you’ll be able to have some fun in the twisties when she’s not around. Or when she’s around too, if you’re fortunate enough. The dry performance Nitto has been able to squeeze out of the Motivo is truly a great feat considering it has a 560 treadwear rating. We can confidently recommend the Nitto Motivo for any daily driven car. We are looking forward to many happy miles in our refreshed V70.
Not gonna lie, I still keep my eyes open for a super clean set of Pegasus wheels and want to lower the ride height a little. Unfortunately/fortunately there really aren’t many suspension options for this platform. If you know of something sound off in the comments. Stay tuned, as I may or may not be able to keep my hands from modifying this car.
Sources
Nitto Tire
Embee Perfomance Coatings
G2 Caliper Paint
5 comments
I drive/modify a P80 (MY00) V70 R, so I’m super excited to see a Swedish wagon on MotoIQ!
I’m gonna nit-pick this article a little though because although this is a cool wagon, it’s not a V70 R. The last V70 R made was the P2 (04-07) that the Pegasus wheels you mentioned came from.
The P3s were badged as “R Design”. I’m not trying to be pedantic about it, but the distinction is that the “R Design” is largely a cosmetic package, without any performance upgrades. The P2 R models got some upgrades over the other trim levels at the time such as a 300 HP turbo 5 cylinder, 4 piston F/R Brembos, better suspension, etc.
I’m pretty sure the P3 V70 shares a lot of parts with the P3 S/V60s, which have a ton more aftermarket support. I don’t know those models as well as some of the older ones. Either way, I’d suggest you check out Viva Performance and IPD for some suspension upgrades, and FCP Euro for any maintenance parts you’ll need. Good luck!
Hey Andy, that’s totally fair. It is a shame the P3 only got the cosmetic R-Design package and didn’t come as a “real” V70R.
Thanks for the info on the S/V60s. Was just recently at a junkyard looking at other Volvos for similarities.
Hey Martin, I totally agree it’s a bummer Volvo didn’t make a P3 R model because the turbo versions of the I6 is pretty potent, especially if they get a few aftermarket goodies.
Volvo, as a smaller company, shares a lot of parts between their models. For example, my 2000 V70 R is running a mix of parts from 4 distinct generations of Volvo models. Admittedly, most of that is so the 6 speed manual swap works with the stock AWD system…
It may be very possible that a set of coilovers from a S/V60 would bolt right up to your V70. Might want to spend a little time exploring the Swedespeed forums – there’s a lot of good info available and it still has a fairly active user base, so hopefully you can find the answers your looking for.
Again, super excited to see a V70 on MotoIQ, and I’m looking forward to some future updates!
I’ve bought 3 sets of Motivos. Best sporty DD tire. Period.
No, they’re not MP4S, but they do stick very well and have excellent feedback. Wearing like iron is icing on the cake.
That’s good to know, thanks for the feedback. My set of PSS are nearly worn, and I’m looking for something that will last a little longer, so I’ll have to keep the Motivos in mind.