I'm behind on my blogging so…….
B-Nelly and I took a quick road trip to pick up a new toy
that we bought. There were a few
interesting stops along the way that I'll blog about in more detail later, but
for now the highlights (and low lights) of getting our Volvo V70 R from
Springfield, Illinois, back to Texas.
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| The post office in Texarkana is the only federal building to straddle a state line. Random travel photo op! |
We flew into Springfield on a Saturday morning to pick up a
"Passion Red" Volvo V70 R that I had purchased from a dealership
there. The key here is the
"R". I should mention that I
have a real fascination with 'Sport Wagons' and think it’s one of the few
things Europe has gotten right. Wagons
are everywhere over there - they call them 'estates' - and they make a lot of
sense. In the US there is a real stigma
about wagons, they are viewed with almost the same disdain as mini-vans -
mom-mobiles for getting groceries and taking the kids to soccer practice. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of
EVERY wagon, but Euro Sport Wagons are fantastic. What could be cooler than an E63 AMG Wagon
with over 500 horsepower that will embarrass ANY Mustang or Vette (short of a
ZR1) off the line?
Unfortunately, the antagonist to my "Wagon Plan"
is my wife, who shares most of Americas views about the versatile
vehicles. Before jumping into an E63 - which
is VERY expensive - I thought I would try to sway her slowly with a charming
little Swede with some real teeth. Volvo
stopped importing the V70 this year, but you can still pick up the older
ones. Within the Volvo line, the
"R" is the performance arm - the same as AMG for Mercedes, or M-Sport
for BMW. This particular car has about
300HP from a twin-intercooled turbo charged inline 5-cylinder.
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| We have a rule when we travel about not eating in places we have at home. We discover some pretty good local joints because of this, and the Angus Chophouse in Litchfield, IL was fantastic! I may have eaten just a little too much. |
When we picked up the car, I was fairly pleased. It seemed to be in remarkably good condition
and was about what I expected. We paid
for it and headed into downtown Springfield to do some
"Lincoln-ing". Springfield is
really Lincoln Central. We stopped at
the Lincoln Presidential Library and it was much better than I was
expecting. I learned quite a bit about
our 16th President.
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| The long-lost Lincoln family members. The Lincoln Library and Museum is really interesting and worth a stop if you're in Springfield. |
It wasn't until we headed out of the parking garage that I
noticed something wrong with our new toy.
The headlights wouldn't come on - none of them. I played with them a minute and then headed
to the only Volvo dealer in town. They
were very nice, but unfortunately the service department was closed on
Saturdays. This issue changed the rest
of our trip as I was planning on doing a lot of driving into the evenings in
order to maximize our daylight hours for sightseeing. As we continued to St. Louis, I noticed
another issue - a vibration from the rear that wasn't terrible, but concerned me
because I was afraid it was the drive shaft to the rear wheels (the V70 R is
all-wheel-drive). A third issue turned
out to be the brakes. They worked OK,
but the racket was deafening - and embarrassing.
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| St. Louis - I like this picture because of the intensity Nel is showing trying to get a picture of the Arch. |
The car actually drove really well. The engine and transmission performed
perfectly and the AC was ice cold - fortunate since it was over 100 in the
mid-west for every day of our trip. We
did some antiquing along the way. Nel
loves stopping at antique malls, and I have to admit it's kind of fun for me as
well. Sometimes we buy some really odd
items, but we didn't come home with much this time.
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| Nel was excited about the room our wagon would provide for antique finds, but we really didn't buy much for some reason. |
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| My nephew almost ended up with this sword - almost. |
The Volvo made it home without really ever causing us any
concern. Our mechanics at Space Center
Automotive did their magic and every issue was addressed. The headlights turned out to be no big
deal. The vibration was rear sway bars -
a much easier issue to address than the drive shaft would have been, and the
brakes are now all new - which turned out to be a pretty expensive fix. Sport Wagon = Expensive Brakes.
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| Other than being hot, the weather was great except for this one storm in Missouri with hail that had everybody pulling off the road. |
We've taken it to Wichita Falls and back since, and Nel has admitted that she likes driving it. I think I'm winning her over!
