The model was presented at the Paris Motor Show in 2002 and officially released in 2003. While it's visually pretty much identical to the regular V70, the R is a lot more expensive and here's why: Once you get inside the car, you'll notice 3 buttons on the dashboard: Comfort, Sport and Advanced. That means that you can change the stiffness of the ride by the touch of a button.
The comfort mode increases the softness of the chassis and is ideal for urban traffic and family road trips.
The car's default setting is the Sport one and combines both comfort and sportiness. When it comes to the Advanced Sport mode, we're already talking about the feeling of driving a sports car. The V70R was equipped with Volvo's most powerful turbocharged engine, a 2.5L to produce 300 HP.
The model accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds and is electronically limited to a top speed of 250km/h. Customers could choose between a six-speed manual gearbox and a five-speed Geartronic automatic transmission (the driver could still change the gears manually without using a clutch).
With the more powerful engine, Volvo thought about safety and equipped the car with more efficient brakes – four-piston aluminum Brembo brake calipers on 330mm discs. This car looks like the perfect combination of a family car and a sports one.