V70: General Pollen filter

[V70greg]

Yes totally agree, I only buy reputable brands. Almost never from a dealer (I have been surprised on occasion where the branded part is cheaper than OEM).

Mostly dealer prices are for those with more money than sense. In my opinion no offence meant.

Example a friend (Dr of science) of mine who had a perfectly working car, took it to the stealer for a service on which they did a test on his battery which was no longer @100% and told him his stop start maybe not working fully (he said it did still work). The stealer then charged him over £200 for a new battery .

At least he saved a few pennies in fuel on his town journeys.

[green van man]

For that reason my xc70 is running Mintex disks front and back, and Mintex pads up front. There was only £4 difference between Mintex and genuine for the rear pads so stuck with volvo.

Also there are volvo dealers selling on ebay far cheaper than on their trade counters.
I got 4 litres of volvo coolant for £19 on ebay from the same dealer in Newcastle I bought the car from, local dealer it's £11 a litre.

The manual gearbox oil is a Ford item and may well be cheaper from a Ford dealer.

Paul.

[griston64]

Originally Posted by Clan

Its also worth noting that the volvo filters have a charcoal layer the ones half the price don't . You always get what you pay for with the genuine parts .

Interestingly I got my V70D5 serviced at a reputable independent last year for the first time ( always been Volvo ) and funnily enough I can now smell all the fumes and farmyard smells for the first time since I bought the car new !! I'll be going back to Volvo from now on

[V70greg]

On a previous car I skimped on the cabin filter (How much difference can that carbon make, years ago cars didn't even have a filter right?) so I got one without carbon...

The difference in outside smells was as you describe unbelievable. The little bit extra for a carbon filter is well worth it!!

[griston64]

This

The air in a car must be perceived to be clean by the occupants, including hypersensitive people. This often requires the ambient air to be cleaned or prevented from entering the car through the ventilation system.
Volvo Cars has designed IAQS (Interior Air Quality System) as a complement to the climate control system to automatically close the air intake as required.
IAQS consists of a filter and a sensor. Consisting of an element impregnated with activated carbon, the filter (also known as a combined filter) removes particles and pollen in the incoming air. The activated carbon absorbs gases and unpleasant odours. The sensor detects the presence of substances such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons – the main constituents of diesel and petrol exhaust gases – in the ambient air.

I'm now fairly certain the so called reputable independent garage just bunged in a cheep cabin filter

[Clan]

Originally Posted by V70greg

Yes totally agree, I only buy reputable brands. Almost never from a dealer (I have been surprised on occasion where the branded part is cheaper than OEM).

Mostly dealer prices are for those with more money than sense. In my opinion no offence meant.

Example a friend (Dr of science) of mine who had a perfectly working car, took it to the stealer for a service on which they did a test on his battery which was no longer @100% and told him his stop start maybe not working fully (he said it did still work). The stealer then charged him over £200 for a new battery .

At least he saved a few pennies in fuel on his town journeys.

something odd there , volvo batteries are at the low end of the cost scale ... very competitive . would be good to see the invoice , otherwise it's hearsay .

[Clan]

Originally Posted by green van man

For that reason my xc70 is running Mintex disks front and back, and Mintex pads up front. There was only £4 difference between Mintex and genuine for the rear pads so stuck with volvo.

Also there are volvo dealers selling on ebay far cheaper than on their trade counters.
I got 4 litres of volvo coolant for £19 on ebay from the same dealer in Newcastle I bought the car from, local dealer it's £11 a litre.

The manual gearbox oil is a Ford item and may well be cheaper from a Ford dealer.

Paul.

something wrong there too , volvo coolant is about £5 a litre from the counter .. got any evidence to pass on?

Don't believe Ford parts are cheap , they are MORE than volvo , thats why you see Ford people at volvo parts counters buying mainly sensors brakes etc . . the parts you see on mondeos that look like volvo are slightly different for example suspension and driveshaft parts ..
A set of Mondeo MK 5 tail lights is about £1400 for example .

[V70greg]

Originally Posted by Clan

something odd there , volvo batteries are at the low end of the cost scale ... very competitive . would be good to see the invoice , otherwise it's hearsay .

Odd part would be the fact that he drives a Peugeot, he is French so I try not to judge too much. Hearsay.... possibly but a first hand story I had with him

How much is a 64 plate D4 battery out of interest from Volvo?

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by Tatsfield

Sometimes after market parts are cheaper than the branded OEM parts because they are badly made and of poor quality but sometimes it's simply because the branded OEM part is marked up with a user fear factor. Sometimes the OEM part is to a specific OEM spec that has some element of design protection and is therefore unavailable on the after market but often the suppliers to the OEM brand holder are reputable manufacturers and the parts are actually to their design embodying their expertise and are available under the after market brand at a cheaper price to exactly the same quality. Seeing which auto manufacturers use Mann filters leads me to believe that their specs are equally trustworthy to the Volvo branded items. I've used Mann filters for years and they certainly appear to be of high quality. I suspect the true and fair price of a filter is better reflected by the price of Mann filters than the Volvo items. This train of thought does not apply to cheap Chinese knock off parts!

Mann supply Volvo with their filters I believe. I've purchased filters from my local dealership & they have a Mann stamp on the bottom of them. So if the dealership sell them, they're definitely a decent part to be using.

Like you say, some aftermarket parts are junk & I wouldn't use them. As for Mann though, they're top quality.

[FIBAMAN]

Originally Posted by V70greg

Got mine from Eurocar parts online with their never ending 60% discount think it cost about £15 as well. Wouldn’t go to Volvo unless an emergency

yes, they have inflated their prices for years so they can give you 60% off; you still end up paying over the odds much of the time.