- click on images to enlarge -

I bought a very nice Volvo 1998 V70 R AWD in March 2000. This is the special 'R' (racing) model of the Volvo V70 line.

R model of V70 was only manufactured during 1998 and 1999. The AWD R model was extraordinary in many ways. They had four-wheel-drive, lots of power (250 hp in 1998, 265 hp in 1999), sport springs - and they had basically all extra accessories installed by default, including air conditioning and leather interior.

The AWD R models also had special interior and exterior options which were only available for them. In 1998, the AWD R could be ordered with Saffron pearl metallic yellow (as featured in my car), in 1999 the special R colour was laser blue metallic.

My AWD R has some extra nice touches; chipped motor, 18 inch alloy wheels (Triton model from Volvo C70 line-up) with 225/40/18 wheels and dual exhausts (which were a default for 1999 AWD Rs but not for 1998).

But the really special part of the car is the audio setup I installed to it. The system is based on MP3 only.

The source is Empeg Car, as manufactured by Empeg Ltd in UK. This baby is the size of normal car radio, but it in fact is an ARM-based computer, running Linux as an operating system and storing MP3 files on a hard drive. My model has a 6GB drive, storing around 1200 MP3 files - good for a week of non-stop musing. Basically I have transferred all my CDs to the unit with room to spare.

Uploading the music is done by picking the unit by the handle, pulling it out and carrying it to my computer, where I upload song with a USB cable. It takes roughly a minute to upload one song.

As Empeg Car is a computer (see the Linux logo next to my Empeg serial number 251), it allows lots of nice details.

Details like very nice computer graphic visuals while songs are being played (developed by Prolux Visuals, known for their rave party video wall graphics), or simply showing song details, such as artist, song name, album name and year. This is something you really start to miss in normal car radios after getting used to Empeg.

I can also make searches like Find-all-songs-made-in-1985-and-play-them. Or Find-all-classical-songs-and-play-them. Or Find-all-songs-by-The-Smiths-and-play-them. I've generated suitable playlists which I normally use, including playlists for children's music and children's stories, to keep my kids entertained on longer journeys.

I was initially worried that the MP3 songs would not have good enough sound dynamics for car audio use.

Especially, I was worried about bass output, as I planned to install some serious bass. Above you see my trunk after installation. It looks completely normal when the bottom lids are in place. However, when we lift them...

...we see the amps and subwoofers.

Amplifiers are Velocity VR 2100 and VR 450, producing enough watts. Dual subwoofers are 12" Velocity VCS 1200. The spare tire has been removed and a fibre-class cast has been made to fit the hole. The bottom of the cast has been filled with cement before using hartz sand to fill mounting area for the subs. All this raises the car weight considerably, but the bass is good.

The front speakers (installed behind the default speaker grills in doors and dashboard) are Velocity VX 170.
 
 

And the MP3 sound quality?

It's marvellous.

I use 192kbps or 224kbps bitrates when ripping my CDs to MP3s, and I can't tell the difference between original and MP3 in result. The whole installation sounds very nice with deeeep rich bass and totally flat sound - when I turn up the volume, nothing changes in the sound - it just gets louder.

So, I was the happyiest Volvo owner on the planet.

Great car.

Great looks.

Great performance.

Great safety.

Great audio.

Great air conditioning.

Great alloys.

Great seats.

Great car.

Then, in early May 2000, around five weeks after I bought the car, the car got written off.

I was driving to work, as usual, when I was stopped by a traffing jam on local highway called Kehä I. Unfortunately, a Toyota Hiace coming after me did not notice this until it was 10 meters behind me. Doing 80 km/h. It hit me with apporixamtely 60 km/h speed. I was on the phone, talking to a fellow over hands-free - had just time to say that 'oh-o - this one is going to snap' before it hit me.

             Luckily all persons we're ok. The Toyota has no airbags and the motor jumbed to the knees of the driver plus he might have fractured his collarbone from the seatbelts, but basically nothing serious happened.

Both cars were wasted, of course.

I could not even close front doors any more. As you see from the picture above, the right rear door moved forward, jamming the front right door.

The entire rear of the car got bent down good, look at the line of the roof.

Not much was left of my nice dual exhausts either. Nelivetotraktori means four-wheel-drive tractor, of course.

The nice Tritons survived the crash more or less, but as the whole car was written off and taken by the insurance company, so were the wheels.

Audio did not work after the crash (surprise, surprise). The whole trunk bottom was warped, and the amps and subs had been hit hard and had jumped around. However, the Empeg Car unit survided, which was nice, as there is a six month queue for new units.

But, I'm glad to announce that the whole saga has a happy ending.

AWD R Volvos are very difficult to find, but I happened to see an ad for another 1998 AWD R in the same day I crashed. I called, and found out that the car was more or less identical to mine. So I bought it and had the audio system rebuilt to it.

I'm again the happiest Volvo owner on the planet.
 

Back to my homepage Picture copyrights; photos taken Before are Copyright (c) 2000 Juha Tuominen, photos taken After are Copyright (c) 2000 Mikko Hyppönen. Car audio built by Frassen Autosound, www.frassenautosound.com.