Greetings all,

just wanted to say hi, and thanks for such a nice & informative forum to browse! I just purchased my first ever Volvo, a 2006 S60 2.5T AWD, took delivery yesterday and all I can say is nice. Looking forward to (hopefully) many happy years together.

Just not 100% sure about something, since I've never owned a turbocharged vehicle - and despite the dealer telling me it's 'normal' (and having Volvo warranty till 2012), I wanted to hear from other S60 drivers. When starting the car, as well as turning it off, I can hear a definate spinning up and spinning down of what I would imagine is the turbo (sounds like a jet starting its engine, but not nearly as loud). At start, it's a turbine 'whirl' sound, that disappears & blends in with engine noise once it reaches speed...at engine stop, it sounds the same, but whirling down for maybe around 15 seconds or so after the engine is off. It's isn't sqeaky or overly noisy...just something I've never had on previous cars.

So, is this in fact the vanes of the turbo...and is it normal to hear them spinning up & down? The manual says to run at idle for a few minutes after 'hard' driving to let the compressor cool. For more normal city driving, is it ok to just park & stop?

Also, some confusion with the type of headlights on this car - the Volvo dealer's ad (was a pre-owned Volvo certified purchase) for this car said bi-xenon, but then the salesman said they weren't. Driving at night for the first time yesterday, I could tell that just by the crisp white beam color, they weren't regular halogen...the bulb looks like a xenon strobe tube with an outer metal wire running into the tip of the bulb. Clicking the high beam looked like a a shutter was moving up and down. So, are these in fact bi-xenon or not?

Thanks!

When strating the car, it may be the turbo you hear since the rpms are higher for the first 30 seconds or so. You should also be able to hear it/feel it around 2500 rpms when accelerating. But when you turn the car off, it's the engine fan and/or the HVAC fan. This is normal. The turbo isn't running when the engine is off.

As for the Xenons, it sounds like they are. If you open the hood, there should be a warning sticker about high volts above the lights. My assumption is that cars with halogen bulbs don't have this?

+1 above, with addendum.

2006 S60 Turbo's came with xenon lights. I'm unclear as to whether or not their bi-xenon though. The easiest way to tell: turn your car on in your garage and turn on the lights. Stand in front of it and look at which light is on. Then turn on your brights (hi-beams). If you stand in front of it and notice it's the exact same bulb but brighter then woo-hoo you have bi-xenon headlights.

I'm 99% sure their bi-xenon for the 06 S60T.

Thanks for the replies...

the headlights are in fact bi-xenon....just by looking at the bulb and comparing it to the manual's bulb replacement guide (too white to be halogen, and yes, the high voltage sticker is under the hood)...suppose I'll have to teach the Volvo salesman a thing about bulbs!:-)

As for the turbine sounding noise...had Volvo test drive it yesterday...and it is actually the rad fan that is making the noise, so they will be replacing it.

Kind of pissed that I had mentioned it during pre-purchase road test, and they were supposed to look into it...ended up telling me 'it was normal'. Nope...it wasn't.

Cheers!