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yes it will make a difference to stability having the awning at the rear.should always go over the axle and any other items of weight you have goes there too.too lighter nose weight will also give you a bounce effect.you need to reach your 75 kgs nose weight or whatever yours is.mine is 92 kgs.some LRovers 150 kgs.

http://www.cuddles.abelgratis.net/volvo.htm#v7002

There are several things you need to know. Firstly what is the MTPLM of the caravan? When you know this you calculate 7% of that weight which should give you the caravan noseweight. You need to find out what Volvo recommend for maximum towball weight which probably is around 75kg. but whatever the figure is you need to aim for the noseweight that the car is allowed because too light or too heavy can have a detrimental effect on stability. To check your noseweight you can do it two ways which is the proper way or the cowboys way. The cowboys way is using a broom handle and bathroom scales and the proper way is to purchase a proper noseweight gauge. The dealers advice to leave any heavy equipment at the rear was incorrect as this is probably the very reason why you encountered a lot of bounce and that's why you need the specified weight on the towball itself.

Sorry, you entered the info before I posted.

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/helpandadvice/technicalhelp/datasheets/

As you are a newbie then a little extra information regarding noseweight, caravan loading and stability may be useful so here is a useful link with some good advice.

http://www.a-tconsulting.co.uk/caravan_tech/stabilisers.html

Quote: Originally posted by Pepe la Pew on 09/9/2012You're van will still bounce even if you have got all your equipment stowed in a safer place. They do that!!

Hi, we have an 05 V70 D5 with self leveling suspension and have found even when loaded correctly (as much as i can be) that for the first 2 or 3 miles i get quite a bit of bounce until the shock absorbers have stiffened up,

As others have said try loading correctly, try it, and move around things till you get a good ride. 

Ours bounced or as we called it 'lopped' and i was unsure about the feeling of towing. we were advised to stow our awning up front, we opted to put it over the axel, and when we weighed the nose weight it was soooo heavy, like off the scale and we now stow it almost on the rear bunk bed to get the 75kg nose weight we need, once we got the NW right it tiwed like a dream!!   this was our first van, so had a few steep learning curves!

best place to be asking is on here!