My four-year experience with Volvo has come to an end. We bought our 1998 V70XC used with 41,000 miles and had one relatively problem-free year. After that, it was one problem after another. I never minded the niggling little problems, but the fact that the car left my wife and kids stranded twice (once with a bad transmission, and once with a bad angle gear), put the nail in the Volvo's coffin.

Advice from you brickers really helped along the way. Unfortunately, the car's overall reliability remains suspect (in spite of religiously performed routine maintenance).

Remaining issues (when traded in):
* Emergency brake cable binding / starting to seize. $400 estimte to replace
* Whining/whistle/howl from A/C, probably due to a blockage near the orifice tube. $300 to clean out and see if it fixes the problem.

We decided to get a Honda Pilot. More room and much better reliability. We have always owned Hondas, until we took a foray into Volvo ownership. We loved the Volvo and the way it drove, but we never had the confidence in it that we had for our Hondas.

As I said to my wife when we were considering whether or not to buy the Pilot, "When I drive the Volvo and smell something funny, I wonder how much it is going to cost to fix. When I drive my Honda Accord and smell something funny, I wonder what's wrong with the car of the poor guy driving in front of me!"

Maybe we'll someday come back to Volvo, but their reliability will have to improve significantly before that happens. Life is too short to sit on the side of the road waiting for a towtruck, isn't it?

My best wishes to all you brickers. Keep the maintenance up, and enjoy the driving!

I just have one thing to say about this post, and that is that you're completely right! I've been without a Volvo in my life for about two years totally since 1967 when I bought a 123 GT. With Volvo's current electrical/electronic/mechanical difficulties as of late, I truthfully think that I'll be leaving the Volvo camp with my next car. In November, the dealer found a nail in the sidewall. Even though I asked for them to put the two new tires on the front, they put them on the rear and only inflated to 32 PSI. Bought 2 new Scorpions at a tire store the next day. My roof leaked during the torrential monsoon that we had last Winter...Not covered under warranty because it wasn't broken ($88.00 to adjust). My front strut inserts are lunched but can't be replaced under warranty because once again they're not broken or leaking. And they don't carry Bilsteins ($600.00 at my local independent Volvo shop). They couldn't "find the clunking" noise under the front susp. so I drove the car up on ramps, removed the belly pan and found a center bushing on the sway bar was toast. I found two bushings from my old mustang that I replaced myself. Engine surges under light throttle...God only knows. CV joints are clicking...and Oh, My God, what about those Nivomats? I've already had to open my fuel door manually twice with that little piece of rope hidden behind the panel.

Right on jpryb! I agree, they're not reliable cars. We've had our 2002 XC since new and have had numerous problems with it. It started with a leaking rear main bearing seal, then lots of electronic issues involving seats and mirrors, a door lock that unlocked when the car was unattended, erratic transmission shift patterns, a worn out lower ball joint, and a cracked CV joint boot, and all this on a car that has never been off-road with only 40,000 km on it.

Granted, these things were all repaired on warranty. However, the car will be coming off warranty in Dec/05, after which we'll be paying the piper ourselves. With the repair rates at Volvo being what they are, I don't think so!

In short, when compared with the new GM, Nissan, and Acura products was have owned in the past, the Volvo comes up well below what is "acceptable" for a car in this price range, so our first Volvo just became our last Volvo.

See you at the Honda dealer jpryb.

Hey...Wait For Me!!!

We have 3 Honda/Acura autos and 1 Volvo and own stock in Honda but not in Ford...

I'm going to spend my day off tomorrow trying to get my Volvo's AC system just diagnosed correctly because it's got my local AC guy completely baffled at this point.

So good luck! The Pilot is a FINE automobile!

-BTC

What is your AC problem? I have done a lot of research, and may be able to help.