Hello all,

I bought my 2002 V70 last year, because my 960 gave up on me after 340.000 kms. I chose Volvo again, mainly because my 960 was a real brick. Solid and sturdy. Although it was 4 years old when I bought it, it wasn't used very much because it was only driven on the Volvo-factory site. It looked and felt as if it was new.

Overall, I like my V70 very much because of its safety features, the looks, the seats and the space... I very much dislike the enormous turning radius and the silly radio, but I can live with that.

However, I am really concerned about the paint. It's a non-metallic black car, and the paint seems really fragile. I had bird poop for a couple of weeks on my 960 and it washed right off. I had bird poop on the roof of my V70 for two hours, and the paint is damaged. I had it polished by Volvo, but it is still somewhat visible (grey-ish area). The paint also scratches easily, and I've found two spots (at both sides of the car, where the roof and the tail meets) where the varnish seems to peel off.

I know black is not an ideal colour, because it works kind of like a mirror which highlights every scratch or dent. But I also feel the paint is weak (and we don't have a Californian sun over here). I was told by someone that cars nowadays are painted with water based paint, were they used to be painted with solvent based paint. No argument there: this is better for the environment and the safety of the workers, but... is the quality of the paint as good?

Does any of you have similar experiences?

uturn2.