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!