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Great advice KlausC.
As someone who recently moved from RWD Volvos to FWD/AWD I can honestly say they are not that hard to DIY at all. There was a bit of a learning curve to be sure, but once I realized that you have to be prepared to take things out (like the airbox, battery, intake ducting, etc) to get to the stuff underneath everything made a lot more sense. There's no room to jimmy your hands/arms around things like in the RWDs.
Also, it seems like preventative maintenance is vital for these cars. Flush fluids on a schedule, and get them done before problems show up. Keep the car washed to keep grit out from under the moulding/etc to keep the body rust away.
The craftsmanship and material quality of the floor and unibody is pretty unbelievable - you'll never worry about holes in the floor again. If you get any rust it will be very manageable surface rust on the body cladding only.
I agree with Klaus on the C70 for sale as well - if you can grab a 2004 for 7k you're getting into really good price territory. There's one nice thing about the C70s - they're not as flashy as Mustangs or Miatas etc so they don't get as much attention and sometimes go for a good price because it's bugging the lot owner to see it sitting there week after week.
FWIW I think the Miatas are known as a real sportscar in the traditional sense. They're consistently reviewed well and win the slot in C&D 10 best every year it seems. I've never been in one, but it seems hard to beat in terms of quality and driving experience vs price.
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1998 V70 AWD->FWD Turbo 200k+
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