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Tony,
I too fell in love with the 98 V70 AWD. As with your story, I also looked into Subaru Outbacks and seeing as how I found one comparable to a 98 Subaru, it was a no-brainer to go with the Volvo. I did a couple of things to protect myself. First, after finding the one that I wanted, I found a leasing company who would buy it and lease it to me on a short lease basis - 2 years. If I like it, I'll buy it out, and just in case it turned out to be a 'lemon', I'd have a way out, just covering my bases I guess.
But after I started driving it, I loved it even more. (I'm pretty well committed to buying it.) I too got worried a few months after getting it and started to go the Brickboard. One thing you've got to realize is that because of the nature of the board, you will hear more 'complaints' afterall, it's frustration that compels you to write to a board (as I have a number of times), if you were totally happy, what would motivate you to start a thread about how problem free you car is ??
The second thing that I did to make sure I could sleep at nights is to purchase the extended VIP warranty. It's like insurance ... what am I talking about it is insurance ... and spending < $2000 for approx 3 years is well worth it especially if you have the AWD version.
Last bit of nugget that I found out from the board is that the date that your car was manufactured has a big factor in terms of reliability. Apparently, the earlier they were manufactured in 97, the higher the probability of it having lots of problems ... logical! I checked mine and it was made in Dec 97. Ones made in March were notoriously unreliable.
NEways, in short, IMHO, I think you got yourself an awesome vehicle, I still catch myself looking at it after it's parked and I'm walking away, she looks gorgeous and it drives like a dream! If you are still feeling a bit worried, get yourself the VIP and you'll be set for a long time.
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