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Hi - yes we had good luck with the rear wheel drive cars. The 1984 240 and 1988 740 were drivn past 200k miles. The 1984 had a 6 cylinder diesel which was a mixed blessing. It got good milage, and because it was difficult to stall was a perfect car for teenage driver training. On the other hand it was underpowered and the engine was pretty worn out at 220k. The 1996 960 has 145k on it and runs very well...I expect 300k at least until I get tired of it. We bought a 1987 240 with 96k for our daughter to take to college. She finally donated at 250k after using it for commuting to work.
My secret (I think anyway) to this longevity is to ignore Volvo's recommendations for all fluid changes and usually cut them in half. It doesn't cost all that much more and the cars seem the better for it. Mechanical parts get serviced on schedule or as needed. And I have someone do the work, so it gets done.
Like you I was puzzled by all the negative comments. When we started shopping for the S80 in 2000 I prowled the forums. I did a little digging into the archives here and elsewhere and came to the conclusion that many of the posts were in-fact the experiences of a few individuals spun a little differently each time. I did find positive comments from several users on Edmunds. I also asked several S80 owners about their experiences at the dealership - conclusion, generally positive. My sense is that people who have positive experiences with a car tend to not really think about them and integrate the car into their daily lives. They won't spend hours on forums positing glowing reviews.
It's not possible to have a trouble free car...they are just too darned complex. And it's not realistic to expect that a car won't break down...they all will wear out. Every car dealer I know of has a service department and they are all usually backlogged. We test drove a Benz with a 5 speed that was all but impossible to shift. Initial response was...it's new. A week later the response was..."this is the second one this month, and it was fixed." I think Volvo makes a good car, but like every other one it has to be taken care of. The key is finding a dealer with a good back shop and continuing to do business with them.
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