There actually seems to be some suspicion that the later volvos are not as good as the older (850, 70 and before) ones. Guess it depends on who you talk to. Yup - everyone here knows about the evaporator and RMS. The ABS unit is a known weak link also - who knows how they screwed that up. I have read Rocha's ads on ebay, and it sounds like at least one discrete component (ie resistor) was undersized in the module and burns up. Being an electrical engineer, that is a pretty embarrasing defect. Brakes, hey, well, they seem to be undersized. I would hate to have a heavy foot for the brake pedal in this car.

Now, how about that Volvo ride? This is why we drive it. Bear in mind you are complaining about an 8 to 13 year old car. Once my Passat hit 6 years old, and *more* things started breaking, I was even more upset than I was earlier. But it rode great and I loved the car. It too had become expensive, but I wish I had kept it.

Your current rant is justified to an extent. I feel safer than any other car I have had in my 850, but I am not one of those Volvo safety reputation fanatics. It is just the feel of the car. If the ABS and Trac lights were acting like a Christmas tree I might feel differently. If the car has been maintained moderately well, sinking money into it should serve you well.

Mechanics always have been a disgruntled bunch. Most people here would say that his opinion on where to get your ABS fixed is what they would do.

Um, spend some time reading the posts here, if you need to, to see what the consensus here is regarding whether the 850 is a "terrible" car. Your mileage may vary, but good luck.