I have a '99 V70AWD... it's a very delicate drive-train... it's true that you have to use a flatbed tow only, but I believe that is the case for all AWD vehicles in this class (like the Outback, etc.)... it's also true that you have to replace all the tires when one blows -- this happened to me at 17k miles and it was an unpleasant surprise...

(I drove four miles on the "Playskool" spare to the tire store, and I still worry about what that may have done to the bevel gear in the differential that Volvo will refuse to cover when something manifests itself, a long time from now...)

These '98-'00 XCs/AWDs are notorious for needing expensive differential fixes because the owner replaced only one tire out of four, or failed to duplicate tire brand and size, or had the car towed on two wheels, etc. The anecdotal evidence suggests these cars are more fragile than Outbacks, Cherokees, etc. Volvo has been pretty unresponsive on this front I think -- the owner's manual we got with our car contained no warnings on tire-size or replacement precautions. About a year later they mailed us an insert for the manual with all those warnings spelled out -- I guess after the failure rate for the AWD differential had started to show up in the marketplace.

Anyway, we have not had trouble outside of an insanely high tire bill. But then again the car has not given us the peace of mind/reliability assurance we thought we were getting from Volvo. If we had it to do over again we'd buy FWD only.