If you love the R get it. If you want to pay less get better performance save on repairs and gas get a 99 V70 T5. I have 99V70R that I bought last year and I love it but if I were to do it all over again I would get a regular T5 loaded and maybe upgrade the suspension, the R suspension is nice. The R is a heavy car and that really reduces performance along with the AWD eating up some of the power. The added weight translates to higher fuel costs and the AWD will cost more to repair in the long/short run. The T5 is a lighter faster car, just needs some handling upgrades to bring it to the R level. I find the AWD on my R a little squirmy in snow and ice. I find that it can transfer too much power to the rear wheels and makes the rear end slide out in a really strange and unpredictable way, plus there is a real delay in the transfer of power to the rear and back again to the front, just weird. I'm just now getting used to controlling it. You might consider doing something like this as well

http://www.ipdusa.com/project_cars_xcr.aspx

I think the light pressure turbo with IPD upgrades would be a better performer than the turbo engine in the R or T5. Seems it would be much more responsive.