It depends on who you ask, and what you're looking for. The V70 is a more complex and refined machine than the 240, so it offers a better ride and handling and more features, but that also means there's more to go wrong, it costs more to repair, and it's harder to diagnose problems and repair them yourself. But that's true for any new car, especially those generally considered Volvo's "competition: (Saab, Audi, MB, BMW). It's still a solidly built, durable car that will last forever, you just might have to drop some change along the way compared to the old bricks that only needed oil changes for 200,000 miles (at least so the mythology goes). I have a 2002 V70 and love it, though it isn't old enough for me to have hit the problems people cite here. I would buy it again in a heartbeat. But I'd also avoid the '98 and '01 model-years (first years of the 1st and 2nd-gen V70's, when they were still getting the bugs out.)
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Mark 2002 V70 11k