I purchased a 94 855 for my wife two years ago. Now let me state that this vehicle did not have a previous happy life as it was owned by a couple in the throngs of a divorce settlement and the car took a far amount of abuse. That said, we have had some expensive repairs that I feel were not related to the previous owner. The following have given us grief:

A/C evaporator coil
Drivers power seat cable
Tail gate rattle
PNP switch
Heater blower motor
Console shift lock

And now the car had to be towed to the garage due to a locked up left rear wheel from delaminating parking brake shoes.

We have an excellent mechanic who used to work in a Volvo dealership and he has been doing our service for 27 years and he tries, really tries to keep on top of things, but this Volvo is not on par reliability wise with previously owned models. I have a 98 S70 with 140,000 Kms on it that I don't expect to get the same lifespan out of it as my recently sold 84 240. That one went 360,000 Kms and is still in service today. But time will tell.