Unfortunately for you, the 1998 S/V70 has about the most reliability problems of any Volvo. But, you have encountered most of those. The good news is that the fixes are almost always true fixes to a problem (Volvo corrects them), so they should not occur again.

It is a beautiful car to drive. It is the safest car on the road. People walk away from Volvo accidents that would have crippled or killed them in most other cars. The latest roll-over footage I've seen is amazing. I've had three (a 850, V-70, & 940), they all are about the best vehicle for what they were intended as I have ever owned. They are also more reliable than Mercedes, Saab (way more), VW, BMW, most US cars (though US cars are cheaper to repair), and any other car of their class, except the Japanese cars. But the feel of almost all Japanese cars are not up to the Euro cars (except maybe the new Acura TL). By all rating systems I've seen, Volvo is "Average" reliability overall. This is good enough for me with all the other advantages they have.