It's a Volvo thing. Some feel the car is worth the injection of money to keep running. The one thing about Volvo's is anything you fix should be good for 100K miles. I have a 1987 745T with 309K miles on her. Lets see at 200k miles I replaced all the bushings, installed bilsteins, 25mm sways and upper and lower chassis braces. Between 200K and 300K I pulled the motor and installed a new remanufactured B230FT, pulled the auto and installed a M46 manual and replaced the 15" alloys with 16" Hydras, new head liner, drivers side window regulator, radiator, heater valve and over flow bottle. Around 220K miles I had the car repainted removing the roof rack and having the holes welded shut. Since 300K to 309K miles I rebuilt the drivers seat with new padding and covers. Replaced the motor and wiper assembly for the rear window. Last week I had to replace the AC compressor. Around 150K I replaced the condenser, evaporator and switched to 134R. The turbo was replaced at 247K miles. All I know there isn't a car out there that excites me other than the new Mustang. $38,000 for a new Cobra is a little nuts. My body is still mint with no rust or dings anywhere. I am planning to get the hood repainted in November due to all the stone nicks from the interstate over the last 100K miles. It isn't bad just want to keep the car looking nice. You have to decide what the car is worth to you.
I really like the car and want to keep it as long as I can. With the additional repairs over and above the Cost new, the car has been pretty cheap to own. At the most tossing out the normal maintanance, brakes, tires, two sets of shocks, belts, tune ups, fluid changes, insurance and fuel I have around $36K into the car. Since this is now 2004 model year and the car is worth about $2000 trade in. It is really nice and worth more than that to me. I have owned a car for 17 years and it cost me $33-35K to own and repair. $162-$175 a month isn't that bad. Figure the new Volvos are depreciating at about 50% over three years. A $42,000 S80T6 drops about $20,000 over three years. Thats works out to $556 loss every month you own it over that period of time. Still have to maintain it and the maintanance is a lot more expensive than a 200,700,900 will ever cost you.