Faults:

Both front door's vinyl inserts de-laminated.

The cup holder broke after 6 years of use.

The parking brake shoes tend to seize if they aren't released after getting wet.

The "soft-touch" coating on some of the switches scratches easily.

General Comments:

This is my first Volvo.

In general, I am very impressed with the quality of the vehicle both inside and out.

The seats are unsurpassed. The control placement is mostly logical and the switchgear is solid. The sound system is very good as well.

The motor is powerful and the handling in satisfying, although it isn't a sport sedan.

However, the maintenance demands seem high for a modern car. I do most of the work myself, so costs are manageable.

I wouldn't recommend the car to someone unwilling to commit to strictly following the maintenance schedule.

Faults:

I have put approximately 6000 miles on the car. There have been absolutely no problems with the car at all.

General Comments:

For the price that you can find these cars for they are a huge bargain.

The leather interior is very comfortable especially when going on long road trips with friends.

Performance is awesome with the turbocharged five cylinder along with the rare five speed manual transmission. The T5 has an impressive 0-60 time of 6.4 seconds and a 1/4 mile time of 14.9@96.7 mph.

The factory suspension is fine for the to and from work commute, but if you are a true enthusiast you may want to contact IPD and get one of their Bilstein suspension upgrades.

The factory exhaust is good, but a little restrictive. IPD has a awesome cat-back system that adds 10 horsepower which brings the horsepower to 253.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

I see all the S70 bashing and have to disagree with the general asseessments. I had a 1995 850 which I put 250,000 on before selling it. It was the most reliable car I've ever owned. The 98 S70 is pretty much the same car - uses the same engine, and even the same doors. I bought mine used with 72,000 in November and have put 20,000 on it already. No problems whatsoever. Have owners service records before me and he didn't have any of the problems listed either. Headlights fine, brakes last, runs perfect.

Regarding expense of owning a Volvo - find a Volvo repair specialist that you trust. The dealers are "extremely" expensive and the last place to take your car. Locally they charge $700 for a timing belt, I get mine done at a small Volvo specialist garage for $135. I actually own two Volvos and will buy many more because I have such a trustworthy reliable place to get them repaired if they do break.

Recently a garage quoted me $380 for rear brakes and rotors. I bought the pads and rotors off the Internet for $130 and changed myself in less than an hour. They're great cars to work on - very easy.

Seems like there were a few lemons out there judging by other posts, but I wouldn't let that deter you from buying a Volvo. They're great cars - reliable, safe, and last forever.

Faults:

The engine "blew" at 89800 miles.

General Comments:

I bought this car when it was 3.5 years old and low mileage. Every now and then it had a single hesitation when it was idling, but I didn't think anything about it and Volvo told me it was OK. It has performed very well until about 7 months ago. It sounded like it had a muffler problem due to the increased sound coming from under the car. I took it to Volvo and was told it was fine. I took it to Midas twice and was told the muffler was fine. About a week ago the noise was a little louder and it was running rougher than usual. It was due for my 90,000 mile check up and I thought that was it. On the way home recently my car died with no warning lights. It just died. It was towed to Volvo and I was told that there was something wrong with the inside of my engine and I would need a new engine. A new engine at 89800 miles? Aren't they supposed to last? Aren't they the "quality" car. Beware buyers.