Faults:

Nothing at all has gone wrong with this car over the 12,000 miles I've had it (and judging by the service records, nothing had gone wrong in the previous 69,000 miles either).

I've been told by many people that running on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) causes much less engine wear and this certainly seems to be the case.

Due to the large number of motorway miles, there are a few stone chips, but these have only gone down to the primer paint, so no resulting rust spots.

General Comments:

If you have to do a lot of motorway miles and also pay for the fuel yourself, then this has got to be the only choice. The comfort and noise level is not in the luxury car class, but it's way better than most diesels in terms of noise at speed. It's also cheaper to run than a diesel. I only get 29mpg (34 on petrol) but at current prices (at the time of writing, LPG is 39.9 Pence per liter (sorry - I'm forced to use American spellings on this website for some reason) versus 83.9 Pence for Diesel) this car saves me a fortune! It's a Volvo, so I expect reliability. The only downside is that Volvo hourly rates for servicing are ridiculously high in my opinion. The upside is that it's fairly cheap to insure and also a third party warranty can take away the worry of high service and repair costs.

Faults:

I noticed a crunch between when changing between second and third gear, not long after I had the car and reported this to the dealer who said they could not find it.

Since then the service manager has been very good. He drove the car and noticed it immediately. So the dealer replaced the gearbox.

However the gearbox still crunches between second and third. The service manager has agreed and it is now to have the linkages stripped again to see if this will rectify this fault.

The steering rack was replaced at 23,000 miles.

The engine cover was vibrating and was replaced at 12,000 miles.

The front and rear sections of the exhaust have been replaced as they were "buzzing".

The front door window motors / lifting gear was running very slowly, so it has been greased, which worked. However, the front near side passenger speaker was then loose, but has been refitted.

There is a knock from the rear near side suspension and the alarm is now not working so it is about to go back to have these faults fixed.

General Comments:

The engine is very sweet, its the 122 horse power version which needs revved to get the most performance from it, but treat it well and low 40's mpg is quite possible on a long journey.

There is not much room in the back for tall adults, but its adequate for day to day travel.

The specification is good on the SE, with leather, cruise control, climate control, remote central locking, a CAT 1 alarm, a good radio, cassette and single CD and an information computer giving fuel consumptions, external temperature and mileage.

If was not for the numerous faults I would say this car offers a great package of comfort, refinement, practicality and value for money. However, my experience has been marred by so many faults in only 2 years, but I have to say the dealer so far has been good and attended to all these under the warranty and given me a courtesy car on each occasion.

Faults:

The steering column squeaks.

The boot cover pulls the plastic lining away from its housing.

The ECU is at best coping badly. I sometimes have to gun the engine to keep it going. It has apparently had new software for a known fault.

Bulbs keep blowing.

General Comments:

This car is very quick indeed. But for the money you get 200hp traded against build quality and handling.

Handling aint to hot.

It does look good though and can be tweaked up to 250bhp for the enthusiasts. If you do this you might consider a roll cage.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

Very fast motor. Good buzz for the adrenaline junky.

The interior however is awful. Tacky bits abound and you could easily fall asleep looking at the dash.. If you weren't to busy spinning the wheels at 40mph that is! The interior really lets this car down. I will look next for a good performer with a better interior. Probably won't be Volvo.

Ford have not improved Volvo's boring image one bit with this car. I've got one year left with it. 1 year of looking at the dash and feeling disappointed. But putting my foot down reminds me of the real reason I bought it. It's a lot of engine for not much money.