The only thing that was wrong with my car were turn light bulbs. I had to replace them a few times. The dealer has changed them without any cost and fixed the problem. Since then for 71,000 km I haven't had any other problems.
The car has a sport suspension. It handles very well on different pavements and on corners. I recommend to use winter tires during cold and slippery months of winter. The car is comfortable for whole family. It has a quiet interior and award (European) winning 200 watts stereo.
I live and work in Toronto, Canada.
In May of 1997, I started out with a brand new S70 T5, manual transmission model. I love driving this car. However, so far it has had to have two new clutches, one of which was beyond warranty. It has also required, at every service interval for the past two years, repairs totaling at least one thousand dollars, and in one instance, almost two thousand.
The car now has about 130,000 miles on it. You may say that is a lot, but I bought the car in the belief that the Volvo is very reliable, or so the conventional wisdom seemed to say.
My friend bought a V-6 Camry in 1996, has 167,400 miles on it and has done nothing, but change the oil and repair the brakes. The records of places such as Consumer Reports appear to show that his experience is normal.
Something ain't right in Sweden.
I also have the 1998 S70 T5 SE purchased new. Now it's got about 120,000 Km on it. At first the light bulbs burned out one by one and replaced under warranty (manufacturing flaw). Then the battery died. I later found out that it was very easily to accidentally depress the trunk lid open button on the remote. This caused the trunk light to remain on and drain the battery. The dealership addressed this problem by turning the trunk light switch to "off".
I've had the clutch replaced due to some hydraulic fluid from one of the clutch cylinders leaking into the cluth plates.
One time, after my car was serviced, I could not put any fuel into my tank without it gushing back out. The dealership replaced the entire fuel tank siting that something broke off and was plugging up the tank.
Other than these major problems, I've had problems with easily broken door locks $300, and antenna wire replacement $100, brake rotor replacement $400, etc. Total this with regular servicing and the bill can go up to $500 each trip to the dealership.
At times, I did get the feeling that some repairs were not necessary. Maybe this contributes to the "reliablity" of Volvo cars as well.
I still like my car though.
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