1998 Volvo S70 2.5 Turbo from Netherlands - Comments

Brakes, disks rusty on edges, you feel vibration in pedal.

ABS, doesn't work, at -10 on top of a mountain in Austria with 30cm snow.

Dashboard, rattles, already 6x to dealer and still the same, very bad quality when compared to the 850 dash.

Bad roadholding, new Pirelli tires after Goodyear and still the same problem, tried everything else too, must be the car, to comfy for me.

Gearbox, loud noises when changing at 140 / 180 km/h. solved by dealer, now "cloink" when stopping car at traffic light.

Airco broken, also on my other first two 850's.

Strange noises from exhaust when cold, dealer can't find it, I think they don't want to find it.

All this within garantee and dealer has done a lot for me, but I don't like the car anymore.

Car is very fast. Much faster than other cars of the same price. You can feel it when turbo starts, nice! Brakes are not very good for a fast car. Very good acceleration from 160 to over 200 km/h. A lot of rattles in the car, built quality not as good as the 850 series 2.

Seats are fantastic, room is OK too. Nice car, but too much stuff wrong with it for a Volvo. Next car will be an Alfa.

Don't want to sound rude, but, do you think that an Alfa will be better built?

You're not rude at all.

I don't think the Alfa 166 is a better car than my Volvo, but it sure does look much better! And Alfa has a great engine too with this V6.

It must be that opinions are very very subjective when it comes to cars.. or maybe individual cars vary tremendously.. what can I say!!

I just came back after trying, with a view to purchasing, a 1998 S70 T5 with 198 thousand kms on the dash and I was literally blown away by the performance, stability, brakes and total absence of any rattles or noises. The road-holding and stopping power was phenomenal.

(funnily enough I have at some point owned a Lada.. and, of course, you must be joking when you making the comparison..)

My previous cars were a Passat and Jetta and even though at the time I used to think they were solid enough, after driving the Volvo I realize I must have been on another planet or something..

I bought a 1998 S70 GLT 2 years ago from the original owner. Car then had nearly 100k miles on it. He'd just replaced the compressor at a cost of about $1k. Blk ext, tan int with alloy rims.

But for a few door-dings and wear on the leather driver's seat, it looks and drives like a new car. All systems except the trunk-lift function.

City driving feels and manuevers like a smaller car, not unlike a Triumph Sptitfire I once owned; power-assist rack-and-pinion steering, 4-wheel anti-lock discs.0-70-0 mph in 2 comfortable city blocks. "Turbo-lag" is split-second, and predictble.

Highway driving stable as a bigger, heavier car; Steers with precision, corners flat (gas shocks, front and rear stabilzer bars) turbo presses driver into 4-way power-adj seat.

Watch the speedo! 60 feels like 40, 80 like 60 and so on. Vibration-free, quiet..strong acceleration at any speed. Very responsive to accelerate/brake/accelerate situations.

Europe's Mustang with Lux goodies.. all operating without flaw.

None of the elect probs elseware read (?).possibly collectable cross from the "brick" 850's to the S60's and 80's Turbos.

1998 s70 glt 125k miles.

Just had engine upper motor mount replaced drives like on glass.

Very smooth.. Still as fast as the day I bought it 9 years ago. Amazing car I am looking forward to the next 125k.