1999 Volvo V70 Base review from North America

One piece of interior trim replaced under warranty.

Numerous cleanings, etc. of throttle body, resolved with throttle control unit recall.

Recall for light harness. No symptoms.

Leaf in mass-air sensor. Cleaned myself.

Stitching opened up on driver's seat. Repaired myself.

Some interior trim wearing and fading.

Some intermittent, non-critical, lighting failures (left half of clock backlight, shifter indicator backlight).

Interior rear view mirror failed at hinge at 105,000 miles. Replaced myself with 850 mirror from u-pick-it for $5.

I wouldn't believe all the negatives. Must be some self-selection error going on here. I know lots of Volvo owners, and none have issues. Mine has been on 5,000 mile road trips without a fault. Mileage is better than when we got it, and it rides as well as ever.

Past around 80,000 miles the noise started picking up, and it's no longer as silent as you'd expect a European touring car to be.

I have paid for some serious repairs, but they are all from customer abuse. They do not behave well after being high centered, and mudflaps, air dams and the whole rear end have been repaired or replaced as a result of some unfortunate alignment with the driveway. Even these have been reasonable to repair.

Dealers are poor, and expensive when you get out of warranty. Any big-city owner should be able to find a 3rd party expert, however. Even Kansas City has 3-4 Volvo specific repair shops.