We liked our 2012 XC70 so much that I searched for the earliest year for the same platform.

I found a 2008 at a great price at a KIA (?) dealer. It had some shallow scratches on just about every surface on the car, including even the gas door! It was about $8000 than any others I found and only had 97K miles.

They even let me take it to my dealer and they found that the vacuum pump was bad and the brake pads did not contact the rusty rotors. The dealer (Gervais Kia in Lowell MA) replaced the vacuum pump, put new front rotors in, turned the rear rotors, and installed new pads all around - the car also had new tires.

Both cars have been absolutely trouble free.

The only problem we ever had in the 2012 has been a mirror puddle light that fell out (I could see the blue RTV that was used to glue it in - even a supposedly new light. The light had a claw on one end and a detent on the other - if you don't put the claw on first, you break it as you push the light in place.

Many small items in the Volvo use the same process. "THE PROCESS STARTS WITH A SMALL SCREWDRIVER,,," But you have a 50-50 chance of picking the wrong side!

I did have a water retention problem with the 2008 but a service writer showed me how to flush at the intersection of the firewall and the front fender - a ton of debris, mostly pine needles came out!

BTW - both are 3.2 NA and seem to have plenty of power if you depress the gas pedal smoothly and deeply. Mileage is in the lower 20s to upper 20s depending on driving conditions, I use Sunoco 260 as it is not much more than regular if you consider the price of all blends.