This 940 wagon was the car that brought my kids to school for over a decade and was called the Vovo. It was parked at my inlaw's house as my wife was staying there after a surgical operation on her left foot, being the only automatic transmission car in the household. We own a 6-speed manual 545i BMW, a manual VW cabrio, a 6-speed manual Pontiac GTO, a 4-speed manual Toyota Landcruiser and a 5-speed manual Alfa spider.

At 5 AM someone named Sanders slammed into the Volvo and totalled it.

As the kids had grown up and had gone to college, the Volvo was the tow vehicle for my race bikes unless used for hauling or used for medical situations when manual ttansmissions would not do.

This car was perfect. I did the maintenance myself replacing a few timing belts, crankcase position sensore, numerous brake pads and discs, fuel pump (heck of a job), radiators (2), A/C heater control module, exhaust header, muffler and many other parts. It had 315K miles on it but was as reliable as any new car.

The fellow's insurance company called me and said they would offer $1,790. I was chagrined and told them I could not buy a similarly reliable car for my wife at that price. She said essentially, to f--ck off and that was all USAA would offer.

Called my insurance company for guidance and they said that that is about what I would get from any insurance company.

Moral of the story. Don't keep old cars in great condition.

But my question is, I just put a 500 dollar downpayment on an AWD 1998 V70 that will cost me $5790. This will replace the 940. What issues do these cars have?

Well, thanks for the tips. So, I bought this non-XC one owner AWD 98 V70 112K miles. Picked it up in NJ today, drove up with my brother in law in his unique blackberry colored 97 960. The V70 looks great for the age and mileage. Drove it back to Maryland (about 300 miles) and no major issues. I did buy the 4 year unlimited mileage warranty which covers most things, including brakes and ABS, A/C system including evaporator, compressor, condesor etc., turbo, transmission, power door locks, windows, fuel system, CV joints, transfer case, etc. It is the Eagle Warranty Corp. "Liberty" policy, one step down from their best policy. Surprised to find it included a 6 disc CD changer, agood thing. Every other start up the ABS/Tracs light goes on so the $1399 for the warranty was a good idea, plus whatever comes up in the future. The policy will only pay up to the price of the car so I have to limit repairs to $5790. Interestingly, the car had all the paper work with it, including the original window sticker. It was priced at 37K in 98. Quit pricy. My brand new 2005 BMW 545 only cost 57K and that is 5 years later. What do these V70s cost today?

Well you see, I bought a 2004 M5 last year and paid what I thought was a good price at 68K to compliment my 540 RWHP turbo Supra and my beloved 395 RWHP turbo RX-7 but what I really want to know if I got a deal for the car I bought today which is a 98 T-5 with 60K mi for $7500. The only known issue is the ABS light.
The owner had a $1000 receipt for right lower suspension_(illegible writing)_sway bars, coolant replacement, oil/filter, windshield wipers, ignition lock, front right wheel bearings and axle boot. It probably needs new tires and brakes, wheel alignment and the Vitor ABS rework. Weel, did I get a good deal?...........

Sounds about right to me...not the best deal I've heard of, but pretty nice anyway, if all that's wrong with it is the ABS module which Victor fixes for under $150 (shipping included!)
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.

I would be very interested in hearing how you make out with the insurance claim for the ABS. Make sure you get "authorization" from the company before you have any work done. My son tried to submit a claim to one of these rip-off outfits that a lot of Ebay sellers use for a transmission replacement and wound up getting zilch because they didn't pre-authorize the claim.
Good luck with the V70. Good you didn't get the AWD.
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Tom 69-1800S, 72-1800ES, 96-850T,2000-S70 GLT-SE

Whoops!! You DID get the AWD. Hope the warranty co. is a good one.
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Tom 69-1800S, 72-1800ES, 96-850T,2000-S70 GLT-SE

Yes, I hope this warranty is good.

Surprise, the new ones are just around $40,000US. If the ABS module is going out, I would suggest contacting Vic Rochas. He will fix it for less than $150 and it will be better than getting one from the dealer.
Stop at a Pepboys or Autozone while the ABS light is on and get your codes read, just to verify that it is the ABS module and not a sensor that got dirty.
Save your insurance claim for the evaporator replacement - $1200+.
Check the paperwork for timing belt replacement. If the build date was before May(?) it will have the hydraulic tensioner and the belt gets replaced around 70K. The manual tensioner is good for 105K.
I like my 98 R with awd. Wait until the roads get slippery, you are going to have so much fun!
Klaus
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(V♂LV♂s 1975 164, 1995 854T, 1998 V70R)

My 1995 850 was also totaled by another driver except my wife was badly injured. USAA paid me $4300 for a car that I also maintained. Be sure to turn in your plates to get the car off your insurance. Nobody told me about the plates. The car was brought to a wrecker and 3 months later I'm still farting around with the insurance company.
--
Jerry

Sorry to hear about your loss. I have a '93 945T. Any chance that the damage is minimal enough that you can fix it? You can take some cash and keep the car. As far as the price goes, I know it sucks, but you will be paid only what the car is worth on the open market and with 315,000 miles...

As far as what issues the '98 V70 AWD has, I don't know (don't have one), but it is listed in Consumer Reports as a "used car to avoid" (page 81, April '06, just got it yesterday in the mail). Just keep in mind that not all cars will be "bad" and hopefully the one you're looking at is just fine. My brother-in-law's '04 XC90 is on the list but he hasn't had any problems.

Also, for what it's worth, the '01 and '03 V70s (FWD) were on the list.

If you still have collision insurance on it, file with YOUR insurance company and let them go after USAA. I get the feeling that USAA is a part of that group of insurance companies like Allstate that give the legitimate 10% of car insurance companies a bad name.

Or call your family lawyer to talk to 'em.

$1790 is silly.

As for the XC, Consumer Reports has it on it's "used cars to avoid" list. The only person I've ever recommended an XC70 to (seriously) was my psychopathic ex-boss in Chicago. And that was when they were new.

Besides the evaporator, there's something called the angle gear or bevel gear that will cost you about $4000 to replace when it breaks. Mind you, if you can find a nice 2WD drive V70 turbo with service records you're probably OK, if you've had a 940 you know what you're getting into on terms of parts prices that subsidize the Swedish welfare state and environmentally senesitive headliner glue that falls apart after 5 years.

I've kinda given up on Volvo, myself. I'll keep the V70 as my "winter beater" until the doors fall off, but I'm looking to do ED on a 550i 6-speed this fall.

-BTC

'98 V70 T5 5-speed, 167k mi, front IPD stabilizer bar, rear factory HD bar, Bilstein HD, Volvo strut tower brace and skidplate, e-codes, XC grill, Lidatek LE30, V-1, Mobil-1 since new

"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair." -- Douglas Noel Adams (1952-2001)

Just two major ones. The AC evaporator tends to break and the car is built aound it, about 12 man hours to replace. I just add r134a, but one of these days that won't be enough.
The early awd systems required that all 4 wheels have the same tread depth, otherwise the awd will burn out. Never use the spare.
Other than that, it's a Volvo!

Klaus
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(V♂LV♂s 1975 164, 1995 854T, 1998 V70R)