I currently am driving an 855 Turbo. Other than a rear main seal she has been great. I have been looking at R's but have had no luck locating a 95 T5-R wagon. The 98 AWD R looks pretty sweet(no torque steer), they are easier to come by but Consumer Reports says stay away and now I read these messages. Does anyone out there have an early AWD R or Cross Country they are happy with?
Mark

I do believe the Dealer makes a big differance.
When I lived in MD, I bought my first brick (94 850 turbo) from Koons Volvo in Owings Mills. They were excellent at the sale, and also good service. I would always get a loaner to drive, and never had any problem re-occur.
Now that I live in Reno Nevada, the story is different. The dealer here is a joke, to say the least. I know many people who walked out the sales floor door, shaking the heads (myself included). I expierianced their service only once to never return. How could my car leave with more problems than it arrived...huh??

I have an independant Volvo specialist here, and all 3 bricks run great.

Wills

I share your pain, in fact I share an even LONGER list of problems with my car! It's interesting the Volvo has probably been about as reliable, or unreliable as my "best" SAAB. So why am I disappointed? Because Volvo markets the cars as being incredibly long-lived, and if you drive a SAAB for 150,000 miles and it doeesn't catch fire once, you're amazed. If you buy a Volvo and the sunroof sticks, you're disappointed.

I think my car is a lot of fun to drive, but it's hardly been trouble free. Cost has "probably" been less than driving an '89 Porsche Carrera (the performance envelopes are similar)when you add the cost of the repairs to the cost of the speeding tickets.

I always recommend Camrys and Avalons to people who I like and who aren't as "involved" with their cars. There is a lot of stuff on a Volvo that isn't found anywhere in a Camry or Avalon, and so can't it break. Did you know that ABS is still an option on some Camry models?

For real fun, try buying a 7-series BMW and driving it to 150,000 miles!

-Punxsutawney Phil

So from your message have you found that the Annapolis Volvo was useless. That is the dealer I just bought from a month ago and have not had them service the car yet, they just had to put the right tires on and fix a door lock knob under warrenty so far. So I am looking for feedback on their service department basically, and I don't want to assume anything from your message. I've heard good things about Annapolis Volvo's service department from a co-worker and other people, so I'm hoping that I can find a good service department.

As for the other types of cars you have had (in that same geographic area?), I just got rid of my Toyota 4Runner (5 years old and 103k) for a Volvo because I could not find a good place to get my Toyota serviced in the Annapolis area (poor quality and in some cases rude service writers), I had to do more than oil changes and tires on my Toyota too. Unfortunately I found a possibly decent dealer in Clarksville by the time I was fed up with the Toyota dealers in Annapolis and Glen Burnie and was working on my husband for a new car. My husband has a Toyota Camary still that has had money sunk into it and the check engine light keeps coming on after large $ repairs, he no longer will take it to the local dealers either and has turned to an independent mechanic (it is 9 years old, maybe over 130k). When he lived in Virginia he had excellent service from a dealer in his area. We have both had enough bad problems with local Toyota dealers and end result in our cars after service that we will not buy another Toyota while living in this area. I had a Honda Accord before the Toyota and had no problems with the car, I did feel the local dealer was very expensive and took it elsewhere to other dealers and eventually an independent garage before moving onto a new car.

I think all manufacturers can put out lemons (yes some more than others), and I also think having a good dealer/service department also plays a large role in the car ownership experience.

dgriffith

Unfortunately, I have to agree. I used to belong to the Religion of Volvo, converting the heathen owners of American and Japanese cars but I have left the church.

I have a 1998 V70 which I bought new (just finished a thread on Air conditioning woes). I could record an equally long record of problems I've had with this car. I've tried to get most things done under warranty, but that ran out long before the broken things were fixed.

At this point in time, I would never advise a friend or family member to buy a Volvo. For the money, the risk of getting a lemon is just too high. And other companies have come a long way on the safety issues--expecially when safety becan selling cars.

If I want the feel of a European car, I would buy a new Passat. I would recommend a Mercedes to more wealthy friends. If I want quiet and super reliability, then I would go with a Camry or Avalon (personal preferences).
Any way I figure, I would wholeheartedly recommend a new Volvo only to a few people--those against whom I hold a grudge.