I just bought this car with 30000 miles. It is petrol and automatic low power turbo. It had a check engine light problem before we bought which was repaired by a volvo garage last week by replacing the air mass meter. It has full three year service history. We had driven around about 25 miles and had mechanic check the car and he thought everything is OK.
I am used to my 12 year old 945 turbo and I pretty much start as I used to start the 945. ~Turn to position II and crank within 5 or seconds or let the check engine light go off and then crank. This morning (only day 2 of the ownership) I tried to start it and it doesn't start in the first three attempts but fourth starts it up. It idles at ~900 rpm. I stopped it after a 5-10 minutes running. I tried to start it again, still the same problem, taken three tries and atleast 10 second cranking. 945 under these condition will start at the first attempt. After driving the v70 for 30 minutes when I stopped and in park, the rpm was still only ~900. 945 the idle rpm goes down once the engine has been warmed up. The AC and the lights in the v70 were on while starting.
My question is that am doing something stupid. Or is it posible that the AMM was installed the necessary adjustments were not made.
Once this car is running it runs well (as far as I can make out).
All your suggestions most welcome. Thanks in advance,

When you first try to start the car, does it start and run for a second or two and then die? If so, you may have a problem with the immobilizer anti-theft device in the ignition switch. If you have more than one key with a transmitter on your key ring, you can confuse the computer. On my car, the antenna failed and had to be replaced.

Both the 850 and the V70 tend to stay high on the RPMs for awhile after starting, especially in cold weather. Also a reason for poor starting could be a bad battery. Has the weather suddenly gotten colder there like it has here in Tennessee? Bad batteries tend to be noticed more in cold weather and tend to die much more during the winter than in the warmer months. Just a guess, but worth checking out.
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Current owner of a '04 V70 2.5T. Previous owner of a '94 850 Turbo Wagon

Hi:
As regards Peter's comment, no the car just doesn't start, it cranks for 10 seconds without catching for the first three or four times but then eventually it starts. It is fine after it starts.
As regards the second comment, yes, the weather has gotten colder. But the funny thing is that it started yesterday morning (which was damp and cold; normal for us!) without any hesitation, drove for a mile or so to drop off kids to school, came back, stopped the engine, tried to start about 40 minutes later, it wouldn't until the fourth crank. Drove again for 2 miles to a train station, ran well, left the car (street parking) for the day (cold around 6C or 40F), come back to start in the evening, would not start until the fourth crank. Drove back home, stopped for a while may be 15 minutes, tried to start again, same 4th or fifth crank. The battery could be OEM, may be I should change the battery put a new one and see whether it matters or not. When I picked up the car from an underground parking lot the other day, there was no hesitation in starting. So could that be the battery?
As always thank you all for the help.

Hard to say about the battery, but beginning to sound more like poor ground...check for corrosion around the posts. So many starts will begin to eat away at the starter. Good luck and let us hear what the resolution is.
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Current owner of a '04 V70 2.5T. Previous owner of a '94 850 Turbo Wagon

Update
Back to the staring problem. The temperature for the days where the problem was evident was around 5C. The engine would not start until the third or fourth try but when runs it runs well. To day the temperature is around 12C. Thew symptom is slightly different, it will start with some hesitation on the second attempt but will die within seconds and then will not start. I could rescue it once by applying gas just before it cut out. My suspecion is more on the replaced part the Air Mass Meter. It was only replaced (becase of a CEL) about a week ago (on a cold day) by the previous owner and had only driven less 100 miles since. He also said that he noticed a little hesitation following the AMM replacement but did not think much of it.I am taking the car back to the same dealer on Tuesday, he looked at the previous services and nothing is in the history (he could be lying? but unlikely). As I said once it runs it runs well, nearly perfect. Is there any thing t hat should specifically ask the dealer mechanic? As always thank you all for the suggestions.
James
945T '91 still running very well.