I am really beginning to wonder about this claim. I own a 1998 S70 T5M and have had more problems than I expected. I bought the car used two years ago.

There are plenty of things I like about the car, but it has been costly. It had ~88000km (~55K miles) when I bought it and it now has about 125000. A decent amount of the 37000 I have put on it has been on several longish trips. Since I've owned it, both front wheel bearings have been replaced and it's had new rotors all the way around. The clutch is noisy in 1st & sometimes 2nd or when downshifting (judging by other messages, this is the noisy throw-out bearing) and the steering wheel squeeks significantly in cold weather (another seemingly common issue with the 1998s). In addition to this, I recently had to replace the rear rotors, calipers and pads along with a front ball-joint and tie-rod ends. Also, one of the trunk shocks was shot. So, I've shelled out a fair amount of money both to buy and repair this car.

Before buying it, I drove quite a few cars in this category, both Japanese & European (pretty much had to go European to get the stick) and this one seemed to have the combination of comfort, performance and space that I required and I thought it would have the reliabilty to match. I can't complain on the first three items--it's everything I expected--but it has fallen far short on the 4th.

The mechanic I go to has said that mine is not the only newer Volvo to have major problems. He services a few older 240s and all they ever need is oil changes, mufflers and brake pads. At the same time, he's already replaced the engine mounts on a V70.

So, what's the deal. Was '98 a dud year for the S70? I know it was a redesign year, but the problems I've had seem to be drive train related and I would have expected that in that area, the S70 shares a lot with the 850 series--maybe I'm wrong. If the steering wheel and the clutch didn't squeak, I'd probably be annoyed, but still satisfied, however, I've spent a lot and I know there are still problems that would take a lot more $$ to fix.