Arno Griffioen wrote:

> And 'low hp'?? 160HP is plenty for such a car IMHO, but my vision may

> be colored because a 120 hp 1.8 non-turbo is 'normal' and 'enough'

> here in Europe.

I would say that power is diferent for each individual. In my case it's never enough. :-)

> The higher-power versions of cars (any brand) are usually pretty rare

> here. I only see one other T4 or 2.0T every several weeks or so. The

> rest are nearly all 1.6, 1.8 and 1.9TD's (the 2.0 non-turbo is not

> very popular either).

That's not Volvo's fault. I'ts just American culture. When I was living there I needed a car and wanted a Subaru Impresa Turbo our a Mitsubishi Lancer Evulotion (both stick). Guess what: "we don't sell this car...".

> Noises and minor problems: sorry, none for me. Only had the car into

> the dealer outside scheduled maintenance 2 times in nearly 3 years.

Lucky you! Maybe you're car is 1999. Mine was full of noises. Put most were solved, and many are mentioned here @brickboard. Still I wasn't expecting this from a Volvo. Perhaps my level of expectation was too high...

> Also known beforehand IMHO, so you can hardly blame the car for a

> choice you made.

I agree and happilly not living in the US anymore where the choices are limited (mostly non-stick, fewer models, etc.).

> For the sort of performance and upgrade-ability you are looking for I

> would suggest taking a long hard look at the Subaru Impreza WRX

> that's finally coming to the US. That should take care of all your

> problems: manual trans, 200+HP, 4WD, tuning parts everywhere in

> Japan, spartan but reasonable build quality, etc.

> The Scooby (as they are usually called here) should be tune-able to

> 300+HP, but that does need some work. Also will start eating parts of

> the 4WD system by then, but stronger aftermarket parts are available.

This is a great car for rally driving!

Regards,

///Martinez