Avpman,

Congrats on your purchase and please don't be discouraged reading the previous posts. Some people have had bad experiences with their cars and think all of them have the very same problems. Although Consumer Reports (who I never rely to btw..) lists them on the "cars to avoid", a lot of people are still happy with their '98. All depends on the quality of service (dealers) and I believe you are just unlucky with yours so far. Go to another one if you can in order to get a second opinion. And since when a '98 has a "sealed" transmission.. this is plain BS. There is a TSB on AWD transmissions to replace the factory ATF to synthetic one which should correct the harsh shifting, which I presume you might be getting at this point in time. Do yourself a favor and insist to get it replaced ASAP. A brownish color accompanied with a bad smell isn't what we're looking for in terms of Xmission longevity. I have a 2000 XC and have had that TSB performed at 25,000Kms. So far so good now at 60,000Kms and the car has performed flawlessly since then. Hopefully you enjoy your car as much as I do with mine. Looking forward to hearing the outcome of your issues.. Hang in there and don't give up!!