My first Volvo was a 1966 1800s. Then came a 1973 1800e, then a bunch of other cars. Couple SAAB's and Alfa Spyder, an Audi. Some Fords as company cars... my wife currently has a Lexus, I had a '97 528i until last year when my daughter took it out and.............. well let's say no one got hurt............... She simply didn't have the experience to drive something like that in the winter. You have to know enough to know when to keep your damn foot off the accelerator and experience can be an expensive teacher. The coolest driving machine I ever had was an 1800s. So I have been willing to look at Volvo again, but that was not easy: My 528i was a good car.

I went through the same twitches and uncertainty about Volvo you did. For more info, you can also check with Volvospy on the net, and the internet newsgroup alt.autos.volvo. I looked at the '99/2000 model year and passed on it based on what I read on the net. The comptetion was Lexus/BMW when I was looking for a car to replace my 528i, recently. I still think the S-80 is gorgeous after watching them on the street for a couple years, I recently purchased a 2004 S-80. I avoided the Turbo version. Even though I live in Minneapolis I passed on AWD. Even my 528i, with rear wheel drive was fine in the winter with it's very effective computer traction contol which simply cut the throttle if it detected wheel spin. I also passed on Volvo's extra cost "dynamic stability control" whatever that may be. It just occured to me that you might not be a winter driver, but as long as I am here---- what I did with my 528 is buy bridgestone blizzaks, put 50# of sand in the trunk and kept the gas tank full. Never had a second's worth of problems... I will put blizzaks on this car but pass on the 50# of sand.

The Volvo dealer delivered a perfect car as one should expect in that everything worked exactly as it was supposed to. How long will it stay that way.......? I felt reasonably safe in passing on the extended warranty they try to sell you. Maybe later.

Three or four years ago when I test drove one of these things, it was a real dog and I could see some excuse for 'turbo' the '04 seems much less a problem in that department. If I'm poking around town I often keep it in 3rd and in general have absolutely no performance issues. I do think the power steering boost is set way to high, probably for What they think American drivers like. I do wish the car was rear-wheel drive. A Volvo mechanic I met at a gas station recently mentioned that transmission problems are rare. Computer issues come up occaisonally and that by avoiding the options mentioned above I avoided several potential trouble spots.

So we shall all see. Best of luck with whatever you decide.