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Hi Brad,
The 16V engine is not as bad as some people like to make it out to be (I should know after owning one for the last four years) the engine provides good power through most of the the rev range, it may be a little weak in low end torque (though no worse than the 8 valve engine IMHO) it provides acceleration between the 8V and the Turbo. As long as it is maintained properly (timing belt replaced when scheduled) it can be as reliable as any Volvo motor, if it is negelected it will be expensive to repair, but the same is true for any motor. As for it being an interference design, it is true that it is, but interference designs are not all that uncommon (and I believe all newer volvo engines are interference designs). It is probably not optimised for performance (after all they had the Turbo for that) though there were rumours that they were going to turbo charge it with 230 + hp) as for its high end performance it pretty good the car is smooth and powerful throughout the rpm range (from about 2000-2500 rpm). Strangly enough the rev limit is the same for the 16v and the 8v engine (I think it may be partly because the same accessories are used (ie the power steering pump, the air conditioner compressor ...) Anyway hope this helps
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