Check out Volvospeed's Bay 13 for lots of maintenance stuffs and info on the common problems. They are more complicated cars, but they're still quite servicable (if it gets serviced by someone who isn't afraid of FWD cars).

I took my friend's recently acquired '95 854 GLT to Portland, OR and back a few weeks ago. It's hard to argue with 26+ mpg (compared to the ~17-18mpg I would have extracted from similar driving in my 760), and vastly improved handling. Even stock, it felt nearly as flat (but not nearly as responsive) as my 760 with all sorts of goodies, and it rides way better.

The biggest thing that bothers me is that the interior is crap (the S70/V70, while vastly uglier, is significantly improved in this regard). Squeaks and rattles are commonplace, and the build quality of the interior is... eh at best. Hardly an improvement over the 700s. Otherwise, keep an eye out for electrical problems (in true Volvo tradition).

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alex