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Comments
Our dealership received the same car as yours: ash gold with tacky looking dark brown seats. I was so impressed with the overall look of the 2001 V70 XC that I ordered one. However, it will be ash gold with tan interior. I did see the java brown (very dark brown) exterior which had toupe leather seats. Don't think it will be much of a hit. The updated looks and great ride of the 2001 are what got me to stay will Volvo. My 3 year lease is just coming up on a 1998 V70 AWD XC. Test drove the Lexus RX300 which was same price. Ride and acceleration is better in the Volvo!
Best Wishes,
Frederick
I was looking for specific info from 850 owners. Thanks flapjack27. We are familiar with frequent, and often costly, repairs with the Volvos and Saab but are still dedicated owners. P.S my last name is also Pohl.
Is the consensus from owners out there that I should expect to trade this one in 2 - 3 years - before maintenance gets high - just like my Outback!? I plan on trying to drive this car until my 5 year old son goes to college!
yemi717, if you are talking about the 2001 Cross Country it's too early to know for sure. Fortunately the platform has been around for a couple of years now so many of the early issues were already found and solved. Personally, I suspect the 2001s will do at least as well as the outgoing 2000s but that is only a gut feel at this point as the 2001 is too new to gauge at this point. Unless you got a lemon, you could easily make either car last until your 5 year old heads off to college. The maintenance costs are not cheap but they aren't unreasonable. It will cost you more than a domestic car but not as much as other European brands or even the average Honda Accord or Toyota Camry for that matter (I was surprised to see their maintenance costs for visits aren't that cheap!)
Good luck.
-rdo
rdollie@home.com
Let's be honest, you did not buy a Vovlo, or for that matter any other European brand of car, because you thought it'd be the most economical car to drive. If you did you were a fool. The last economical car to come out of Europe was the original V.W. Beetle!
I respect any reliable automobile but that is not in fact the sole reason for my buying that car and I have a degree in Economics! I buy a car for a myriad of reasons and the Volvo fit us to a T. We've driven and owned two old Cadillacs and two Lincolns and they were no walk in the "cost of ownership" park.
To own and drive a Volvo is a luxury, meaning a higher cost of ownership than all the other brands you could have chosen. Be fare why did you really buy the Volvo, don't later back track and say I thought it'd be the most economical car I could own. Our Volvo is one of the most utilitarian and comfortable cars we've ever owned period.
This change is what gets me, and also what causes me to look at other makes and wonder why Volvo can't seem to keep up. Of course, the reason I look to Japanese cars is obvious. They set the standard when it comes to reliability.
We really are not as far apart as you think, because I too remeber those old 240's of yester year that were in deed nearly unstopable. I loved those cars and was sorry when they passed on to be replaced by the "new" 850 line.
There were so many new things in the 850 that Volvo was not traditionally known for mainly a front wheel drive 5 cyl. platform. A lot of the 850's production parts were outsourced and there certainly was a lack of oversight and quality assuranced testing when Volvo was putting these cars together. But they were struggling just to stay relevant.
A lot of the 850's problems stem from inferior outsourced parts that fail at alarmingly early life spans. I seriously believe that the 850 was an independent Volvo's last gasp at trying to stay competitive in an ever increasing consolidating auto manufacturing world and they basically failed and had to fall into the hands of a larger company like Ford.
My hope is that Ford will through the $'s into the brand that is needed to assure its future similar to the way they've successfully brought Jaguar back from the brink. Volvo is a great brand and I hope to see them back on top of their game but remember the last century saw a lot of great margues bite the dust too. My 49 Packard is just one of those sad stories.
newdog, '98 70 series wagons were plagued by two
prevalent problems - early bulb failure and dash
rattles. The bulb failures were cured by a
replacement of the bulb sockets at the dealership.
It's a simple job that takes less than an hour to
complete and fixes the issue (and is of course
free). Those cars that had rattles are a different story. It seems some owners found success and other didn't. I would highly recommend that you get the dealership maintenance records for the '98 and review them in detail. Then take the car out for an extended test drive to see if there are any rattles. If your review doesn't turn up any serious or recurring problems and you don't detect rattle I would highly recommend the '98 V70 over the '97 850 Wagon. Both are fine cars overall but the V70 benefits from a fresher design and about 1400+ refinements according to Volvo.
Regarding booster seats, I'm pretty sure they were a different design for cars prior to the '01 V70. I would be shocked if it could be retrofitted (it would involve a complete replacement of the rear seat.)
Good luck.
-rdo
rdollie@home.com
p.s. - Be careful with Consumer Reports data. For long term analysis I think it's about all we have. However, one of the biggest problems with CR is that a problem with say an ashtray or a bulb socket weighs the same as a transmission or engine failure to them!
sondagsakare, if you are going to buy brake shield make sure you buy a couple of sets of extra rotors as well. The brake shields interfere with venting of the rotors and lead to warped rotors. You will have to learn to either live with the brake dust (wax your wheels once they are clean and then you can usually hose it off if you do it often enough) or get a different type of dustless after market pad (which usually means a compromise in stopping distances).
Good luck.
-rdo
rdollie@home.com
--javadoc
Regarding that black mesh grill, I received IPD's (www.ipdusa.com) latest mailer about 2 weeks ago and I remember a specific article about their new mesh grills! You might want to check their site to see if the grills are listed there yet. If not you can order a catalog from them and see the choices for yourself. I recall that there were other color choices but I don't recall what they were since I'm not in the market for one.
Good luck.
-rdo
rdollie@home.com
My impression is that it's fixable, and I intend to raise the issue with my dealer (supported by printouts of postings). I would appreciate your characterization of this problem. My apology if you have previously addressed it.
sondagsakare, my take is that this is a very minor issue at worst. It shouldn't occur but in cases where it does it doesn't affect any functionality or safety feature of the car. Personally, I would hold off on a trip to the dealer until you've seen multiple posts here or on the BrickBoard from owners who have had a successful fix and have put some miles on their cars afterwards. Early on it looked like Volvo was guessing at solutions. It sounds like they have finally diagnosed and fixed the issue but unless you like going to your dealer for minor reasons I would probably wait until some future scheduled maintenance trip myself.
Good luck.
-rdo
rdollie@home.com
We are considering buying a '01 XC but are concerned about the hassle of bringing the car to the dealership numerous times, even for minor items. For example, we've heard that if the gas cap is not turned three clicks, the "check engine" light comes on and can only be turned off at the dealership. We live in a state where there are no self-service gas stations; so, this might occur.
For those who have bought XCs in the last several years, how often have you needed to bring the car in for non-scheduled maintenance?
How bout for those of you who have Subarus or Passats?
Thanks so much!!!
Bert
Scott
In spite of all their faults (and they are expensive to repair)all were safe and reliable driving machines.
in its name) that had a full passenger side
muffler/exhaust w/ bumper cutout, but the driver
side had a removable exhaust cutout (with the
cutout still in place), no exhaust, and what
appeared to be a muffler, just like the other.
Would this be a fake muffler to balance out the
looks, and if so, why stop short of an exhaust?
What gives?
Its driving my wife and I crazy and we're honestly thinking about dumping our 99 XC (only 20K miles) and getting a 325 wagon.
I have been researching the same model year Volvo wagon (and the '97 year). My father called to tell me that he looked it up in his archive set of Consumer Reports magazine in the April, 2000 volume and he says it is listed as one of their "good buys" in used cars. It also gets good ratings in Edmunds and the safety crash test ratings were very good. I, too, would love to know just how far the engine will go since I put about 22K miles per year on my cars and don't want to pay that kind of money unless I know the car will last. I am particularly looking for the AWD version of the Volvo 850 Wagon that premiered in 1996 or 1997 and was available in Europe and Canada. The 850 version of the Volvo AWD wagon is reputed to be much more reliable (although not as fanncy) as the V70, (which is listed by CR as a car to avoid at all costs!) but was unavailable in the US and is hard to find in Canada. I did find about 7 of the them listed as "Estate Wagons" in England all with fairly high milage, but certainly none above the 200K mile range, yet. Good luck!
I have just taken delivery of a 1996 Volvo 850R wagon. I bought this car from a Volvo dealer with 49750 miles with all the bells and whistles for $17038....Good luck in your search.
My only problems have been the right and left side blinkers working intermintitly, brake light once, driver side windshield washer jet stopped working and a low engine idle at times.
These were all fixed in one visit while under warranty. Replaced jet, fluid for the brakes, replaced contacts for blinkers. The idle problem was fixed by an software upgrade to the engine computer, don't know if it was a recall. My dealer Red Bank Volvo in NJ was very nice. Also where I bought it was very nice Garden State Volvo. Great car and like it much better than my 2001 Sienna.
We're nearing 55K now on our 96 base 850 wagon that we bought in 1999 I/ 34K on it. We had a few minor teething problems I/ our car just after we bought and I really began to wonder but they were all taken care of professionally and promptly by the dealer. Nothing since and we both still love the car.
I had to laugh when my 11 year old niece was making derogatory comments about having ride around in her family's Ford LSD station wagon. I reminded her that her aunt and I drove a wagon too, and she said "but your's is different, it's at least a cool car." I think we can all identify to some degree with thoughts and feeling like that about the kind of cars our parents drove us to school and soccer practice in and yet hear we all living it all out again as adults driving around in station wagons! Isn't fun to watch what we've all become and what SUV's are trying to metamorphic themselves into these days.
We replaced the brake pads about every 55,000 miles. We replaced the brake rotors at 110,000 miles. We use Dunlop W-10 performance tires, and they last about 40,000 miles. My wife ran over a 2x4 on the freeway, and it split the wheels in half. So be careful with potholes and objects on the road.
I expect that this car will last for a long time.
I did this to smooth out some of the harshness in the ride, to help in snow conditions and because I didn't want to spend big $$ for high performance tires that only last about 40K miles. I only found out recently about the possability of bent and/or broke 17" rims. I really loved the look and the "emergency situation handling" of the 17" rims on the car but it just wasn't quite pactical enough for me.
Thanks again and I wish you many happy motoring miles, Chris
thanks,
roger
I spent some time as a salesman at a Ford dealership and found that the dealer seldom lets a customer leave without giving the lowest price. However, most people would be very amazed at the price that you can get by saying "I will buy this car right now for $???????." Trust me you will know what their lowest price is. But, Realize you have to be ready to buy it for that price, period. Also realize, a dealers used car lot is not suject to the actual cost of the vehicle. The cost they paid for a car is usually only dependent on what they had to pay to put the deal together. So they may have got the car very cheap, as is usually the case.
Happy shopping, Chris
Greg
Miami Florida
gman- Do these guys sell orginal equipment stock? I need just a basic Volvo mag that got seriously chipped in God knows what kind of parking incident. It bad enough that I'd like to replace it but I ain't going to Volvo to get it done.
scrage- I'd say that you should press for lower. The economy is headed south and believe me you can press that issue with the dealership. Some where in the lower region of 20's is probably more realistic in this market. Only miles would put me up or down on this thought. If it is the "car" you want then you adjust up, but only slightly and I mean slightly. It's a very, very tough market out there for car sellers of any type right now. Press you advantage at a bad sales time of the year.
Tara
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Tara
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Chris Fairman
I hope that may provide some insight... do you have any warranty remaining?
Tara
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