My neighbor has had five Volvos between he and his wife. He has never complained about the reliability as it’s more important to him that he own a Volvo regardless. This, plus he leases and changes cars every three years. Within these guildines, it’s hard to see how you could complain much about any car’s reliability. The friends and neighbors who have owned SAABs and Volvos for many years all owned them for reasons other then reliability. That’s OK. I rationalized owning two SAABs and a Ford Gramda when all were much less then stella in the dependability category.
We wear are cars and don’t just own them Reliability is less of a factor becasue of this for many. When we drive a car, we actually think other people notice our car and what we drive…we forget that most people spend most of their lives not thinking about us, let alone the car we drive
In the past there were cars that failed early, but that’s very uncommon. The parts that commonly fail (expensively) take some time to do so. For people who buy a new car every five years, any car will do. If you can afford a new Volvo periodically, or expensive repairs, buy one and enjoy. They are exceptionally comfortable cars with stylish interiors. I think the new V70 wagon looks great, and the XC60 quite nice, too. I’ve only seen pictures of the new XC90, but it also looks quite pleasant.
Even new cars do have issues, even today. But when people lease, they are more forgiving of issues, because they know they only own the car under warranty, so might not take it in for any minor issue. But in my case, when I buy a car and lets say the suspension is noisy from day #2, I make sure I take it in over and over again until they fix it before the warranty expires, because I know I would be the one coughing up the $$ after the warranty period. That, and me driving 20K miles a year, makes the warranty much shorter than 3 years.
Does anybody have an example of “very, Very, VERY expensive car to own” that is relevant? Examples of a 1974 Volvo, a two stroke Saab and a Ford Gramda(?) do not bring credit to this message board.
Last week I looked up a water pump replacement for a XC70:
2.5 hours labor, $150 for the pump plus coolant and shop supplies.
For a Venza:
4.4 hours labor, $175 for the pump plus coolant and shop supplies.
@Nevada_545 Pricing the part and repair bills of comparable cars does not address the frequency with which cars need repair.
@db4690. Agree. Consumer reports does rate Volvos as acceptable to duing this time frame though. I see nothing wrong with owning ( or leasing) just about anything made today and sold in the US for the first three years or so.
No @Nevada_545 I sure can’t think of one other than say a Ferrari, Lambo, Bentley, etc. all of which are beyond what most people will ever think of.
In my opinion car repair and service has actually gotten less expensive and frequent over the last 20 years.
People who look at the cost of car ownership as purely a dollars and cents proposition or wonder how often it needs service and repair seem to forget that it’s not just a conveyance. Would you buy a house you didn’t like? Clothes that you don’t like? Eat food that doesn’t taste good? You can be perfectly sheltered, covered, and fed, and hate every minute of it. Why would you drive a car you don’t like just because you can afford it?
Cars are pretty homogenized. As soon as there seems to be a significant breakthrough, everyone has it in their competing models by their next model year. People will buy one model over another because of things like their connectivity or lack of it. That is a big seller. Other then that, the differences are the subtleties that to tell you the truth, are pretty subjective. All that is left, is reliability and dependability. But, until the last few years, if you really liked back up cameras and hands free phone and GPS and all the sound options money could buy, you might own a car like a Volvo with everything standard instead of a Camry that forced you parade through a plethora of option packages… Reliability be damned.
My brother loves Volvos because they are so well built. The problem is that they tend to be less well built in the getting from point A to point B department.
“Older Volvos(before 1999) are far more reliable.”
Really?
I would love to know where that myth began.
I still get cold chills when I recall the incredible, never-ending problems that I had with my 1974 Volvo 242GL. It was only after I bought the car that I encountered many other aggrieved owners of Volvo 240s, all of whom seemed to have similar problems with these cursed cars.
The veterans of this board are probably tired of seeing me recount the problems I encountered with virtually every system on that Swedish POS, but suffice it to say that–other than its excellent brakes–that car was the worst piece of crap that I ever had the misfortune to own.
Anyway…below is a link to a pictorial history of Volvo’s many models.
Who knows? Maybe their new Chinese owners can improve the reliability of these historically unreliable cars. Stranger things have happened I guess.
Older Volvos had the advantage of competing agaisnt other equally unreliable cars. Early Volvos did not have an established Toyota or Honda history which then, were crappy in their own way in ones I owned. I can understand an earlier Volvo mystique…especially if you owned another less then stella car like a SAAB like I did and thought my friends Volvos were quite reliable in comparison.
“There is too much electronic stuff on it,(cable free throttle,engine immobilizer,etc.)Not recommended.Older Volvos(before 1999) are far more reliable.”
So why don’t you just get a car with points, carb, manual choke, drum brakes all around, manual steering, no brake booster, manual seats, windows and locks, no ac, etc.
Sorry, but I actually like cars with modern technology, at least for daily driving
Good joke, @dagosa. Took a moment to get it. I remember that a friend’s old Audi 100 (early seventies) also had corduroy upholstery. It was very comfy, but wore badly at the edges. Looked a lot like the shiny knees my cords always had when I was a kid.