by Eduardo

I’ve just come back from visiting my kid, who is studying in the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. While there I saw this ad for a well taken care of, low mileage, 1998 Volvo S70 standard model with a stick transmission, at a very reasonable price, so I bought it. I didn’t drive it down to Guatemala, because I’m getting a bit old to drive that much, especially in Mexico, of all places.

In the past I’ve driven through Mexico, to Guatemala, more than a dozen times, and though I travel with an American passport (I’ve double nationality, American/Guatemalan), in day to day corruption Mexico surpasses every other country I’ve been in, so I didn’t want to face that again.

Anyway, my kid will bring me the car to Guatemala at the end of May, when he has a week off from UC for some reason or other.
This will be my fifth Volvo. In order, I’ve had a 145, a 240 station wagon, a 240 two-door turbo sedan, a very small Volvo two-door made in Holland with a Renault engine (in the ex-Daaf factory). This last one was a lemon, so I hadn’t bought a Volvo in a long time, especially since all my local pals tell me “Ford has ruined the brand!”

I did try out the S70 rather extensively in and around the SF Bay Area during my stay there, and according to me, the Volvo-Ford is just fine.