The downside to owning an old cars that if you can't fix it yourself, then you are paying others to repair it for you which is the reason many serviceable cars end up in the junkyard. While 161k miles is not huge for one of these cars, a $2000 repair is a big chunk of change on a near 20 year old ca...

Spend some rewarding time searching this forum for each of the issues the shop recommends you repair and you think may be needed. You will learn a lot if you have the knowledge to understand the information. I am encouraged that you have this knowledge since you posted an extended list with details....

How much do you like the car? For most of us on this forum we love our Volvo's. Owning a 20 year old car and using it as a daily driver can start to test one's enthusiasm if you're not a DIY'er. It sounds like you have a pretty good car with great maintenance history with plenty of miles left. I wou...

I wrote a VVT Hub DIY in this forum for the 2007 S60. It is quite a bit of work but with proper tools/techqniues, it can be done for the price of the VVT Hub (~ $220 when on sale). Do NOT buy used VVT Hub, not worth it bc it is a lot of labor. Here is the DIY 2007 S60 VVT Hub: https://www.matthewsvo...

I am encouraged that you have this knowledge since you posted an extended list with details. If you have tools and knowledge most of these repairs can be DIY. You hit on something here. People who post an overview and also necessary details in the first post of their thread have a higher percent ch...

To me spending that much all hinges on the condition of the car, if pristine definitely—if trashed definitely not. The shocks and struts are definite DIY, done four Volvos. When it comes to VVT and cam seals I do farm that out…certain I could but I have a reasonably priced Indy shop in town. With co...

The problem with older items such as cars, houses etc. - The houses are often > $100K, so ppl put in effort/money to fix. - Once the car value drops below < $1,000, the desire to fix is less. But some of these older cars are valued < $1,000 simply bc of the age (how many years old). So KBB car value...

Actually the VVT hub after 140K miles have so much play that even with a brand new cam seal it leaks anyway.
I documented in the DIY.

This is why after 140K, replace only the Exhaust VVT Hub (no need to replace the Intake VVT Hub).

You have a better Volvo, so keep it. I would repair with future outlook; a piecemeal fix would burden your pocketbook. Here is my experience of 2001 V70XC - 200,000 Miles Makeover https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=92790 . It is running great; my next milesstone is 400,000km wi...