98 V70 - Expected long term reliability

[zhenya]

Asian cars need things like tie rods, ball joints, water pumps, light bulbs, wheel bearings and suspension work just like every other brand of car. There is no 'magic' that makes them somehow immune to this kind of wear. That's what I mean by 'routine' maintenance. It's my experience, however, that either the people who tend to buy Asian cars neglect these things and/or that the rest of the car is not generally up to the task of a 20 year lifespan. Volvo's are just the opposite - and as a result, tend to attract the opposite type of owner.

Most of the other stuff he listed qualifies as fairly minor, and is the kind of stuff that someone who likes to own an older car does to make it 'right.' Other people just live with it, or sell it and move on to another car payment. Our family has owned ~10 Hondas in the last 20 years, so it's not like I'm speaking from a point of inexperience here.

[VolvoTurbo850]

I have had a few of these cars and I have to tell you that they are indeed fantastic. You still have to be careful and I actually think the car you bought has been sitting around or going on very short trips. This may account for some of your troubles.

I actually have the same car which I purchased 2 years ago. The timing belt broke on the previous owner so I put on a spare cylinder head and redid the timing and major tune up. Over 40,000 miles later the car still runs smooth. I am sure many of the other people here will also show that this works. Not bad for a car which is approaching the 165,000 mile range.

I also own a 2007 Camry SE and it really has been very dependable. However, the Volvo is really comparable in many ways and considering it is much older and I have paid about $3000 including acquisition and maintenance up to this date it really is much better value if you consider the Camry is is worth more than 5 times more.

I also am not sure about your college kids experience with cars. I find most people who do not understand cars tend to abuse them unknowingly. If they are not willing to learn about the car then perhaps a Volvo is not the car for them. It may make sense to have them take the bus or do the communal car thing (again i do not know your situation so excuse my assumption on having a car).

Saying this, perhaps the best thing is to consider any used car means "your buying someone else's problem". The nice thing about this site is you can actually save some money taking care of a Volvo which really is capable of going the distance (average one lasting 18.5 years and I believe that!). I find that even if Asian cars are dependable they really fall short in ride comfort ( I am over 6 feet) and they still rust.

Good luck with the repairs. The good thing is if you decide to get rid of the car you most likely will get all your money back!

[cdnbluez]

I'd rather my kid drive around in a Volvo, than a little civc, at least from a safety stand point.

[gilhuly]

This can be boiled down to a math equation. He paid $1,500 for it it out of the gate so he's way ahead right out of the box. What would you get typically in japanese/korean for that money? This car has 100,000 miles left in it easily(my car has 100k left and it has 200k on it now).Think of this as a $5,000 car that you haven't fully paid for yet. If you do the bigger stuff like struts, brakes and axles yourself you'll have the car back from your daughter before you hit $5k. Five thousand bucks to drive 100,000 miles is 1970's money in the 2010's.

[cn90]

LOL,

I had virtually ALL of the problems you described (minus the heater core).
I love my 1998 V70, it is a very solid car mechanically speaking.

Search forum for common issues at that mileage, and with your daughter in college, you need to distinguish between problems that are elective (can wait until you fix it) vs urgent. However, the distinction between "Elective" and "Urgent" can be blurred:

ELECTIVE:
- Timing Belt, Tensioners, and Pulleys; and drive belt. Do it now.
May as well do the cam and crank seals.
This can be urgent too (by that time it is too late).
- Suspension Fronts and Rear. I did a few DIYs, so search for them.
- Battery.
- Brake pads/rotors
- Fuel Filter, Spark Plugs etc.

URGENT:
- Heater Core as you said
- Thermostat: can cause an overheated engine.
- Air Mass Meter: this can leave you stranded. In that situation, just unplug the MAF.
Mine failed at 95K. If you want to sleep well at night then install a new MAF (Bosch only).

Do a complete tune-up, teach your daughter not to drive the car if the temp is HOT, i.e. things to look for to prevent further damage.

And of course, owning a 13 yr-old and 100K, regardless of make, requires some DIY skills.

[98v70dad]

Wow! Lots of good comments. Thanks, I appreciate them. I, in fact had a 96 camry that I ran forever. I did almost all the maintenance. When the camry got over ten years old things broke at a rate of about 1 item a year outside of routine maintenance. With the volvo its been a rate of about 1 item failing every few months outside of the routine items. When the volvo sat in the driveway most of the time and its primary purpose was a 3 mile round trip every day it was easy to handle a maintenance problem. I troubleshot the issue found a good price online on a part and fixed it at the earliest opportunity. Now that the car is away at school it has become a problem when something breaks. The original point of my question was aimed at can I expect all of these little items to keep failing ? ... I've never had a car that had some many things fail in such a short period of time. If so, its ruining my free time and I can't put up with it. I've owned many cars that I drove and cared for (myself) for up to 15 years (I keep my cars until they aren't really worth much). I do like the car, but when I bought it I didn't expect it to be so needy. Something tells me there is a big reliability difference between older and newer Volvos. I have a friend with an older Volvo station wagon who has had it for Decades and he has't had the issues I've had. Another friend with a newer one like mine tells me his is constantly in need of repair. Anyhow, I have the opportunity to buy a 2000 Accord for a good price and not come out too damaged financially. No complaints really about the volvo. I should be able to sell it for what I payed for it plus the cost of the repairs I've done it ... I'm just trying to make a rational decision.

[Ozark Lee]

The same crap goes wrong with all of them but the good news is that you are good to go after you replace after all of the crap that goes wrong on all of them - so long as you use good parts.

Looking at your list of replacements you still have some same crap that will go wrong on all of them but you are after the 4th or 5th furlong on getting to stage zero and then things are fine again for another 100k miles or so.

Note to self, the crap that hadn't already failed will always fail at the onset of winter. I have a huge box of parts begging for a warm day when it isn't raining or snowing. I think my wife is secretly getting quite grumpy over her broken spring seats - I have new ones in the box but working on cars - in the driveway - in the snow - just sucks.

...Lee

[holler1]

98v70dad,
I think your approach makes a lot of sense. I apparently hit some nerves by bringing up Asian cars on a Volvo forum, but there is a reason why Consumer Reports readers have rated them at the top of the heap for reliability since the early 90s. There are plenty of these circa 2000 cars running around with 200,000 miles or more. They are simple, parts are cheap, lots of mechanics can work on them. I suggest whatever car you decide on, check mileage carefully, check to make sure it isn't a salvage or auction car (do a Carfax for sure), drive it, listen for noises, look for leaks, and look over service records if possible.

I agree that Volvos are safe, luxurious, fast, and great looking cars. IMHO a college student with his "mechanic" 400 miles away needs a simple car that will start, run and get him where he needs to go.

[jblackburn]

My car had a "mid-life crisis" around 150,000 miles/a year and change ago. Everything broke all at once - within the matter of 2 months, it needed tires all the way around, brakes, radiator began to leak, mass airflow sensor, an air pump, blew out a cam seal, and the A/C stopped working. I considered giving up and selling it.

Once I got through all of that though, it has been really good to me the past 40,000 miles - not much has gone wrong with it since then.

Like Lee said, it is pretty much the same things that go wrong with all of them - it's pretty much just a question of when rather than if.

I had a 1988 Honda that I thought would be a good car for high school/college but the freaking thing broke down - expensively - ALL THE TIME. But I loved the thing and would not hesitate to buy another, much newer model Honda. I finally decided to cut my losses and bought the Volvo, which I'm going to drive until it dies and just can't run anymore. Many people have well over 200,000 on theirs and they keep on going. As far as the reliability of new vs old Volvos, I don't know. Our neighbor had a 940 that ate heater cores and head gaskets.

[Glencoeteen]

Just turned 22, and I own two Volvo's a 98 S70 T5 and a 98 XC70. and I absolutely love them both. I have owned and driven a lot of cars, my father has a dealers license. but none seems to compare. My T5 has 211k on it and runs and drives like it has only 50k on it,(Compression is still with in spec too ) i put 600 miles on it easy in a week and it just keeps going and going, my XC has just under 130k now, i don't drive it as much... well lets just say the T5 being slightly modded puts a bigger smile on my face but like everyone has said over and over just keep up with the basic things, use quality parts and these things will last. the only thing i hate about these car's is the PCV system its incredibly stupid. other than that its easy to work on and fairly basic.