What happened to Volvo?

[LIKB]

I used to own a 2001 S40. I had owned a much older Volvo before, and so had several members of my family. All I have to say was that the S40 I owned was nothing like how Volvos used to be, especially when it came to reliability. The car ran alright after a few years of ownership (had some hard starts in the winter, rough idle, etc) but nothing too major. One problem I had on and off after about three years of ownership was coolant leaks. I was chasing down a new leak about every three or four months. It got to the point that I had two different leaks back to back that no shop could find (probably meaning the head gasket was the culprit). That, and at least once a year the check engine light would come on. That was usually one of the o2 sensors and would not be a cheap fix. Finally, as the car neared the 90k mark, an oil leak suddenly appeared. As I went to different shops that I had taken my car to before, I was told they no longer serviced Volvos. What happend to Volvo?

[abscate]

You will find this as a common theme in luxury car fora.

People who buy disposable cars, especially in the US, replace them every 5-7 years. They see the changes but never drive them to the point where they need major servicing, so they think they are 'reliable' All then have done is paid 3x the cost for new in exchange for 'reliability' Fair exchange if that is what you want.

High end cars last 20 years or more, but typically need intervention and refreshment of wear components at the 10 year mark to make the second 10 years like the first. If the car was poorly maintained, you can spend more and may not be able to bring it back to its happy place.

My newest car is 10 year old and drives almost like new. My neighbor asked why Im always fixing a car while she has three lease payments for the rest of her life the answer was two-part: I like doing it, and its costs me 1/10 of what she pays.

[nsjames]

nothing that didn't happen to the entire auto industry.

I'm with abscate. You buy a ten year old volvo for a song, you fix it, you drive a $40k luxury car for less than the cost of a kia for a little time spent in the garage.

[JudgeRat]

I bought my Molly for $16.5k when she was 3 years old and she is now 12, so I got 9 years and ~75k miles out of her before I spent $3500 to replace the engine because I had apparently won the 2% lottery of getting one of the ones that had a defective head assembly from the factory. A lot of people would think I was nuts to throw more money at a "problem" vehicle but, the body, suspension, interior, et cetera, are all in good shape. So, as a former accountant and someone trained as a statistician, I think about it a bit differently. To me, it is a good investment. For my original investment, I basically paid roughly $1800 a year to drive 8k miles per year in a distinctive and fun sport luxury sedan that constantly garners plenty of admiring glances/comments. Even if I only get another 5 years out of her, I will only have spent ~$1500 a year. If I manage to luck out and get another 10 years out of her, I will only have paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $1100 per year. That is essentially at least a third to a quarter of what I would pay for a brand new no frills economy car that I wouldn't enjoy much. The only thing better in my mind would be if I could somehow afford to get a Tesla. Now who's nuts?

[abscate]

Your accountant acumen is indeed sharp. I totaled my " major refurb costs" on my P80, for AC, ETM, FWB, and all four corners of suspension at $2000 in parts. Paid labour would have added another $2000

That has given me, so far, 50,000 miles of year round car use or 8 cpm maintenance cost with paid labour. Using my own labour halved that low cost again. It's also likely I'll recover half of those costs on resale.