Volvo Maintenance Costs...

For anyone who is wondering about buying a Volvo and to the person who
stated that costs for the operation of any car are about the same, I was
just going through a bunch of papers today and found the stack of
maintenance receipts for my 2001 Porsche Carrera (or is it Carerra?,
I'll have to go out to the garage to actually see what's written on the
side). I bought it when it was one year old with about 6,000 American
miles on the odo. It has cost me virtually NOTHING to maintain beyond
normal maintenance. It now has almose 60,000 miles of Las Vegas driving
on it and it's only on it's second set of tires that I just bought in
August.
On the other hand, my '03 Volvo XC is falling down around my
ears...deteriorating REALLY fast. From the glove compartment door to
the side trim and everything in between. I have literally spent
thousands of $'s on this piece of crap in the last year. A real piece
of crap. It just passed smog yesterday, which really surprised me.

 

My 760 is 19 years old. It has 300K of poorly maintained kms on a B280F V6,
the notorious cam eating engine.

It's been in the family since new.

It's only failed to start 3 times (needing service) in 19 years.

It has the original wheel bearings front/rear (I've since been maintaining
them up front).

No major service to components, except alternator, exhaust, and brakes.

Our other two Volvos in the family are an 850, and a V70. Both have
travelled many kms, without fail. I'd almost say "Toyota reliability".
I've owned a Corolla, and I'd say at least my 760 is just as reliable
(especially for being so old!!).

Sure, a Porsche is nice, and yes, they are reliable too. But you're
comparing two very different build qualities of cars. Sure, my trim is
falling apart too, it has something to do with the heat in your area.

What do you need an AWD for in Las Vegas for? Just curious. Volvos aren't
perfect, but they are damn good cars.

I bet if you owned a Ferrari, you'd be complaining about the bills (and
believe me, I collect Italian sports cars, I know how expensive they are to
maintain!!), but you'd love it for every other aspect and wouldn't ever
complain. It's like a beautiful high maintenance wife. ..

Maybe it's time to sell, what would be something you'd consider replacing it
with?

 

I guess you're having some bad luck with your Volvo. I owned several in recent
history but never had any problems or high maintenance bills. On the other
hand, my brother in law owns a Porsche 911 and experienced some troubles with
it, resulting in rather "spicy" costs for repair. Either you are lucky with
your 911 or he is having bad luck with his. Or rather: the truth is somewhere
in between.

 

I think it has more to do with where one buys parts, or if they pay
someone else to work on it, where they take it. 911's use many of the
same Bosch injection, ignition, and other electrical components as many
other European cars including Volvo.

 

On the subject of the care and feeding of older cars, Volvos are a good
choice to buy and maintain, especially if you can work on them
yourself.

It is a bonus if you live near a U Pull It wrecking yard which has a
deep selection of comparable cars (as do I).

It seems to me that Volvos are stout, sturdy cars which were built
solidly, designed for long, hard wear.

The quality of mfr. is good, the steel is stout, the systems hold up
nicely and do not seem shabby.

Sure, I am always "working on it," but that is because I enjoy keeping
it in top-flite shape, and am anal about maintenance, squeak repair,
oil changes etc.

My '82 Volvo has never stranded me, and that's saying something.

My '81 stranded me only once, when the wiring harness from the
alternator shorted out due to years of heat and oil contamination
(common problem, in hindsight, which I should have prevented via
changing out the harness ahead of time: live and learn).

 

Why an AWD? Well, I'm in real estate here in Vegas and I frequently
drive onto new construction sites where some roads in neighborhoods are
not paved, and particularly after or during rain which can be quite
torrential at times, the AWD has come in very handy...There's nothing
worse than soft, wet desert sand. Certain areas of the city still have
enormous flooding problems. I also like the extra ground clearance.

As a replacement, I'm leaning toward another Lincold Town Car. With the
Touring suspension my on / off ramp speeds can be much faster than in
the XC. I know the owner of a limo service here in town and they
usually keep their Town Cars until around +- 200K abused miles. He let
me drive one that was just pulled out of service to wholesale and it was
tight, fewer rattles and squeaks than my almost 58K, '03 XC, engine was
quiet and so smooth at idle that I thought that it had stalled.

The so-called Volvo purists will be scoffing all the way to the service
department. Most of them on this site who love their Volvos are for the
most part driving Volvos that are 10 years old or older. The other Volvo
lovers on this site are driving Volvos that are one to two years old
with no miles on them. I depend on my vehicle every day but in the last
year, even when it was sitll under warranty it cost me a bundle. Now,
out of warranty, it has cost me $3,000.00 since November, NOT including
normal maintenance...all mechanical problems...particularly a VERY
expensive rear wheel alignment that necessitated new hard parts, not
just bushings. Amazing to me how a nearly 45K vehicle doesn't even have
a rear camber adjustment to take of a one degree variation, or a way to
open the back door when something internal goes haywire. Almost
criminal. AND...I've had TWELVE new Volvos since 1967.