Car Reviews

I drove this car for five years. It is a very reliable car and I did not have to spend any money on it other than routine maintenance. It is not a very fancy car - it is meant to be for a middle class family who needs a car to do the daily chore.The only issue is that in an accident, this car does not hold up too well although the airbags work well.

I bought this car in 2000. Although the car is very nice to drive, very comfortable and has a great music system, but it has had many many problems and I have spent thousands of dollars on it. The car is designed so that most of the engine and transmission functions are controlled by the car computer's but the computer is plagued by software bugs and sensor failures.Since 2005, the check engine light has turned on and off every now and then and different Volvo dealers have given me different reasons and quoted rates varying from $600 to $3,000 (since you can afford a Volvo, you can afford to spend money!). I even spent about $600 to fix something that was not the real cause of the problem. Luckily Volvo refunded the money since after they discovered that a computer bug causes the engine lights to come on and the computer outputs wrong diagnostic. That brings me to another important point - the Volvo dealers do not know how to service their own cars. They are completely dependent on the car's diagnostics system and cannot apply their own brains. As everyone knows, computers cannot always provide the best answers. The Volvo dealers in our area are very expensive and are practically useless as far as service is concerned. Recently, I switched to a non-Volvo mechnaic who has "real" mecahnics. When I took the car there last time, the owner was telling me horror stories on how Volvo wont sell them any diagnostics equipment because they are not Volvo dealers. So, Volvo pushes useless dealers in favor of real mechanics.My recommendation is not to buy this car and waste your hard-earned money. If you are willing to spend this kind of money, take a look at a BMW. I have had good experience with them.