2002 Volvo V70 1+ year ownership "Silver Bullet" Update 

Wow, thanks for sharing man!

My university classmate's daughter walked away from a head on collision caused by a drunken driver, She walked away without injury. The police stated if it wasn't for her old Volvo she most likely would have not survived. I only learned about this after she heard about my Volvo collision experience. True Volvo performance that one hopes they will never need.

My father was in a horrible accident where he was t-boned by a timber-semi-truck in his Volvo V60 (around 2012) or so when that new generation was out. He had previously worked at Volvo Cars in Sweden and Volvo does actually investigate accidents with their cars when they can and if they are interesting. He had some friends who told us that he indirectly saved his own life. He was chief of an engineering department working with the steel construction of that specific vehicle. He had told the team that he was not satisfied with the Side impact protection results and they delayed it to get it better (in true Volvo fashion). Few years later he is working somewhere else but driving the V60, gets into a side impact collision having "indirectly" saved his own life a few years earlier. This is one of the most amazing stories I know. Horrible situation but very cool. Their culture is amazing. It all revolves around their principles, and ever since the beginning, safety has been a number one priority - and you can really tell that it still is to this day. Everything they do must be in line with these principles.

exactly what i was thinking!

Needs to be tested to rule out. Can be an expensive repair, but worth it if the car is in good shape!

Thanks for the comment!

I have found that like older German cars the electrical connectors can get bit funky. Check for corroded contacts. Clean them and use a silicone electrical contact protector. I find a lot of German plastic parts do not age well and fall apart. Older Volvo's used many plastic components manufactured from German autopart manufacturers. BMWs and Mercedes suffer from this same problem.

Not reassuring to keep long term...

This was my take-away from this incident as well. :)

But you won't find a low mileage one for $5,000!

@@74Husky Not today, but I paid 4,000 for it at 125,000 miles at the time! Owner's wife couldn't drive it anymore, failing eyesight. I have a stack of maintenance records, every 5,000 miles at the Lexus dealer in Wilmington Delaware. I did the 150k service myself.

Because we don't buy them. As good as they are, people would rather pay for a small SUV

I'm totally with this guy I don't want the extra bulk of an suv a wagon is perfect wish there were more sold in America

I do as well, but finding a cheap and reliable car was near-impossible, and certainly not one with silly miles on it. This came our way and we couldn't pass it up

@@AllCarswithJon The cool thing about Volvo is how well they do in accidents. Hope they kid never experiences that but it's nice having that piece of mind.

I can confirm that after our 2007 S60 was totalled by someone running a red light at high speed. Did not get any injuries, but bent our Volvos frame. I was amazed that my car still drove and nothing leaked! Because of that I bought another replacement Volvo. This one is made in South Carolina, USA. Initial opinion is the quality seems a lot better than under Ford owner ship. I love it, only time will tell its' durability. With Chinese ownership they seem to have given the Volvo engineers and designers free rein.

Unless... It begins nickel and diming him to death and it's no longer cost effective to keep it running...

I suspect it'll one day be a sudden and catastrophic end.

Yeah we like it. Just increasingly not as confident in it for the next 4-ish years.

Interesting to know!

hmmm, thanks!

Great suggestion! Thanks!

Volvos of this vintage can last a long time if taken care of and not abused. A bit more complex than those 1 million mile models. When Ford took charge of Volvo a lot of parts were made cheaper and designed poorly and did not hold up. My experience with Ford products is the accountants override their engineers .

Nothing wrong with these white block engines, and I have seen them north of 300k miles. I own one with 120k miles on it and the engine is certainly not the issue.

@@sebatarth162 my sister had a 03 Volvo wagon awd and repairs were nuts. 3 or 4 times the cost as my dodge caravan and more often but even with broken 4 wheel drive she still was able to find a buyer. So there is still demand. I love the Volvo 240 wagons and turbos.

The biggest reason is the price/mileage calculus. My son needed a car and we looked for months (literally). I'd be happy with him in a Corolla or Civic, but when we bought this a year ago, prices were stooopid high unless the car had just silly miles on it. I have a high opinion of Volvo overall, so when you find one with about 50k miles on it for the price, we grabbed it. Remember: this was like $5k. Leaves a few dollars for a few repairs. And, let's face it, as a dad I'd rather my son have a wreck in a Volvo than and Corolla. So the age of the car and potential cost to repair (we're kinda handy) are worth the gamble. At least so far.

Volvos suffer from high depreciation, so you get a quality car for less. That is why I look for used ones. But with any machine be prepared to invest some cash into repairs. I have found most modern cars parts are pretty costly and if not the labour costs will kill you! Find an independent Volvo specailist, they often know how to repair these cars using some more reasonable options. I stay away from AWD vehicles, too complex. Wait until all those new AWD vehicles age, we will see a lot of very costly repairs occuring. These AWD vehicles use more fuel, require one to replace all 4 tires at the same time! Parts and service are much more costly with their complex drive trains.

Instead he bought an old Saab and I'm going to be getting the Volvo ready to sell. 😉

@@AllCarswithJon I own 4 Saabs, so I can't fault his taste in cars..! Which model? A 900? I still vote you keep the Volvo - they don't make them like that anymore.

@@lukemallory7832 He got a 2000 9-3... with a manual. :) The Volvo takes up a lot of space and as much as I like it, I'm not letting it sit in my driveway and pay insurance on it! LOL

@@AllCarswithJon Fair enough, though I'd still keep it and store it somewhere without insurance. I also own a 2000 9-3, though mine is auto with the B204e lpt engine. FYI, the turbo went at 108k miles and the fuel pump at 120k - they go on them like clockwork. If I had it over, I would have done a fuel filter replacement earlier and don't let the fuel level get low. It's a weak point on the cars, and as with all modern cars, the fuel in the tank acts as the coolant for the pump - so no fuel = no cooling of the pump. Also check your vac lines and PCV check valve. Non-starts to look out for - if the car cranks when warm but doesn't start, that can be caused by the crank position sensor. The ignition cassette can also give out after a while, causing no starts also. I would probably do the coolant and thermostat too. And again, check your ground wires - I've also had non-starts due to corroded grounds, especially the one in the boot behind the tail lights, which grounds the fuel pump. Good luck with it : )

@@lukemallory7832 Thanks, appreciate it!

volvo was still amazing when it was owned by ford... it was when it became a chinese company when they started making turds

@@roketfingers How could it be amazing when it was using crappy Ford parts?

@@mikaelandersson1288 crappy Ford parts? Lol guess again. They were still solid with Ford. They became shitty when they became Chinese

I mentioned two! Which one are you referring to? (I'm assuming it's the turbo oil line return?)

I am talking about the seal on the oil cap. you don't replace the cap, just the seal. I have an 04s60r