1999 Volvo S70 sedan

Summary:

Horrible car

Faults:

I have had to replace the rear right brake light 10 times. I am having problems with the Electronic Throttle System at this moment. A repair shop told me the ETS was recalled, but not known to the public and the dealership is trying to charge me for the repairs. My driver side seat belt chooses when it wants to pop open. The seal on the drivers door had to be replaced. the electronics of the drivers seat are a mess you have to move it back to make it go forward. While driving it moves on its own and you get stuck to the wheel. It also does not move up or down only when it wants to. The electronics in the dash don't work the speedometer does not work and all the lights keep coming on. I just replaced my brakes and they give in and not work occasionally as well as the ABS light and Brake light are on at the same time as the speedometer not working. Every 25,000 miles something else goes wrong or a light comes on.

General Comments:

This car handles well.

This car has too many expensive maintenance problems.

This car is very comfortable when the seats decide to work.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 1st February, 2006

25th Feb 2006, 08:25

S70 Throttle body issues are huge and well known. Warranty has been extended to 200k/10 years. To get response, it MUST fail first.

6th Jul 2006, 21:01

As stated in the previous comment, the ETM problem is well known in the S70/V70 series cars. In addition to extending the warranty on the ETM to 200K miles/10 years, Volvo is also installing new ETM software for free. The software upgrade was done to my V70 (the S70's wagon sibling) in June 2006.

3rd Jan 2007, 21:03

1 problem every 25k miles? Doesn't sound too bad to me?

1998 Volvo S70 T5 SE 2.3 HP turbo

Summary:

Great car thanks to 1st-rate previous owners and overall excellent quality to begin with

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

This car with relatively high miles (averaging about 25,300 KM or 15,800 miles per year for 7 years) came into the family recently, but it has been extremely well-maintained by two previous owners. Due diligence about problem areas and frequency of repair of this model, plus the pre-purchase mechanical and overall condition evaluations of this particular unit indicated this would likely be a very good bet for a second family car to be used primarily for combination freeway and city commuting. Since purchase, this excellent vehicle (still with the original windshield in beautiful shape) seems to be the perfect combination of safety, power, performance, reliability, quiet, and very sporty motoring pleasure, with the ability to be an extremely pleasant and comfortable long-distance leather-ensconced conveyance (one reasonably-long day trip to date). New Nokian all-seasons in combination with the Winter setting and traction control have already demonstrated supreme starting, stopping and handling capabilities on melting black ice and in about 6” of fresh snow (Winter is coming, after all). Fuel mileage is averaging 8.9 litres per 100KM, not bad for frequent all-out turbo passing and relatively high-speed cruising on the freeway (~120KPH) when dry and clear. I have owned a 1972 144S and a 1978 245S in past lives many years ago now, and they were safe, fun, inexpensive to maintain, and reliable. The Toyota vehicles I have owned (and still own) are excellent, too. One always takes a chance with used vehicles, but this lovely example of an S70 T5 SE with all the bells and whistles is proving to be a very good choice. The local Volvo dealership has serviced it since new, so the vehicle is familiar to the service folks. All in all, this will most likely be a keeper.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th November, 2005

12th Feb 2006, 23:03

This is a follow-up on the first report on this great 1998 T5 SE. The vehicle now has 190,000KM. Problems? A small amount of automatic transmission fluid began to drip onto the garage floor at about 185,000KM. Solution: replace LH CV cover. Nothing since. Had the wheels / tires rotated & balanced, plus oil and filter change per recommended service schedule. I installed super-bright low beams about a month ago as my drive home from work is almost always in the dark, and deer are leaping about nowadays and need to be spotted early. But nothing else has been required. My first very positive impressions have been reinforced, and I have to admit being much happier and more satisfied than I thought possible even at the time of writing my first report (knock wood). My wife has become rather fond of this Volvo, too -- she now opts to find the keys before I do if we're going out to get groceries, for example. Fine with me -- being a passenger is almost as enjoyable as being the pilot! A comment on safety: I am very impressed by the brakes on this unit which prevented what could have been a serious T-bone incident when an oblivious or sleeping driver ran a red light, careening through the intersection from my left. Kudos to Volvo for having done it all exactly as required. I had estimated running costs as fairly high in my original report; they are much lower than expected.