Faults:

Head light, side light, brake lights and steering panel light.

Check engine lights on/off.

ETS lights on/off with rough diving, sometimes stall on the highway.

Squirky sound when driving, especially on bumpy road or when making a turn.

General Comments:

It is nice car to drive, but it is too problematic. And wastes a lot of time and money on going back to auto service for the same problem, again and again and again.

Faults:

Mass airflow sensor failed.

Upper engine mount bushing failed.

Headlight bulbs replaced twice, both left and right.

Front turn signal lights failed twice.

Passenger door makes a loud cracking sound when opened fully - dealer adjusted twice.

Knocking noise coming from the front wheels - dealer flushed the transmission fluid - did not fix.

Check engine light came on numerous times.

General Comments:

The XC has a very comfortable interior, great useable space and AWD works great in the snow.

Overall I find this car to be a nice car to have when everything is working in good order.

Compared to my 850 GLT, my 850 is less troublesome. If it were not for the little things that I have to deal with in this car I would give it a high recommendation, but as you can see, for a car at this price level I have had too many problems that wasted my time at the dealership for repairs. This car is only 20k miles old..!! I would hate to see this car and its problems after the warranty runs out.

In San Francisco, the dealership does not provide loaner cars when your car is being serviced, I really never thought that this would be a factor, but if I need to bring the car in 3-4 times a year, I would expect a loaner for my inconvience.

Faults:

Electrical.

Computer.

Lights.

Brakes.

Power steering.

General Comments:

I was a content and loyal Volvo driver up until my third Volvo vehicle which I leased in 1999. The only good thing about the car is that I can return it once the lease expires.

The car has had a myriad of technical concerns and problems. More importantly the car is well below my expectations and falls well short of what I would consider to be a luxury automobile.

Beyond the technical problems, I am of the experience and perception that the Volvo organization makes it quite difficult to find satisfaction for defective vehicles and is less than responsive. The only other company I can think of that may be less responsive was "Crazy Eddie".

"Crazy Eddie" was infamous for having its customers report problems with merchandise via a special phone in each store. A clerk in headquarters manned the phone. Of course the clerk had absolutely no authority or inclination to address customer concerns. This was by design a mechanism for "Crazy Eddie" to avoid and evade customer issues. Much like "Crazy Eddie", Volvo positions itself away from direct customer interaction. The shield in this case is Volvo's franchise dealerships that have no intent or power to address concerns beyond the warranty.

I found numerous instances of Volvo quality problems of a similar nature in the public domain. My guess is that Volvo may be milking the perception of quality that it developed over time. Because of this perception, the sale of Volvo vehicles may not be that hard to accomplish.

I can assure Volvo that should the quality of their product, and the responsiveness their organization, remain at the level I have experienced their future success will be short-lived. It takes a long time to build a reputation for quality and service, and a very short time to lose it.

My latest experience indicates that the car is far less than the 1992 and 1996 that I have owned. My recommendation to a perspective Volvo owner would be to avoid the car. Instead, I would heartily recommend the Chrysler LHS or 300M. You will find that both these alternatives are considerably less expensive than Volvo and are in fact higher quality vehicles.