16th Jan 2007, 07:21

Maybe you are responding to the first comment above, but if you look again at my original review, my over-riding concerns were with the chassis, the general reliability, poor equipment levels for the price, appalling depreciation and poor treatment from my local dealer.

My sister and her husband have had 3 Volvos and have liked them all, but they have experienced problems with each of them, including their current one, an XC90 which was bough brand new.

I bought my S70 based on their recommendations, but would not choose to buy another after what I experienced.

It was my first experience of owning a Volvo and when it proved to be such a let down, why would I sink my hard-earned cash into another?

16th Jan 2007, 08:14

That is a good response, and I would largely agree with your views. The S70 in my mind is a great car and at 125,000 has not one thing wrong with it (including no blown bulbs!) and I trust it wholley. However, I brought it knowing it was a bargain. Because - it was a saloon. In the UK, a Volvo has to be an estate. The estate will still depreciate - like all cars - but not as much as the saloon, because there is more demand. Also, the 850 / S70 / V70 are largly very reliable cars. Hence one of the reasons that the Police use them. Every car has the potential to go wrong - no car is fault free. But something is drawing your family back to them - it's because no one can make a car that inspires so much confidence (in most cases!). The package of immense safety (far better than anything the Japanese can make - is family safety important?), massive comfort and the knowledge that with regular servicing, the car will go on forever. This is proved by how many 20 year old Volvos are still on the road. In the case of the 70 range - great sounding engines!!!

17th Jan 2007, 00:14

Thanks for your comments.

I'm glad your S70 has taken you to a big mileage with no problems, you must have a good one. I agree that generally Volvos have a reputation for reliability and quality which is why I bought one.

Yes my sister and her husband have gone back for more and are now on their 3rd, but my parents drive Hondas and my other sister and her husband have a BMW and a Honda.

Good point you make about the saloon depreciating faster than the estate, but even so, I expected the value of a semi-premium brand car to hold up better (part of my reason for investing in one).

I would have to disagree with you on safety though. Yes Volvos have traditionally been seen as among the safest cars on the road, but for the last few years, the situation has changed.

They are still very safe, I'm not disputing that, but many other manufacturers have caught up and in some cases overtaken Volvo.

I do strongly dispute your assertion that Japanese cars aren't safe though! Of course my family's safety is of the utmost importance to me.

If you have a look at the Euro NCAP website (in case you don't know this is the most highly respected independent vehicle crash testing organisation), you will see that most of the French cars (which I would not touch with a bargepole!) of equivalent size are rated at 5 stars (the maximum). The Toyota Avensis is also a 5 star car, the Honda Accord 4 stars. The Volvo S70 and S80 are both also rated at 4 stars - very safe, but no longer the best.

I guess from your comments that yours is not a T5 (maybe I'm wrong)? If I'd had a lesser engined version, it wouldn't have overwhelmed the chassis to such an extent and my expectations would have been lower. But I'm sorry, if Volvo pitch it as a sports saloon with 240bhp, customers are going to expect a chassis to match.

I'm not a Volvo hater, I love cars in general and because of that and as a private customer spending my own money I have high expectations. Hopefully you can understand that at the time, I had never owned a Volvo previously and had come from owning 3 Hondas before that which had been faultlessly reliable, my experience of Volvo ownership was a letdown.

I'm not saying they are bad cars and I know there are many satisfied Volvo owners out there (yourself included). It's just my personal experience of owning one was not good.

A combination of some disappointments with the car itself, unreliability, and poor treatment from the dealer has understandably put me off.

If you take a look at the various satisfaction / reliability surveys you will understand why I have gone back to Honda.

The JD Power survey ranks Honda 2nd overall and Volvo 9th for customer satisfaction, and Honda topped their last reliability survey.

The Top Gear survey ranked Honda 3rd overall, Volvo 12th. These are the views of thousands of members of the public.

I am now on my 5th Honda. None have been bought new and all have been 100% reliable. I'm not saying they are the best cars in the world (far from it), but as an all round ownership proposition, they are fantastic.

I invite you to have a sit inside the latest Accord in 'Executive' trim if you don't think they match up to Volvo for quality - easily they do!

I'm pleased for you that you love yours, but for me it's once bitten, twice shy!!

23rd Jan 2007, 17:50

I owned a Honda Accord 2001 1.8SE model - I hated this car - hated it! The interior trim felt flimsy and rattled. the seats were awful and the stereo complete rubbish. It also felt light on the road, was noisy and the steering and brakes did not inspire confidence. It just felt cheap and rubbishy although it was mechanically faultless. I had german cars prior to this. I have had a Volvo S60 company car for the past two years and, NCAP ratings aside, I can assure you which car I would rather have an accident in! I suspect there would be many out there with the same inclination! Euro NCAP tests, while very helpful, test cars in very narrow scenarios and many would argue they do not reflect real accident scenarios. Volvo spend large amounts of cash, as does MB, testing cars in 'real life' accident scenarios and examining post accident cars. To suggest that a Renault Laguna is a safer car in an accident than an MB E class or a Volvo S60 is something I have difficulty comprehending - just drive and look at the two cars! Incidentally the S60, 55,000 miles on has been utterly reliable (small central locking problem aside) and comfort wise, well I have never had a car as good. I feels so solid, reassuring and confidence inspiring. It is very well made and the stereo system is fantastic. I never thought I would be a convert to Volvo, but there you go!