Faults:

Various bulbs needed replacing; cheap and easy to replace so not such a big deal.

Front coil spring snapped (common problem).

Brake pads needed changing.

And tyres!

All of the above are wear and tear items and happen to every single car, so I'm not complaining in the slightest!!!

The only major problem I've had with the car was it would tend to lose all power when I would take off from a standstill, which turned out to be a faulty throttle body. Once replaced the car has been utterly flawless.

I have owned the car for about 4 months now and have done over 15k miles in that time. It has almost 260000k miles on it and it still goes great, so I think I'll keep it for a while longer yet :)

General Comments:

Great car that has decent power for its size (115bhp & 195 lb ft). I installed a tuning box and the amount of extra torque was incredible, but it started to make the clutch slip so I removed it.

The leather seats are very comfortable; I travel 800 miles per week for work and don't ever feel uncomfortable. My previous car was a Mitsubishi Carisma, which this Volvo is based on, and it gave me chronic back ache as the seats were so bad.

Fuel economy is still pretty good, even with the high mileage. I average just over 48 MPG and I don't exactly drive slow.

Being an estate it is quite practical, and with the rear seats folding flat it gives lots of room for carrying larger items.

One thing that really surprised me was the handling! It really is planted to the road, which shocked me a little. My previous Carisma, which is basically the same car underneath, was like a boat in the corners, but the Volvo is worlds apart.

Overall a very good all rounder, but if it had a little more power as standard, it would be so much better in my opinion.