Wife's decided on a new car...

[Icemaster]

She's settled on a Volvo S60 after looking at a number of others. Any reason I should talk her out of this? Anyone with experience with Volvo?

TIA

[livi]

Unavoidably, being a Swede, I have driven most models since the eighties. Not the S60 however.

To me, Volvo has always been the closest thing to a tractor, only surpassed by SAAB. But I have grown up with a traffic where every other car is a Volvo. Common and boring.

Generally I think they are good, reliable cars though.

[911boost]

Wer had a 2002 S60 with AWD and the turbo motor. It was my wifes daily driver, and a lease. We drove it the full 60,000 miles. It did sustain $15K worth of front end damage when my wife rear ended someone. Both her and my 2 year old daugter walked away without even a scratch. The Volvo dealership was extremely nice to my wife, and she really liked the car. If you notice, we bought an XC90 from the same dealership when the lease was up.

Here are some pros:
-very safe car, tons of airbags (I have experieced this forst hand)
-Hladex built AWD system (think Audi Quattro, same thing)
-got decent gas mileage, 26ish on the highway
-good looking car, with a great interior
-held up very well, only replaced the battery in 4 years (60,000 miles)
-very good dealer customer service

Here are some cons:
-very sensitive brakes, takes a little bit to get used to.
-I am 6-4, and there really was not very much room behind me when I was driving
-stupid black plastic on the body made waxing a huge PITA.

Feel free to PM with any other questions, or I can post more here.

Bill

[gassy]

I love my s60--I've had it since '01...a bit pricey to fix though--I'll buy another Volvo...but I plan on keeping this one until my ten yr old starts driving.
Christian

[JeremyD]

We have a XC-90 TT - Wifey likes it very much.

[Rick V]

My sister was T-Boned by some kid in a mustang, she was in an S40. She was hit in the right side and the car was totaled before it quit moving. The only damage she sustained was being hit in the head by a can of airborn catfood. She was leaving the grocery store at the time.
As a wrench I do not much more than routine maint. on the Volvos. I would recomend them for someone who wants a responsible car with some frills. Should be a good choice.

[89911]

I've had two Volvo's, an S80 and a 850 turbo wagon. You could do a lot worse then the S60. I found Volvo a little boring after a while, especially the S80. What made me switch was the cost to have the cars serviced. You pay MB and BMW pricing to service these cars. Every-time I was do for a service, they were always springing something on me out of nowhere. Makes you consider getting a BMW. At least all service and maintenance up to 50,000 miles is covered (even brake pads).

[pmajka]

"Buy Volvos. They're boxy, but they're good. We know they're not sexy, but this is not a smart time to be sexy anyway with so many new diseases around. Be safe instead of sexy."

[Moses]

You're pretty close to the same price as the new BMW 335i twin turbo. No maintainance costs at all for four years. You only pay for gas. You get a turbo charged 3 liter motor, paddle shifters, loads of torque and a bit more style than a Volvo.

[the]

I wouldn't buy a car from any car company that only still exists because it was bought by a giant American car company.

[911boost]

I wouldn't say that they still exist since Ford bought them. Unless of course you know somethign that I don't.

[RKC]

I think he meant they still exist DESPITE Ford buying them - LOL!

We had an 2001 XC70 some years ago. No troubles and a nice car. Volvo styling looks nice these days too.....

[Icemaster]

Thanks for the input all...

Moses, if it were my car, rest assured which set of keys I'd have in my hand. Trust me, I've tried to get her to consider BMW, but it was all I could do just to get her to drive the Mercedes, Audi, Lexus etc. It's her car and she retains veto power. I'm along for the ride on this. Boring is fine with her.

The fact that Ford now owns them is playing into my favor - sister in law gets us A-Plan, and right now they're offering 5K off on 06 models to clear them out. Kinda tough to turn away a ~9K price advantage overall with no BS haggling. This pretty much sealed it for her, she's a little more frugal than I am. Crap, she's driven a 98 Saturn since, well, 98. Wouldn't consider giving it up until the starter went out last month and she was forced to drive my targa for three days while I was out of town.

Besides, she has some issue with BMW's harkening back to the 80's - something about the "pretentious overindulgent pricks drove BMW's in the 80's..."

I told her that the pretentious overindulgent pricks drove Porsche's where I came from. She still didn't buy it. In fact, asked me why that was different today. Hmmm...



Anyway...thanks everyone, you're all confirming what I'd researched. Knew I could rely on you all.

Markus, I'll let you know how she likes the tractor.

[the]

Originally posted by BSiple
I wouldn't say that they still exist since Ford bought them. Unless of course you know somethign that I don't.

Sounds like maybe I do.

I do know of the existence of the Volvo Car Corporation. I think they exist. I sure all of these highly paid executives of Volvo Car Corporation hope it exists!

Imaginary people?

[911boost]

That is it the, I have had enough of your lip, damn Coloradoan. I know the exist, I meant to say that I doubt that if Ford had not bought them they would have gone under.

On a side note, the company I work for was started in Sweden, and Volvo is one of our accounts and has been for a long time.

[stevepaa]

1992 volvo wagon went 288k miles before she asked for her next one, a 2004 volvo wagon. She won't even look twice at any other car.

[Moses]

A few years ago a woman who works for me got in an accident in a Volvo. She was 8 months pregnant. Someone tried to pass her on a freeway offramp. She slammed into a barrier and rolled the car. The Volvo was totaled. She and the baby were fine. Guess what she drives today? Yup. Another Volvo. They really do seem to be well engineered. "Boxy, but good."

[the]

[the]

Originally posted by Moses
A few years ago a woman who works for me got in an accident in a Volvo. She was 8 months pregnant. Someone tried to pass her on a freeway offramp. She slammed into a barrier and rolled the car. The Volvo was totaled. She and the baby were fine. Guess what she drives today? Yup. Another Volvo. They really do seem to be well engineered. "Boxy, but good."

The thing is, you can tell that same story over and over again, but insert "BMW," "MB," or any other brand of your choosing. It's done all the time.