FWIW your friend can’t count either. In 1999 Volvo made S70s and S80s. The S60 was introduced in 2001. The 99 model year cars (70 & 80) had some, shall we say, quality issues.
The 01 S60 was a much improved car quality wise, and the 02 and 03 model year S60s had the lowest warrenty costs of any of our models (I work for Volvo).
So if you are not living in fear of your friend, and have any questions I would be happy to answer any and all, drop me an e mail, the addy is in my profile.
How does the V40 shape up? I understand that the body is a Mitsubishi platform (based upon the Galant), and shares many parts with that car. Does this mean its pretty reliable? Mitsubishi is pretty good-the engines seem quite reliable.
But, like all Volvos, parts are probably quite expensive.
What’s the story?
This site has a fairly good library of Road Tests and also a section of stories from drivers who write in. It is euro-biased however:
The old S40 (sold in Europe from 1995-2004 and in North America 200-2004) shared a platform with the Mitsubishi Carisma (not the Galant) The Carisma is a European only Mitsu model.
Sharing the platform means that the location of certain components is common between the two cars. It does not mean that the bodies are identical, they are not. If you were to park a S40 next to a Carisma, they do not look like twins. The S/V 40 brought to the North America used Volvo engines, and Volvo transmissions. I think it was possible in some markets to get a Mitsubishi engine in the S/V40, but I am unfamiliar with those cars.
The new S40/V50 (introduced as a 2004.5) is an all new car that does not share anything with the Mitsubishi. This is the first car that was developed after our purchase by Ford, and shares some technology with the Mazda 3 and the Ford focus C-Max (European only model, not available in NA)
As far as parts prices go, back when I was a technician I used to hear this from customers. For some reason I used to hear the comment that the next time around they were going to buy a Nissan. I had a good friend that had a 300ZX. Whenever I purchased parts for her car I was shocked at how much more expensive the Nissan parts were than Volvo parts. One example the 300 had a bad rear brake caliper. I went to price it, $565 wholesale. At the time calipers for our car cost about $125 each retail. So for what one brake caliper cost for her Nissan I could have bought all four for a Volvo and had money left over.
Parts for all new cars are expensive, not just Volvos.
Thanks FilmGeek , but I think we’ve settled on an Accord.
Rick , I must have gotten the year wrong. I know he has an S60 (I’ve seen it many times). We’re definitely not basing our decision solely on what he said. The feedback we’ve basically been getting is that the car is really solid, but watch out if it needs maintenance – both on cost and finding a dealership – and that’s just not something we feel comfortable with.