[sheerwater]

Trouble is George that having got used to Volvos, their quirks and their repair over the past 24 or so years I have become blinkered as to the progress by other manufacturers. Yes Volvo were the inovators in the early days with safety on windscreens, safety belts etc but most of this innovation is now widespread across most makes. Check the league tables on safety and you will find that Renault and Audi are well up the scale now. As for safety I believe that Volvo still manufacture cars with that extra set of seats in the estates which is actually in a crumple zone. This said I think that to be fair to Volvo I will tell my story. Having owned 1x144s, 3x245s, 2x340s, 2x440s,2x V70s 1x740s and 2x940s and currently own one 940estate,one 740estate and a V70 diesel estate it is fair to say that I am in a position to comment on the quality of any one Volvo compared with another. I also repair 1x940, 1x740, 2x v70,1x850,1x850t5r belonging to relatives and friends. In 1997 I must have lost leave of my senses. The advert stated that 940s were being discontinued. Wow I thought my last chance of getting a decent Volvo (the type I loved) and a chance to own a car with a 5 year warranty, serviced by the dealer and no more grubby hands. Stupid stupid me. After parting with a (then) years salary I took delivery of a car I thought would be trouble free. It was registered on 1/1/98. Since then the car travelled a grand total of 62000 miles. Now in this magnificent mileage the car has suffered the following faults. A faulty gearbox,replaced, A faulty exhaust,replaced,faulty front shocks,not replaced under warranty, faulty rear nivomat,only one replaced, clutch master cylinder, replaced, drivers door seal rotted away,replaced, rear disc warp in the first 20k miles,replaced,aircon hose split,replaced,alarm problems, anti roll donuts split, anti roll bushes rotted, control arm to wishbone bush split, steering rack failure, steering bush failure,rubber around windscreen rotted,bracket holding jack broken off although jack never used, a howl/squalk from the clutch, heat shield for exhaust split, turbo to exhaust manifold leaking,2 faulty heated seat switches, These are the majorish problems. there are numerous minor problems fixable by me. How is the car driven. Exactly the same way as all the others were without this sort of problem. Why is the mileage so low after 4.5 years? because the hard work is still done by the 740 with 170k on the clock. The problem car has full service history on the dot at main dealer. Does not tow. Is not used for cross country trials and looks in showroom condition. Now if there is anyone out there who thinks I should be a happy bunny after gleefully handing over a full years salary on my dream car only to have this sort of problem week in week out then I am astounded. While my neighbours sit in their gardens enjoying the sun I am under the damn thing again trying to fix more problems. And if anyone asks why the warranty is not covering all the faults they have not read the small print. Yep Volvo used to make fine cars and may still do so. All I ask is why is this one such a bum car. The old saying once bitten twice shy springs to mind. Cheers Nigel