Bought as a station car to ferry me on a 70 mile daily commute. Never once let me down, and sold to a Polish chap at 145,000 miles who drove it all the way back to Warsaw without a problem. Not a car to buy if you want to be noticed, but still a great driver's car, and with superb reliability and build quality thrown in. Proved less hassle to run than any VW or BMW owned by friends. Slow and noisy, but otherwise very hard to fault.
2001/51 in Maya Gold with 125,000 miles and full Volvo history. Paid just £2,500 for it earlier this year. Light pressure turbo 2.0 five-pot is a smooth, punchy gem and sounds fabulous when revved. Consumption is 22-35mpg depending on use. Superb build quality - still feels taut and fresh and cruises silently. Handles surprisingly well and corners quite flat, but steering lacks feel. Excellent brakes, great styling. Eats lightbulbs, but other than that, faultless. Better than an Audi A4 and cheaper.
Apart from a passenger side window regulator failing, we haven't had a single reliability issue with the car. Love the super smooth, torquey diesel engine, the acres of space and the sheer versatility of the thing. NCAP five star rating is confidence-inspiring too. Not so impressed with the numb steering and ridiculously over-servoed brakes, and the fact that it will only do about 35mpg around town. On the whole though it's a fabulous, gadget-laden family lugger that I would recommend to anyone.
