Hello Volvo folk!
My wife and I have decided on getting her an 05 or 06 S40..The T5 AWD to be exact.
One of my friends, who has been a loooong time Volvo owner, just told me that I should pass on any newer Volvo due to computer problems. He has only owned older Volvos but was going to upgrade to a newer 04,05 or 06 model. He went by our local Swedish Service center, which is the best one around our area, and asked the owner his thoughts on the new Volvos. He was surprised to hear the owner of the shop say DO NOT bother with newer Volvos. He said the computers were crap and the circuit boards regularly fried and it was a costly repair involving the replacement of the entire computer system....

Is there any truth to this? If so, is it really not worth buying a newer Volvo or would an extended warranty take care of any potential problems?
I'm hoping this is not the case but this is coming from a service tech that specialized in Volvos....

I have posted this in the S40 section as well.

Thank you all in advance!

Daytona, I have owned many Volvos over the years but I know first hand that after '98 , Volvo is just not the standard of reliability that they once were. I have friends with '04 and '03 Volvo that are in the shop almost monthly. I am really sorry to see that happen to Volvo but Ford has ruined a good thing.

Thanks for the rply Buck. I hate to hear about the problems.

I have owned Ford products for MANY years without any real or major problems. One thing that made me feel good about purchasing a Volvo is that they are under the Ford umbrella. I did some research over the last few months and I didnt hear any chronic problems about Land Rover, Jaguar or Mazda and they are owned by Ford as well. Volvo just happened to be my last subject to look into.
Lets not be so quick to blame Ford. Since they have been purchased by Ford it looks like they have made major leaps in performance and style. It sounds like Volvo is experienceing growing pains but lets put the blame on the good folks at Volvo. They need to be held accountable and need to fix the problems. I'm not sure about all the history but if it wasnt for Ford they MIGHT not even be around right now.


SORRY....Back to the original topic..can anyone else chime in on potential problems that I might be looking at?

Daytona, Just take a look in the newer Volvo forums and see all the MAJOR and expencive problems people are having. As far as Ford improving style and performance, The new Volvo's look like a fancy Taurus. Given the history of Jaguar, anything would be an improvment! I'm sure that if it weren't for Ford, Jaguar and Mazda would be out of business but I believe Volvo would continue to be just a good old workhorse that a certain niche in society followed. Ask any Volvo mechanic that is not associated with a dealership and they will tell you of the problems.