Hello all, newbie here.

My name is Jim, Seka is my new (to me) 2000 V70.

And she has me very worried.

To give you an idea - although truly no bragging intended - on my proficiency with a wrench; I'm darned good, finding the root cause of problems and digging into them instead of just swapping major assemblies. Two recent examples this month being a "needs a $7K transmission" in a heavy truck boiling down to nothing more than a bad diode pack in an alternator, and "Needs a new steering box" to nothing more than a seized up ball joint. Although I work with electronics by trade, I've been wrenching for over 30 years and currently maintain my landlord's truck fleet on the side. Bragging done - just wanted to be clear that I'm not shy digging into something new, and 'modern' vehicles by themselves don't intimidate me.

My ex wife had a 760, and I've worked on several variants of the era. My previous experience with Volvos has been positive, and when I went looking for a new commuter, I really had my heat set on a 940 wagon.

Sadly, the Ontario rust belt has retired the majority of them, and so when i came across this very pretty and very clean V70 formerly from British Columbia, I jumped on it without doing any research.

It has a few issues with a dash light disco show pointing to the ABS module and idle control (I forget the codes offhand, but drivability and mileage are excellent and I'll sort them out in coming weeks as time permits.

This morning the transmission began to flare during the 2-3 upshift. I though I'd noticed some hunting and odd transmission braking previously, but thought that I might just not be used to the feel of the vehicle and that it might all be normal. Reasoning that I'd never even heard a complaint concerning a (longitudinal) Volvo transmission in 30 years, that overall (unlike a few certain other manufacturer models I could slag) they were well designed and long lived, and the transverse units would be similarly though out.

After an evening on the internet, I'm suddenly not so confident.

I see nothing but reported problems, and little in the way of solid positive solutions. In fact, it seems like no one has managed to drive one of these beyond 160,000 miles. Seka is at ~125,000

As well, it seems as if rebuilds are just as problematic.

I really love this car, and had mentally made some plans for a long future and and some aesthetic customization.

So have I bought into a lost cause, or am I getting an inaccurate perception from my searches?

Another concern is the level to which this car's electronics and firmware are proprietary. I have not let another set of hands touch any of my vehicles since 1989 - mostly due to the horror stories (and estimates) I hear from my customers before I get them fixed up for typically 1/5 the cost.

I fear that eventually, I'm going to be at the mercy of a dealer to perform some sort of service or another.

Sorry for the long winded first post. I hope to hang around as time permits, and if not be of Volvo specific use for a time, at least throw some general diagnostic and spanner spinning advice when i can.

As is human nature, I'm kind of hoping to hear what i want to hear: That no, (the V70) is an excellent and reliable vehicle and my worries are all for nothing.

Thanks all.

Cheers. Jim.