I was advised by a respected friend to buy a Volvo as I was looking at used cars with automatics to drive in traffic. My other car is a manual Subaru Forester. In early June I bought a 2003 XC70 Cross Country; and have been having issues with it continuously. First were easy, 2 lamps needed replacing; after that, discovered leaking radiator, which was replaced along with the intercooler hose. Mechanic must not have secured skid plates, as they are no longer on vehicle. Next came message #5 coil was bad, it was replaced along with the spark plug. I noticed an extreme amount of brake dust on wheels and took to tire person for inspection, he discovered brake pads were nearly new but of poor quality. I elected to have them replaced, upon removal, he discovered rotors were all bad. Shortly after that, it started and immediately died numerous times at a store parking lot. I called for a tow; before it arrived, I tried again and this time it kept running but CEL was on. So I took it to a Volvo specialist, it had 9 codes; he replaced all spark plugs (they were all after market), 2 coils and the MAF, cost over $700. A few days later CEL on again, codes are P0102, and P02188. My husband is ready to paint a large yellow lemon on it, and I no longer trust friend's opinion on "reliable" vehicles! Subaru is also a 2003, no issues with it!

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

How many miles on the Volvo? At 10 years and 120,000+ miles they are put into the high maintenance status. I'm a Volvo guy and don't care for the 2001 - 2003 years.

 

163,703 miles at present. I blame myself for not doing some research before buying; of course, it may have been "rode hard and put away wet". I live in a rural area with rocky, dirt roads so prefer AWD vehicles. My father taught me to not be afraid of higher mileage vehicles, because they have to be mechanically kept up.
I am waiting for some front struts to be delivered for shop to replace along with broken front spring seats; no extra labor since they will be removed anyway. My hope is to be able to get many more years from this as I now have a lot more into it than it's resale value. I often travel an interstate that has construction undergoing for a couple of years. Driving the automatic in stop and go traffic is better than getting "clutch fatique". Thanks for your reply.