After 6 months of extensive research and browsing online used car, I finally purchasing a 2005 S60R, 6 spd manual with 56,500 miles. Single female owner, garage kept, virtually flawless. Fully maintained at the Volvo dealer with only routine maintanence thru its life at this point.

I was originally searching for a 4 door family sedan, great safety ratings, high reliablity (continues to be my major concern with Volvo), manual transmission, fun to drive, good gas mileage. Obviously, you combine all these attributes & the options become scarce. Ultimatley, I took a chance regarding realiablity with Volvo (compared to Toyota, Honda, Lexus, etc) but loved everything else I had read on forums, reviews, etc.

Impressions:

This car is extremely to drive. It is certainly very quick for a 4DR vehicle with a high reving, turbo charged, 5 cylinder motor. Peppy all around. I haven't noticed any turbo lag. The car handles wonderfully regardless of the suspension setting (comfort, sport, or advanced). I would give it a 9 out of 10 here. Only a Caddy CTS-V would get a 10 out of 10 here!

The interior of this car is simply beautiful. I've read wonderful things about the the leather and seating comfort and can only concur. Probably one of the best seats I've experienced. The stereo? I consider myself an audiophile and this thing simply rocks. Awesome depth of sound, very impressive bass levels. Dolby surround is great. I had originally anticipated that I would upgrade the entire system (as is my routine for most cars or trucks), but it simply is not needed. I've got a $4K stereo in my 08 Tundra & the Volvo almost competes with it in sound clarity. The stereo may be the most impressive factory option in this entire vehicle after the seats. Only downside, the back seats have limited leg room with tall front seat passengers but this is the nature of the beast. You would need to move to a S80 or Caddy CTS to greatly improve it. So I would give it a 9 out of 10 here.

So far I've only driven it about 150 miles. In city / suburban driving I was able to achieve 25 mpg with a light foot targeted to maximize MPG. On the highway, I've experienced 27-28 MPG. Now if I had decided to drive aggresively these numbers would drop considerably of course but true of any car. So I would give it a 9 out of 10 here. For the performance, you simply won't do better.

My only complaint at this point? Road noise. I was aware of it after reading reviews and can confirm it. The car simply doesn't have sufficient factory sound deadening. I will likely pull the entire interior and sound deaden the entire floor at some future point. I did this with my 2008 Tundra, and it is Lexus quiet. The Tundra also benefits from being 14 or so inches from the ground unlike the S60R. I drive with the radio always ON, so it really isn't that noticeable unless you drive with no radio. On the flip side, my wife's 2001 Honda Civic experiences 2-3X the road noise of the S60R. So I would give it a 5 of 10 here.

Other than that, I'm a DIY mechanic and can usually fix about anything not involving the computer system on automobiles. I replaced all the fluids (motor, manual transmission, bevel, rear diff), replaced the intake filter, replaced the interior cabin filter, and replaced the spark plugs. Took me several hours as some of the fluid must be sucked out (no drain plugs). Overall, I felt it was easy to work on. The spark plugs were super, super easy IMO. So I'm happy that Volvo pre-engineered the car to be manageable in terms of DIY repairs.

Try to give 6 month period updates. Great forum and happy to be a Volvo driver.