I'm a big 1st gen 850/V70 fan, but lately have been seeing some really good deals popping up on the newer gens. Are the 2nd gen V70's as realiable as the previous ones? Anything I need to be concerned about?

 

Just ETM's and Transmissions and...

 

I was passing through Portland in January, on my way to L.A., and saw a nice 2Gen V70 that had obviously been sitting. Six weeks later, on my return, it was still there. I left a note, and when I got home I asked a guy at my local dealer about that era of cars. This guy is the parts manager, and a big Volvo fanatic. I've come to trust his advice over the years.

Anyway, he just shook his head, stared at the floor as if somebody had died, and said "Oh, man....I don't know." He told me they see lots of them with transmission problems, and they used to install used replacements at the customers request, since new ones are obviously going to be huge money. It turns out though that the wrecking yard they got them from, some Volvo specialist somewhere in California, won't even sell them any more. There were too many problems with them pulling the trans, shipping it off, and then having to do a refund when the dealer installs them and finds out the replacement trans is bad.

As someone else mentioned in another thread, best not to touch with the proverbial 10 foot pole.