I currently have a 2004 Volvo V70 2.5T and love it. I am considering getting another. I have heard that 2004 - 2006 are the best years because of some transimission issues volvo had in the early 2000’s, but I also have heard the 2007 is better. Just would like to get the one with the least potential problems.

 

Generally speaking, each year car companies improve their designs and increase reliability. With that said, they also change platform designs and introduce new functionality which can have teething problems. In your example, Volvo went to a new platform for AWD in 1998/1999 and had some issues but that didn't impact the FWDs. However they also introduced VVT and ETM - which introduced new failure points. In the later years, manufacturing changes and some design updates addressed these issues so as you noted 2007s solved many of the issues and if you look forward to 2010 and newer, even more of the reliability issues have been addressed.

So to your question, choosing a car with the least potential problems is going to consider mutliple decision points - what can you afford? newer cars with less miles are intrinsically more reliable. how will you be doing maintenance? DIYer vs Indy shop vs dealer choices may depend on what special tools are required and your skills. Next consider the feature package - turbos have more moving parts than NAs, more creature comforts (power this and that) mean more complex systems and more things to understand. Finally you will need to research the history of the particular car you are looking to buy. A well maintained high mileage car may be more reliable than a poorly maintained car of the same make and model. If you see a car that has full documentation and was dealer maintained to factory standards, you'd wager that all potential issues have been addressed right? One other consider to throw out is the number of cars manufactured for a give model. If you go for a V70 2.5T there's a whole lot more than say a V70R so the history and track record of common fault areas are better known.