"Robatoy" wrote in message
...
On Dec 18, 4:26 am, Peter Huebner wrote:


And, talking of reliable European cars, I've known quite a few series 2
Volvos that cracked half a million kilometres ... Now that Ford are
messing with the Volvo design I think that will not be the case any
more, I won't buy another Volvo designed & built since 2006. Currently
driving an 850 wagon and an XC70. Wonderful cars to drive, but lots of
little things go wrong all of the time :-(

I quite like the C30 Volvo. Ford's hands in things don't always turn
out bad.
The fact that a C30 fetches as much money as it does is a bit of a
****er considering that what it really *is*...is a Mazda 3.
I have owned Volvos in the past without any drama.

One of the worst lemons I ever had was an early-model Volvo P-1800. I made
a sharp u-turn one day and the wire from the distributor wrapped around the
steering and broke. The hose from the fuel filter leaked and the car caught
fire one day in a gas station. The Pirelli radial tires made the car waggle
like a duck at low speeds as the side walls flexed back and forth. A c-clip
in the window mechanism kept coming off and I became good at removing the
trim and replacing the clip.

Maybe the fact that the car was made in Scotland was a factor.

My next Volvo was a model 142, made (assembled, actually) in Halifax, Nova
Scotia -- I bought it duty free, with no accessories - not even a radio --
for $2000 brand new. It was more reliable but I finally sold it in Dayton,
OH when there was no Volvo dealership and no reliable repair shops that I
could find and the disk brakes started to seize up randomly.