Volvo AWD vs. Subaru AWD

In article , Tmuldoon wrote: :Hi! : :Are there any Volvo owner out there who also have a Subaru? : :I am seeking a decent AWD car for a good price, good reliability and :always decent cost. : :Anyone care to share any experiences?

had a '96 subaru legacy gt wagon till about two years ago, in addition to my volvos (wife's car). the gt is important. it had the

2.5 liter engine instead of the 2.3(?) liter which preceded it. with the 2.3, the vehicle was way too underpowered. it would have needed a turbo to be satisfactory. with the 2.5 is was almost adequately powered, but could have used a turbo, as well. aside from that it was a very nice car but not as comfortable as any of my volvos (currently a '91 940T and a '92 960). handled pretty well. still gutless in mountain driving which is an bummer here in colorado. gas mileage was at most 20 even on the highway. build was quite good and the car seemed very durable. maintenance was not expensive. that year required premium gas. i believe that later years were able to use regular leaded.

I had a Subaru Legacy LS and have a Volvo XC70. There is no comparison. The Subaru was a nice driving car but spent a lot of time and my money in the shop. I had to get rid of it at 110,000 miles because the rust was so bad that it would not pass Pennsylvania State Inspection. It had no resale value. The frame and brake system were so badly corroded they were unsafe. I have driven 8 Volvos over 120,000 miles and never had any of those problems. Other problems with the Subaru were:

The transmission/AWD unit replaced just before 100,000 miles. The drivers door lock mechanism fell apart locking me in the car. The air conditioner compressor fell apart and had to be repaired. The drivers sun visor wouldn't stay up and had to be replaced. The air shocks leaked and were replace with mechanical shocks. The tail gate rusted out and had to be replaced. The sun roof leaked. The axle bearings wore out and had to be replaced. I took it to the Subaru dealer for all of these problems and all were fixed. The corrosion of the frame and brakes were not repairable.

On the other hand the Volvo XC70 has had no problems and holds its value very well.

That is one detail I forgot too mention. The gas mileage is better on the Volvo XC70 than it was on the much smaller Subary Legacy LS. The cost of ownership for the Subary was much higher than my XC70 since the maintenance, fuel and depreciations costs were all much higher.

asian metals and mfg vs. european.......

imho european is better, stronger...although a bit more $$...

i am not sure about "Consumers Reports" and their ratings.......some of the results seem pretty flakey...sometimes.....

CR does not seem to like Volvos, for whatever reason.

That generalization is wrong. CR loves the 1999 and 2000 V70.

CR also has reported good reliability from the:

VOLVO 240 '91 & '92 VOLVO 940 '94 & '95 VOLVO 850 '95 - '97 VOLVO S40/V40 '01 & '02 VOLVO S60 '01 - '03 VOLVO V70 '03

CR readers haven't been impressed with the Volvo S80's reliability. Its lack of reliability ranks among such less than stellar vehicles such as:

Audi A6 BMW & Series Jaguar S-Type Jaguar X-Type Land Rover Discovery Mercedes-Benz C-Class (V6) Mercedes-Benz CLK Mercedes-Benz M-Class Mercedes-Benz S-Class Volkswagen Golf Volkswagen Jetta Volkswagen New Beetle

These are some of the non-USA models that have consistently exhibited less-than-average reliability in the 1997-2004 period. Volvo only has one model on this list, the S80.

Now don't assume these vehicles are in the shop all the time. Unreliable today means having more problems than a car that is very reliable since most cars today are very reliable. Problems with the engine, engine cooling, transmission, and drive system were weighted more heavily than other problems. A 10% defect rate per year is above average today and a 15% defect rate per year is among the worst. So if a car has one serious defect in 6 years it is very unreliable. If that is typical for the model, then the model is considered very unreliable.

By the way, the Subaru Legacy is considered a better-than-average model and my experience with a '90 Legacy was the worst of any car I owned except a '58 Mercury. However in the 1997 to 2005 time period, the Legacy has redeemed itself as has the Mercury Grand Marquis.

The biggest problem is when there is a consistent problem with almost every car - it might not be detrimental to the operation, but so many have the problem that the car gets a bad rating... Take for example those VWs (I know, I have two... so I'm speaking from experience with owning a CR's worst pick.... they rate our 960 badly too... but it's been the best car we've had)... They are all the same car, basically... They have plastic window clips, poor quality MAF sensors, and bad ignition coils (well they did... it's all been upgraded now)... Three problems, all three cars have these issues (MAF on the diesels, coils on the 1,8L gas engines)... These cars have all been fixed, but it's too late - bad wrap by CR - amount of time in the shop for these cars... a day for each problem.

The other cars, S80 included are probably too technically complex for their own good... their engines/trannys are most likely perfect, but their German built (ie - overcomplicated, and they know it) electrical systems cause problems... I won't get into the Jags... I've heard Jags are notorious for "issues" same goes with the Land Rover, everyone knows they are troublesome.

It has been shown that some testers "must" find a new car is amazing if they wish to be on the inside and make a "good living" ethics are not an issue .This is why a Japanese Korean tin can will show up as being such a marvellous car, against a Volvo .Air bags mean safety to some rather than good brakes and agility .$$$$$ Rule the results of motor testers too.Subaru`s make a good get away car till they hit something hard .The life of the engine is another issue .

These are not testers that find cars unreliable. They are owners. If the car goes into the garage for repairs, it is not reliable. Most cars today can are reliable. Those that are not stand out.