I have been reading this group for about a week and I can't help but wonder: Why do I get the impression that most of the people in this group really can't afford to drive a Volvo and are always looking for the cheapest, most Mickey Mouse way to make repairs? If you can't maintain an old or new Volvo properly, don't buy one! Find a beater Chevy Cavalier instead. It will look more at home next to your double-wide, you might be able to afford repairs, and, in the likely event that you can't afford repairs, there are plenty of parts in the junk yard--or even in front of your neighbor's house, conveniently perched on cinder blocks.
Au contraire, my cynical chum. I can afford to run my Volvo - I wouldn't have bought one or any other car for that matter if I couldn't. But ask yourself this - given the choice of doing a job yourself for minimum cost, or letting a dealer do it and robbing you blind, what would you do?
I suspect, that since you most likely have more money than sense, you would take the latter path...
My dealer posts all his charges in advance. No surprises. He usually adds extra perks that are free when I go in. He knows that if he keeps me happy I will buy several more Volvos from him. The maintenance in minimal even though I drive my cars 180,000 miles. Routine maintenance costs about 1% TO 1.5% of purchase price annually. That is less than I loose to inflation and much less than I loose to depreciation.
| | Au contraire, my cynical chum. I can afford to run my Volvo - I wouldn't | have bought one or any other car for that matter if I couldn't. But ask | yourself this - given the choice of doing a job yourself for minimum cost, | or letting a dealer do it and robbing you blind, what would you do? | | I suspect, that since you most likely have more money than sense, you would | take the latter path... | |
You mean that you do the jobs such as those that people ask for help doing here? The kind that, once the do-it-yourselfer has done it, have engendered
2-3 new problems because Mr. Handyman has botched the job thanks to ineptitude and/or trying to do it on the cheap? I'll stick with my dealer, who has given me excellent, reasonably priced, reliable, service and outstanding prices on the several new Volvos I have purchased from him.
Wow, are you off-base with that sweeping statement of affordability.
If I chose to, every year I could buy the most expensive Volvo model sold in the US and burn last years model just for fun, with no change in a very comfortable and indulgent lifestyle.
I choose to own drive an older Volvo because I (gasp!) enjoy tinkering with a mechanical beast - it gives me a break from my international work and relaxes me. But certainly not because I cannot afford it. That assumption is really off-base.
We on the other hand all enjoy making our cars as run as well as we possibly can. As for the affordability, if you have the time and the knowledge it is very easy to save considerable amounts of money doing your work on your car yourself. Just because it isn't your daytime job and you aren't a 'mechanic' doesn't make the quality of the work any less. In fact as you have a vested interest in making the job as good as possible there is every probability the job will be done better than a 'qualified' mechanic. I recently had a part of my engine management fail. The dealer wanted to charge me two hours labour for a job I knew I could do in only 20 minutes. So I got the part, fitted it myself and then gave it back to them to reprogram the ECU.... so who was the mug? Me for doing it myself or the bloke off the street for paying them for 2 hours for what was in effect a 20 minute job?
All cars have tricks and traps and ways of doing things. This newsgroup is all about sharing our experiences, passing on the tricks and making the care of our vehicles easier. Don't confuse the people on this newsgroup with the boy racers who change things on their cars and end up making a pigs ear of it, lowering it to the point of having less suspension travel than a wheelbarrow, making it noisier than a 747 on take off and slower than the standard car was. The people here are just maintaining a good car in the best way they can.
So I suggest you get off your fat ar*e, stop reading newsgroups and posting pointless comments and go buy yourself a car you like and want to work on. Or are you so ignorant you have no idea how.....?
It's not a matter of being able to afford it, I enjoy maintaining my own cars and won't let anyone else touch them unless I'm supervising. An old beater Volvo is just as cheap to maintain as an old beater Cavalier and it'll hold up to a lot more abuse.
Just made the jump from Honda and Acura (after being scared out of my wits in a crash). The car needs some work, but all the repairs seem to be *half* the price of what I would've paid on the previous cars.
The mechanical layout makes much more sense to me and seems to be a lot more "user-serviceable" Much like my A2 Jetta, I can fit my fingers in the engine bay.
I'm quite happy with my 95 850.
My sister's Cavalier on the otherhand is a 99 and falling to pieces even though it's well maintained as per schedule and driven moderately.
My wife and I bought a used 1997 850, with ~100K miles on it last year for $8k after a awful accident where our 1998 ford Taurus saved my life. The Taurus did quite well, however I had a head bang from the lack of side air bags and wanted same.
The 850 just radiated good vibes, although the very serious, adult feeling of the 100 and 200 series is missing. The car has 120 on it now and I brought it back to where we got it because I want to establish a relationship with them. $700 including a drivers door rub strip.
It all adds up, but the loaner was a Toyota Camry, a fine car. It was no Volvo, the Volvo is worth it, and I think having the dealer or a Volvo specialist work on it is worth while.
That said hell if I will give me 400 for front brakes, 350 for rears, or 500 for the abs module--I just sent Victor Rocha money for the ABS and when the brakes are down to 10% I shall replace them myself.
The guy told me that Volvo disks (rotors) are not made with any additional metal, so cutting is no longer done--they just replace the whole disk with pads. Some other Volvo sites say that its a good idea to do front pads and rotors as a set, and feedback please?
Anyway the point here is:
1) Volvo makes a nice car we all seem to like
2) Volvo techs charge a lot for service
3) By doing selected jobs one can save quite a bit of money
4) Even if I could pay $750 for front and rear brakes, which I could, I would rather pay $3-400 for just the Volvo parts (apples to apples) and have $350 for other things, like driving my wife in our Volvo somewhere for a weekend for oh, say $350 or so for 2 nights room and some nice meals...get it?
5) By being honest about when we f*ck up we help our fellow Volvo drivers all over the world avoid our mistakes. Point is the stereo--I am thinking of upgrading the head end on the 850, but reading the group no way I will do that with out a custom adapter so it's a plug and play deal--never shall I cut a wire.
Maybe some people like working on their cars... Me and my father both find it a tedious job, so we don't... but can if need be (i've done brakes, oil changes, filters and such... nothing big).
It was an Integra (91, sport suspension) and it helds its own against an 84 Olds at 55. The car was totalled but I only received the usual whiplash/seat belt burn.
I chose a Volvo for the next car because I was sick of staring truck bumpers in the face, and that Integra was just tempting my fate.
1)it may be human nature, pride, or enjoyment that has many Volvo owners become (DYI) do it your self types like myself. I frequent this news group for advise so I can become more knowledgable about tricks and where to get hard to find parts, quick tips about tackling usually painstaking work like the heater core or blower replacement on 240 series. The very fact that the first poster of this thread has been refered as cynical by another NG camper proves that the poster shouldn't be camped here and perhaps belongs to that of alt.alt Generous Motors LOL, with all the complaints about the poor workmanship, driveability issues and the like should be where comments like those left here from Your dealer is a one in a million, don't move away or ask the dealer to follow you, it's more than likely you'll find out what I'm talking about? Most dealers or all make repair shops couldn't survive being honest! Their lack of ability to properly diagnose haunts them into ripping off unsuspecting clients they probably only attract as a matter of convenience and things like being open late or 7 days a week. Also ask yourself this if you were a top Technician for any manufactured car would you hold out for the job at Joes happy motors and work all shifts including weekends or a respectable repair shop who is so good doesn't have to advertise simply satisfied customers telling success stories to prospective customers nets new business almost every couple of days? If you were normal I'd be saying to your advisor something that goes like this: No need to call with any details about what my car's problem is as I have complete faith in your technicians here.
2) I am in the car dealer business myself and can squeeze the typical favour with the techs but still I prefer to try my own repairs, that's in the bloodline of many Volvo owners especially the 200 and maybe even up to the 900 series of Volvo cars, then there is the European models
400 300 etc. HELL WHAT ABOUT CLASSICS P1800 140's who ya gonna let mess those up? Hey the way I feel if anyone is going to F*~k up my car it may as well be me.
3)If this group was moderated and I was the moderator and you posted like you did I would send you a warning and you would be asked to either re-word and offer an apology or face being kicked off.
4) So after all is said and done from the rest of the threads of haven't even read yet I think you need to make another follow up post or camp in another bleeding NG who thrive on such style of writing.
5) Ya all have a great day now, ya hear?
1)it may be human nature, pride, or enjoyment that has many Volvo owners become (DYI) do it your self types like myself. I frequent this news group for advise so I can become more knowledgable about tricks and where to get hard to find parts, quick tips about tackling usually painstaking work like the heater core or blower replacement on 240 series. The very fact that the first poster of this thread has been refered as cynical by another NG camper proves that the poster shouldn't be camped here and perhaps belongs to that of alt.alt Generous Motors LOL, with all the complaints about the poor workmanship, driveability issues and the like should be where comments like those left here from Your dealer is a one in a million, don't move away or ask the dealer to follow you, it's more than likely you'll find out what I'm talking about? Most dealers or all make repair shops couldn't survive being honest! Their lack of ability to properly diagnose haunts them into ripping off unsuspecting clients they probably only attract as a matter of convenience and things like being open late or 7 days a week. Also ask yourself this if you were a top Technician for any manufactured car would you hold out for the job at Joes happy motors and work all shifts including weekends or a respectable repair shop who is so good doesn't have to advertise simply satisfied customers telling success stories to prospective customers nets new business almost every couple of days? If you were normal I'd be saying to your advisor something that goes like this: No need to call with any details about what my car's problem is as I have complete faith in your technicians here.
2) I am in the car dealer business myself and can squeeze the typical favour with the techs but still I prefer to try my own repairs, that's in the bloodline of many Volvo owners especially the 200 and maybe even up to the 900 series of Volvo cars, then there is the European models
400 300 etc. HELL WHAT ABOUT CLASSICS P1800 140's who ya gonna let mess those up? Hey the way I feel if anyone is going to F*~k up my car it may as well be me.
3)If this group was moderated and I was the moderator and you posted like you did I would send you a warning and you would be asked to either re-word and offer an apology or face being kicked off.
4) So after all is said and done from the rest of the threads of haven't even read yet I think you need to make another follow up post or camp in another bleeding NG who thrive on such style of writing.
5) Ya all have a great day now, ya hear?
This guy doesn't understand the fun of tinkering with our boys toys, enthusiastic is a mild way of putting it as for a Chevy or Ford ,what sad taste? .Yes I would take my Chevy or Ford to the dealer too they are just not fun .Proud to say I,ve never owned a GM car or Japanese ,or German car .In fact what attracts people to German cars bewilders me .Done millions of Miles driving 45 years COMMERCIALLY so I know my cars that's why I drive a Volvo privately .
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