Originally posted by: krunchykrome
Get the volvo. VW will break down. After 30-40K miles, all kinds of small problems will start happening. The engine is solid and will run for a long time, but the "car" itself will have many many problems. Go with the Volvo.
I've owned 3 Volvo's in my life. And your description of, "solid engine, but the rest of the car breaks" is true of Volvos. My last Volvo, a 1997 Volvo 960 3.0 I6 ran great up to around 80,000 miles. Never had any engine troubles.
However, I did have to replace the radiator about 2 months after buying the car NEW off the lot.
I also had to have my power seat repaired because Volvo didn't put enough cabling underneath the seat, so when the seat was moved far to the rear, the cable stretched out of contact with the right side motor, disabling it.
My sunroof suffered from a design flaw, in that the track that the sunroof moved on was made of plastic, and was incapable of withstanding the pressure of the sunroof motor. This means about every 3 times you used the sunroof, it would crack the track, and the sunroof would usually be stuck. No matter how many times this was fixed (3 times for me) it would never help the problem, because it was replaced with the same parts.
But here's the funny part... I still love Volvo. They are one of the most reliable, solid cars on the road. Go SIT in a Volvo. You won't find a more comfortable car, short of a Bentley. Compare it to a BMW, a Jag, a Saab, a Mercedes, whatever. Volvo has the best seats ever made. They are also, as everyone knows, the safest car brand in the world. Look up Volvo's website, and look under the "Volvo For Life" section. It has stories of Volvo owners surviving horrific crashes.
I had a friend with a slightly modded Volvo C70, the 260hp version. He was out on 121 in Grapevine, Texas, racing a BMW m3 (second gen, 266hp.)
They were just breaking 140mph and he was pulling away from the m3, when the driver of the m3 clipped his rear end. This caused the Volvo to spin sideways, flip, bounce some 30 feet into the air, hit an overpass, and land upside down. The m3 driver raced off into the night. When the car flipped, the Volvo ROPS, or Roll Over Protection System, sprung into action, deploying the hidden roll bars in the front seats, and behind the rear seats. The car can fully support it's weight on just the windshield and the roll bars. The car's steel cage caused very little damage to be done when it hit the overpass, and the car came to a rest on it's windshield and roll bars. Fortunately a passing motorist saw the accident and called for help. Even more fortunately, the driver of the c70 was unharmed. He was slightly bruised from being tossed around, and very shaken for a few days, but otherwise unharmed.
That being said, for a budget of 25k, you can't get a decently equipped Volvo, not even an s40.
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