Quattro vs. Volvo AWD

[jim catterson]

> At 12:09 PM 8/22/2002 , Mike Veglia wrote:
> >Steve, from my personal experience (with 9 Audis since 1988 and 4
> ovloVs
> >since before that) is DON'T!!!!! (More on why I am so emphatic
> later.) I do
> >know that exactly ZERO of the ovloVs (1972 142, 1983 245t, 1985 245,
> and
> >1995 855t) were even close to as good as any of my 9 different Audis
> for
> >reliability, comfort, performance, and Audi is no slouch in the
> safety
> >department either.
we have had a number of volvos and our experience has been exactly the
opposite:  90 740 turbo wagon, went like hell, totally reliable and
nicely made; 95 850 turbo wagon, also went like hell and much better in
bad weather,  one of the most reliable cars that i have owned but for
the brakes [more on that later]; 95 850 t-5r wagon, one of about 250
built and king of the hill in front wheel drive wagons,  just about as
fast as my 200 20v avant.  again,  totally reliable; presently own a 98
v70 xc.  this too has been completely reliable.  the awd system when
combined w/ the low pressure turbo unfortunately makes the car a slug
to drive.  the 'r' versions are much more entertaining to drive
>
> >A good resource is brickboard.com. >

unfortunately,  the brickboard is of mixed value as a resource.  many
of the contributers know these cars intimately and are a great help.
it also has a large share of hysterical ranters that forcast
destruction of the awd system at every turn and that every mechanical
aspect of the car is crap.  there simply is no data to support these
claims, particularly concerning the awd as fragile.  three friends have
xc's and their experience has been the same as ours and the vast number
of people who have reviewed these cars on the net: reliable but
somewhat boring...
>>
> >Brakes. Fronts are very prone to warping.

oh so true...20k miles and the brakes are either warped or shot...been
true for each volvo we have owned,  fwd, rwd, or awd

=====
cheers
jim catterson

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