Sounds like you hit quite a few pot-holes. This is not normal wear.
Was this all dealer service? Was any covered by warranty?
I'm skeptical of claims like these. My 2000 S80 has 55,000 hard miles on it
hitting plenty of rough roads and washboard dirt roads at 50-70 mph for
hundreds of miles plus rough ski area roads which are just like hitting
hundreds of potholes an hour. All I've ever had done to the car was the
scheduled maintenance and the ball joint recall work during the cars first
scheduled service. In other words, this car is built like a tank and
probably more reliable!
In my over four years of driving the car I've spoken to numerous other S80
owners (I always try to strike up a short conversation when I see someone
entering or exiting their S80). Over the years I've met perhaps 15- 18 S80
owners and I always make it a point to ask them about their cars
reliability. Every single one of them has had good things to say about that.
Not one of these people had a single major repair item. To me that's a lot
more credible than listening to a single anonymous person in a newsgroup
badmouth his experience with the car. Even the 2005 Automobile Consumer
Buyers Guide lists the S80 as having a "good" reliability rating. The rumors
of S80's having poor reliability started almost before the S80 was widely
available. Consumer Reports initially said they couldn't recommend the car
because it was a completely new platform and was therefore had unproven
reliability. This was widely mis-translated to mean the car was unreliable.
About the same time it appeared a S80 bashing campaign was in force. People
who lusted after the car but were too shocked with the high price were all
too eager to jump in and speak their two cents about how poor they had heard
the reliability was.
The one remaining unknown is how long the turbo's of the T-6 last. So far I
haven't heard of any needing replacement! Early in the S80's release the
word was the turbos would be problematic. That has proven to be fictitious
as well. Expensive? Yes. Trouble-prone, no! So far this has been the most
trouble-free car I've ever owned which is particularly impressive
considering the technology it's loaded with.
