[stuart bowes]

usually someone pops up at this point to say that Volvo have high standards and although the manufacturer might be someone else, they will send back anything sub-par, whereas what you buy aftermarket hasn't had the same 'rigorous' quality control

whether that's true or not is anyone's debate unless they themselves have 1st hand worked in that department actually doing the quality control and can tell us from experience I suppose

the way I see it though it's a 20year old car, I'm not going to pay a premium for any of the parts although where possible I do try and find them on ebay in a proper blue box if possible. everything else is just selected as good brand.

having said that I got my belt done by a reputable indie immediately on buying the car, oil change as well, purely because it was nice and low mileage and I was all excited about doing things properly. they rang me and said we reckon you should do the water pump as well, I said yeah makes sense, go for it. that was before I read all this stuff about the OG pumps being amazing or whatever. . with a bit of luck that belt will last the rest of the car's life (or definitely until I move it on)