Best Car I Ever Owned (so far)

The Shadowagon left plenty of skidmarks during it's life with me.

I bought this 1998 Volvo V70 T5 twelve years ago with no bright eyed dreams of a car that did anything but serve a functional purpose. It ended up being one of the best cars I've ever owned.

Never having the intention of keeping it past my usual couple of years, it was capable of simultaneously hauling 5 adults and 2 children, was great in the snow and very reasonable to maintain. Yet, it was still quite luxurious, with the world's most comfortable seats, and powerful enough to push 300 hp after extremely easy and relatively cheap upgrades.

It was all of that and more. But time was catching up to it and we'd reached a cross roads financially, which happens with all older cars. It needed a new power steering rack, exhaust, driver window switch (the back passenger on the driver's side window would roll down, but not back up), the headliner was starting to fall and a couple other tiny but annoying things.

And when the SO said, "Hey, maybe it's time for a new-used car?", it got under my skin and The Itch took over. And so, the super station wagon that became known as the Shadowagon, went up for sale. Because of my infamous exploits online, this car is well-known to a group of select car enthusiasts and it was sold so fast that it practically made my head spin. The new owner will replace those things and continue to enjoy it for years and years to come, I'm sure. Hopefully, I can keep track of it.

The longest I'd ever owned a car prior to this was six years. This car made it 12; it was that good. RIP, Shadowagon. May you live forever (and I don't see why not).