I believe I would put a contract out on your Bro. He got the better deal in the long run. Sure things wear out on Volvos but if you replace the worn out part with good stuff you are good to go for another 10 years on at least that part.
I just traded our '92 Volvo 240 wagon with a little over 200,000 miles for a V70 Volvo wagon . I added up the repair cost on that '92 and found that I had spent a little less than $250 in the 10 years I owned it. Of course this does not include normal service stuff .