Hi i really no nothing about cars, I am looking at a 2001 Volvo wagon with a 3rd row seat, they say it is fully loaded but has 200k miles on it, I am a single mom of four i will be doing a lot of freeway driving i need a safe reliable car the man is asking 2999$ for it . all advise is welcomed and what type of questions should i ask. i am in new town and have no friends up here that can help .

 

Hi, I'm looking for a volvo aswell. However, I would never consider anything newer than a 98. Simply because after 99 and some 99's are no longer made in Sweden. They are now made in China and the quality has dropped dramatically.

If I seen a 2010 volvo wagon and a 96 wolvo wagon with identical records/mileage.. I would not even consider the 2010. In Sweden there is a very strict standard that all automobiles must meet, unlike most other countries (including america.) The Swedes are very good at what they do.. Except ice hockey

 

as far as i know, there are no volvos made in china. the main manufacure plant always has been and still is in gothenberg sweden. and even now volvos are still considered some of the safest cars in the world.

now back to the OP as long as they have proof that the have serviced regularly, the car should be fine. just ask them to be honest in what it needs at this time, and if youre still doubtful you can take it to the dealer for an inspection. ive seen volvos that were properly maintained go 300k

 

It might be an okay car if properly maintained. However, a 90's volvo that has been properly maintained will do you much better in the long run. No, that 2001 was NOT manufactured in Gothenberg. I'm nearly 100% sure it was manufactured in China. if not China, elsewhere in gook land.
The quality does not meet the the quality of the earlier models in the long run.

 

yes sorry i was mistaken the majority were made in torslanda sweden. out of all of the all of the 3rd row (or any xc or v70) i have never once seen the production plate say made in china. volvo has always used Belgium or torslanda as their main production plants. maybe youre thinking of the s/v40 when they shared the production plant with mitubishi.

 

Possible. I'll do a bit more research myself. Mean time, hopfully someone with a bit more knowledge can verify or correct my statement.

 

im not trying to offend anyone so if i have im sorry. i work on these cars for a living so i just go with what ive seen.

 

As of now, they are not made in China. When Geely bought Volvo, the plan was to make them in China for the Chinese market. US Volvos would still be built in Torslanda. But there has been talk about making the US Volvos in China, which has not started and has not been officially confirmed as far as I know.

 

No, ofcourse not..
You may very well be correct. I'm only just recently starting to research Volvos, and from what I've read so far.. During 1999 Volvo manufacturing was discontinued in Sweden and continued in China.

 

well like i said maybe for the older s40s with the shared plant with mitsubishi. but not for any other car.

 

First off, no Vovlos to my knowlege have been built in China yet. The company was purchased by a company in China a year or so ago but I don't think they have started building them there yet.

Secondly, you can look at the VIN and compare it to the Volvo site VIN decoder and figure out which Volvo plant the car was manufactured at. In 2000 ownership of Volvo was by Ford.

the biggest issue with the '01 volvo's was the transmissions. the motor is built to last 500,000 miles so i wouldn't worry about miles as much as service. it's real important to use volvo or mann oil filters.

the big thing with these cars is the cost of repairs and maintenance. if you are on a tight budget you may want to stay away from older volvos.

 

Interesting.. Well, thanks for clearing that up. I could have sworn after 99 volvo was sold to the Chinese.
So, I guess it's after ford got ahold of Volvo, thats when the quality went down hill? Or?

 

Not sure where you read that, but it is not correct.

Too many people think that just because they were owned by Ford, they were built by Ford. Ford only had influence on the P1 and P3 platforms.

 

My 2002 V40 was manufactured in Belgium,but specifically for sale in the Japanese market.
It was subsequently imported second hand into NZ at which time I purchased it.

 

Looks like they were sold in 2010:

Volvo sold by Ford to Chinese automaker for $1.8 billion - Mar. 28, 2010

Not sure which is worse.... Ford or the Chinese.

 

China isn't making any Volvos for the US market as of now.

 

Wrong, terribly wrong.

Volvo always produced in Sweden (Torslanda and Uddevalla) or Belgium (Gent). Yes, it is true, that Volvo maintains plants in China, Thailand and Malaysia. I guess for spare parts production or parts in general, maybe TRUCK parts as well. But whole CAR production never happened in China, as it is just a matter of discussion by now (march 2013) as you can read here.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/busines...t_16343202.htm

So, after Volvo sold it's automotive branch to FORD, Volvo Cars still were built in Europe and even after Ford sold Volvo Cars to Geely, they still are not built in China.