My wife and I are looking at higher mileage used volvo's and could use a little help. We are focusing mostly on the S40's and S60's, but I know she really likes the C70 since she saw a pic yesterday. My questions to you are, which cars tend to be more reliable and trouble free. All af the models are in the early 2000's (no older than 2004 for the S40 because the style is eh) We have found some S60's we like that are the turbo and AWD models, but the reliability of the turbo's worry me. Also, I have heard that the S40's tend to have more of the Ford parts that need to be replaced more regularly. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

All three are very similar. I think the bigger question is how each were driven and what the service records indicate. Turbos will require more maintenance, but you also get higher performance, so that's the trade off.

Of the three, if I were buying today, and all had been properly serviced, I would go with the C70, just because I like the coupes better.

 

The key here is making and keeping your wife happy. Get the C70.

 

The C70 is a better ride in my opinion.

Turbos are worth the cost trade off, fairly reliable too.

 

stay away from the c70. the s60 is the most reliable of the 3. but I would probably stay away from awd

 

You couldn't pay me to buy another Volvo. I have a 2000 C70 2.3L 5 spd turbo (bought used a little over 2 years ago) that at 107,000 had to have the throttle body replaced which is going to end up costing me close to $1,100. The car already has rust, the drivers side rear window is going to need work soon. The amount of cheap plastic under the hood is amazing. For those of you who love Volvo's; God bless you.

p.s. - I forgot to mention how sensitive the front end is.

 

I hope to purchase another one next month. You are talking about a 12 year old car that has a known throttle body problem. Yes 12 year old plastic is brittle.

I think all three of those cars are good high mileage cars but the general material in the newer Volvo's don't hold up as well as the older cars.

 

I didn't know about the throttle body problem when I bought it. Ran great for 18 months. Funny about the "brittle" plastic; my 2000 Town Car with 130k has no problems; neither does my 1990 Dodge Spirit ES. Have had to replace 3 coil packs on the Volvo; 0 on my Town Car. Volvo: NOT IMPRESSED