Greetings, all...

I recently moved from NYC back to my hometown of Cincinnati, and in a few days I'll start seriously shopping for a reliable used car. My price range is about ~$4000-5000.

I've always liked Volvos, and owned a late 80's Volvo sedan for a while (can't recall the exact model). It was a great car, despite the fact that it was basically a $300 beater. My most recent car was a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which I loved despite the horrible gas mileage. As I start looking for a used car, I'm leaning strongly towards getting another Volvo or another Jeep. I'll most likely be starting grad school, so I want something that isn't going to break the bank over the next few years. I don't mind spending a few extra bucks for gas (my commute is fairly short), but I'm worried about being hit with some catastrophic maintenance bill at some point down the road.

In looking at local listings, it seems like most of the Volvos in my price range are the 1998-2000 model years. For example, there's a 1999 S70 Turbo for sale in my area with 137,000 miles on it that looks pretty sharp. However, I spoke to a mechanic yesterday who advised me to avoid the 1999-2001 model years at all costs, due to faulty electrical systems and other issues.

I guess my questions could be boiled down to the following:

1) How legitimate are the mechanic's concerns about the 1999-2001 model years?

2) How much more expensive are maintenance costs for a Volvo compared to something less exotic, like a Jeep or a Chevy, for comparable repairs?

3) Are there any particular years and/or models I should consider, or avoid like the plague?

4) Aside from the two local Volvo dealerships, do you know of any honest, reliable mechanics in the Cincinnati area who work on Volvos?

Of course, I'll do the Carfax check and have the car inspected by a mechanic before I make a purchase, but I'm curious to see what people here have to say. Thanks in advance!

 

I would recommend a car inspector over a mechanic. A mechanic may be bias since they will get to work on the car, or even worse, may have been the one that was working on it for the previous owner.

Carfaxes are ok but not a good decission tool short of disclosing if a car was stolen, has a salvaged title, or has had the milage rolled back.

If you are not mechanically inclined, a Volvo would likely cost you about $75 per month to upkeep. Things like servicing, brakes, belts, etc. If a car has electrical problems, the inspector would disclose that. Read these threads, they will tell you common problems, especially the sticky's. I like Jeeps and Volvo's. Just sold our 2004 Jeep, it was nice.

 

In my opinion (and it is mine) if you want trouble free motoring you really need to look at something from Nissan or Toyota. They are the dependibility champs. All European brands have 'issues', and they become more numerous as the miles roll up. All European brands. At 100k+ little things - and big things - pop up. I have an S70 and an S80. My S70 runs more than 75 a month to maintain, but I do very little work on it myself(due to time constaints only. I find Volvos well made and generally enjoyable to work on) so that may not be an issue with you. But they are a pleasure to drive.
Turbos are more mainenance intensive also.
I might try for something in the 100 to 125 range. That way the timeing belt and a few other big bills are out of the way for a while. Insist on records. Find out who serviced the car and take it to them, then ask for the history.

 

1+ On the $75 per month maintenance/repair cost. But I really do not agree with the low milage advise. I try to get my cars with less than 80k on them and they still have the same cost, just less wear on the driver seat & paint.

I picked up a 960 with 53k on the dash and I have replaced 2 timing belts already. The 1st belt because it was 11 years old and the 2nd because the roller was locking up and causing problems. I actually think the roller caused the water pump to start leaking, stain, I could be wrong.

I like Volvo's and other euro cars because they don't FALL APART. They are usually in real good shape, just need time and milage maintenance, which you would have to do for any car, especially older ones.

 

I've owned plenty of cars made all over the world, US, Euro, British, Japanese. They ALL have drawbacks and require similar maintenance costs and time.
Worst car I've personally owned for reliability was a Toyota, best was a Jaguar.....all my cars are maintained to exacting standards and are all low mileage vehicles.
I will add that the Toyota came to me with 95k kms on it, a full Toyota service history and was supposedly just serviced by a Toyota dealer. Finding the 1998 date stamped oil filter on the car in 2008, and the blown head gasket two weeks after purchase soured me on the Toyota reliability/ dealer service myth.
I did own an Australian made Nissan that was totally trouble free though, and would buy another Nissan no problems.

Regards, Andrew.