Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee! I think I'm about to join a life long club here, it depends on my experiences ahead... Allow me to explain.

A brief history, if I may be indulgent. My first car was an 89 Geo Metro. 3 massive cylinders and 40 MPG's! As a kid fresh out of high school making payments, I quickly got tired of seeing my new "off the showroom" car being at the dealership being repaired more often than not. From that moment, I swore off of Chevrolet. Looking back, I realize now it was made by Suzuki, but Chevy had already lost me.

Jump to Toyota. Purchased a Pickup in 90 which would still be on the road if I hadn't hit that puddle and rear-ended the car in front of me! Later came a Corolla, Highlander, Scion and a Yaris - all of which I was absolutely thrilled with mechanically. I have sworn to be a Toyota man for life!

Along the way, I had some mixed experiences with a piece-of-junk Ford minivan that I replaced a transmission and engine in after only 60,000 miles. Conversely, I had a Ford Festiva with nearly 300,000 miles on it that had been rolled twice and refused to die! I finally gave it to a friend who is probably still driving it.

So now, I think I've decided to give another flavor a shot... Which has landed me here at the Volvo forums!

I've been looking around Craigslist and have found some great, and some not to great deals. The fact of the matter is, I'm not a mechanic. I like cars to be dependable, solid and fun to drive. One bad experience and I'm hard to win back.

So, I seek your expert guidance.

With which model should I join your elite family?

I have 3 choices at the moment...

1. A local 1994 940 Wagon with 160k miles, supposedly flawless, black (yummy), for $2000.
2. A 1997 850 Wagon with 80k miles, supposedly flawless, white (yucky), for $2500 4 hours away.
3. A 1998 V70 Wagon with 130k miles, supposedly flawless, blue (very yummy), for $3500 4 hours away.

Frankly, I'm torn as to which one to buy. I don't know the models enough to know which one I should avoid or lean toward! I'd say #2 for sheer mileage, but I just don't like white cars. If they were all city miles, it could be as ragged as the higher mileage #1.

#3 seems like a nice compromise, but is about $1000 more than I really wanted to spend.

What do you suggest? Don't "steer" me wrong!

 

Welcome to the Dark Side

I personally go with whatever comes with turbo when it comes to Volvo.


JPN

 

Thanks for the reply, JPN.

In a weird turn of events, I found yet another really nice volvo wagon, and I was pleased (by your recommendation) that it is indeed a Turbo.

I'm going to be getting a 2001 Volvo V70 2.4T!

I got what I consider to be a fantastic deal ($4200 with 158k miles). I do know the transmission is slipping into 2nd on occasion, but I'm not extremely worried about that yet. Given the price, I'll have cash left over to get the transmission worked on if I need to. I pick it up tomorrow.

Yes, indeed, I have joined the dark side!

 

+1... You def. won't regret it! Welcome...

 

Anything with a turbo if you can!!! Remember, once you go volvo, you can't go back! Welcome.

 

Picked it up today, and it's FANTASTIC!


It's got problems that I would consider typical for a 2001 used car with 158k miles on it, but no show stoppers at all.

• Flaky sunroof (won't open all the way, won't seal shut, but the motor works fine)
• need to get the tires balanced
• Rear left taillight lenses have water standing in them a few inches deep (doesn't affect the lighting)
• Transmission jerks when shifting from low gear (1st to 2nd?) to a higher gear - laying a scratch when you're going 20?
• Dashboard lights partially burned out
• Check Engine light lit
• Flaky headlight wipers (what a useless feature those are!)

You can see these are all probably pretty minor (save the transmission issue, which I was told has been that way for 5 years and has never gotten better or worse).

I love the looks and feel of this machine. It's my wife's car, but it really makes me jealous. The solid feel of the doors closing makes me very envious when I get into my Scion XA.

24 MPG's from Atlanta to Nashville today up and down some very steep hills, averaging about 80 on the highway.

 

Welcome. Sounds like you got a pretty good one.

 

Ah, wishful thinking, JKS2. After speaking with the mechanic, it looks like I'm in for about $5k worth of fixes... On a car that blue-books for about $5500!

I debated dumping it and cutting my losses, but doggoneit, I think if I get this stuff fixed, it'll last me a good long time, and I can "drive the money" out of it!

It was the opinion of the mechanic (who is independent and doesn't work for a dealership and also has all the latest volvo certifications, software and other stuff) that any volvo wagon I pay less than about $10k for is going to need some kind of work due to its age.



As it turns out, I need (as explained to me in laymans terms). Pricing is from memory too, so I might be wrong, but the total is accurate...

• new tie rods, left and right
• new engine mounts (right side COMPLETELY gone, left side barely there)
• New left axle, and possibly a new right axle
• Some type of valve within the engine to be replaced (it's completely dead and is hopefully what was causing my check engine light to come on - if that's not it, then we chase the goose elsewhere) to the tune of about $600 if I recall correctly.
• Flush out a portion of the oil recovery system because it's blocked and is causing undue pressure near the oil pan ("sump")... If they can't clear the blockage from above with cleaner and high pressure, then they have to attack it from below by removing the pan and clearing the passages from underneath. Allowing the oil to flow freely again will decrease the oil pressure to normal levels and hopefully will slow down the leakage.
• Reworking the sunroof - that was cheap, thankfully $200
• 2 new keys - $250 for the pair with reprogramming
• replace the bulbs in the instrument panel since all but a couple are burned out $185
• Transmission service with the CORRECT transmission fluid, not the cheap "jiffy lube" junk that was in there.
• Oil change, alignment, balance, etc.

The mechanic, who I really do trust, tells me that a lot of this is the result of 2 front-end accidents in the past that he could see (and carfax confirmed), but more than that it was poor, cheap repairs afterwards mixed with poor maintenance by the original 2 owners.

The transmission he said was in great shape and that the slippage was probably due to bad fluid and incorrect computer programming. He also said that after a couple of services with the proper fluid that the slippage might go away completely. He told me that when they service the transmissions, they run 16 quarts of fluid thru the 9 quart system to really clean things like the steel shavings out when they can, so that seems like a great start.

The good news is that I believe if I get this "licked" and shell out this money, I really hope (PRAY) that I'll have a fantastic machine that I can care for and enjoy for at least another 200k miles.

The A/C is flawless, thank goodness.

I was afraid I had gotten a real dog, and some might argue that I did, but something tells me that it's going to be OK and I'm going to end up really enjoying this ride.

I'm getting the work done at Import Specialty Service here in Nashville. http://www.importspecialty.com I've heard good things about them, and even though I got kicked in the teeth with all these repairs, I (so far) think I've found a straight-up honest mechanic to help take care of me for the future.

 

Wow! Sounds like the car has been driven pretty hard and neglected. It must have looked real good.

I checked NADA and it has the car listed at $7,125 if it had leather. That is clean retail of course. Now days people are paying closer to clean trade it for cars and that would be $4,600 (ouch). What I usually do is price the car at list and back out needed repairs. But it sounds like you found out about repairs later.

Well, if you get everything fixed (hopefully the engine repair, valve problem is not to bad) you will have a nice car.

Welcome to the Volvo family.

 

Thanks, RSPI. Yeah, it looks fantastic bodywise. It's a sharp looking car.

Put it in the shop because the check engine light was on. Then:

Diagnostics: $87.00
Replace Camshaft Control Valve & gasket: $262.32
Transmission flush with proper fluid: $195.92
Sunroof Repairs: $174.00
Replace all dash illumination lamps, clock lamp and both trip computer lamps: $183.82
Rotate and Balance with weight-test: $74.31
Replace all three lower engine mounts: $616.60
Replace left axle: $410.56
Fluid top-off: $3.27
Replace left inner and outer steering rods: $250.30
Replace right inner and outer steering rods: $250.30
4-Wheel Alignment: $89.95
Install spacers to prevent tires from hitting inner wheel-wells: $55.00
PCV box and vacuum hoses were clogged - remove and reinstall all components necessary to service PCV box and hoses to clear the lines: $435
Replace turbo return line: $95.93
Aim headlamps that were off-center: $34.80
3 new keys cut and programmed: $289.00

Grand total: $3964.57 after tax

... all of this, and my check engine light came on while driving home...

Sorry to ramble, I just need to share my misery!