Hello, I'll be buying my 1st ever Volvo in the next two weeks (Just waiting for fall break so I won't get caught up with school and work together).

It's a 1999 Volvo S80 T-6 with 177,000 miles on it. I know it has a lot of miles in it and that I've heard that I should avoid 99-00 S80s like no other. However I'm pretty much decided on this one already. It's owned by a guy in his mid-forties and his wife is using it to drive back and forth from city to city that's why it has high interstate miles.

Here are the pictures.





I'll let a Volvo dealership take a look at the car first before I hand him the payment. That way I'll know what might come up in the next day, week, month, year or whenever the next problem is about to og out.

Do you guys have any suggestions or comments regarding this car? This will be my first volvo ever. I'm not the kind of people that are usually here because they bought a volvo and they will be modifying it like no other. I'm just a regular old-fart that keeps tries to keep it stock as much as possible.

 

Welcome

Nice car. However I would suggest getting a s70-t5 or get a nice 850 turbo, T5 or R.

Even a 98 C70 LPT or HPT.

 

Huh? What are those? Other Volvo cars? Can you explain why?

 

You never heard of a 1998 Volvo s70 t5? A Volvo 850 Turbo, 850 T5 or an 850 R?

Or a c70 with an LPT (Low Pressure Turbo) engine or a HPT (High Pressure Turbo) engine?

 

Uhm no. I'm not that much of a car guy. Sorry.

 

Look into them then.

 

So you're saying not to buy this S80?

 

I wouldn't.

I would look for a 98 c70 LPT or HPT or a 98 s70 T5, or try to find an 850 T5 or 850 R.

 

You can get really good deals on the 99 S80 T6. That car did not hold it's value worth a damn. My daughter has one and it's a really nice and fast car. The bad news is she has had a boatload of trouble with it though. The good news is the dealer fixed most of the problems at very little expense to her. Luckily at the time she lived right around the corner from the Volvo dealer and she worked at the BMW dealership. Every time they would fix her car at no charge she would bake them a big batch of Choclate Chip cookies. Hey it worked.

She has not had much trouble with it for the past year though. So you really want to see the history repair record for the car you are buying. With 177K on it, it has probably had everything that could go wrong, go wrong. So it might be a good one to buy. I would not pay more that about $5,000 though for a 99 S80 with those miles on it. Daughter paid $13,900 for hers three years ago and it only had 40,000 on it at the time. These cars are very hard to sell, because they have a bad reputation. That works to the buyers advantage. Be prepared to spend money on maintenance though. This is not a Honda or a Toyota.

As far as the other cars S70driver recommended, I would buy this car before the C70. The C70 has it's own list of problems. I like the 98 S70 T5 or the 850 Turbos or R's quite a bit. In my signature my white one is the 97 850 R and the burgundy is the 98 V70 LPT. I raced an S80 T6 with my 850 R and lost. That still ticks me off. My son has a 98 V70 R and it's a real nice car if you want AWD.

Good luck.

 

I'm buying it for $5,200. Will going to a Volvo shop help diagnosed what could go wrong? I'm also hoping for what you said that and hopefully at 177g miles what could go wrong should have gone wrong already. He also said that it has a rebuilt transmission with a 2 year warranty on it. I am well aware that a Volvo S80 is a luxury car and that parts and labor aren't cheap.

He was selling it for $6,000 and I've since then managed to put it down to $5,200. He said the engine mounts need some work and that's about it. I know I'm not going to take this man's word for it that's why I'm going to a Volvo Shop to have it diagnosed of any potential problems in the future.

Looks like the car wasn't neglegted by the owner but I can't be too sure.

 

Yes have it inspected good by someone that knows Volvo's.

I have seen Nightmare 99's and I have seen some with no problems at all.

Hopefully you get a good one.

 

Are there any specific problems I should look for? I always heard about the EMT (?) so I'll be sure to look out for that one.

 

It isn't EMT it is ETM.

 

Definitely go to a Volvo Mechanic and have a pre-purchase inpsection. They should know what to look for on that car. It's money well spent, and helps you know what's wrong and potentially wrong with the car. If they find something major, don't buy the car. You will be out the price of the inspection and that's it. I've done it twice where I did not buy a car after the inspection. It also gives you bartering power to get the price down, it they find several minor problems. They should also provide estimites to repair any problems they find. $5,200 is a good price for a very nice car.

 

Oh heehee. Sorry, ETM. I'm still reading about the Volvo S80.

Thanks

JimKW
tech
S70driver

I'm picking it up Oct 20.