Hello everyone I am in the process of picking up a 97 850 R and before I give him the money I was wondering if you guys could give me some pointers on what I should look for when looking over the car. This will be my first Volvo, I have owned VW/Audis my whole life. I know I will need to see how the trans shifts and look around to see how the PCV system looks. But what else should I look out for?

 

Make sure the timing belt has been changed on schedule (every 70K or 5 years whichever comes first). That's the most important thing to look for. See if the AC blows cold and ask if he every has to recharge it. If so, it can be a very expensive fix. Evaporators are know to go bad and it's about $1500 to have it replaced.

Having maintenace records is very important also. If that old a car has not been maintained properly, you might want to stay away from it. I have a white 97 R and it has 210K on it and running fine. Had to change the Head Gasket at 140K, but other than that not much done to it.

 

The timing belt was dont about 50k ago he says but to be safe I would do it again. I am told he has all records but we will see how good they are. I have always wanted a Volvo and I hope this pulls through.

 

Check the cv boots, my right front axle was toast within a week of buying my car. Brakes, struts, shocks. All things I've replaced on my 96 with 128k miles.

 

Ok those are the main things I will look at when I see it.

 

I guess this transaction has already happened. I'll check your other post to see if you have posted pics or anything. Was wondering what price you were giving???

 

It hasn't happened yet. The reason im buying a new car is because my Integra got stolen about 2 weeks ago, and right now im waiting on insurence to tell me how much they are paying out for it. I have talked to the guy with the car everyday just to make sure he still has it. I hope to hear from them today. Its a white 850 with the black leather and sude on the Volan wheels. No rpis or tears in the seats and the car is really straight and clean.

 

After driving the car again and looking it over some more i noticed some things im not too sure about. The R bumper has be changed out for a non R one the rear bumper has a scuff on it the dash has a couple places where it is peeling up. The odomoeter isn't working and i need to do a T-belt on it since it has almost been 60k since he had it done. He said he would go down to $2650 for the car does this seem fair?

 

Seems high to me, but then again, it's up to you. I dunno what year you said it was, but on some you can check the actual mileage by plugging into the data port under the hood.

 

Its a 1997.

 

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/cto/1773994943.html

Here is the link to the car. What do you guys Think I finally got the money from insurance and now I need a car.