Hello everyone, I'm new to the forums.

I'm looking at a 2006 Volvo S40 2.4i. My fiancé and I are thinking of starting a family soon, so safety is an issue and I know that Volvo's are notorious for their safety.

There are actually two of the exact same year and model available at the same dealership I'm going to. One has 100,900 miles on it and the other has 114,000 miles. They both seem to be in very good condition (other than some interior stuff, but it's no big deal). Test drive went okay; heard or felt nothing out of the ordinary (although, coming from my current clunker of a vehicle, normalcy may be different in my perspective ).

Does anyone have experience with this particular year and model? The CarFax says that one of them failed smog once (it has since been repaired and passed smog); is this a normal problem or something I have to worry about in the future? I have a 1996 Saturn that has always passed smog with flying colors since I purchased it 10 years ago.

Any other tips you can give me? I'm looking forward to possibly joining the Volvo family!

Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate the feedback!

 

It's a good solid car normally. The big gotcha is the timing belt is due at 120k miles. This usually includes the belt, tensioner, idler, and water pump. Something to negotiate if you decide to purchase.

And watch the PCV system. There is a known issue with the PCV system clogging which causes a whistling sound from the oil dipstick. The dealer is supposed to fix it for free.

 

Agree with Hudini. On any new car purchase, I recommend a few things 1) look for a car with a maintenance history. You are not looking for things that have broken per se (the smog test failure could have been as simple as spark plugs or a coil pack which need replacing around 100K miles), more that the prior owner followed the scheduled maintenance for things like oil changes/filters/fluid flushes as well as big items like the timing belt. Since the timing belt is a big ticket item ($500+) its a good idea to know if its due. After that, there's some common problem areas to look out for - PCV systems can clog up if the prior owner didn't keep up with regular oil/filter changes (I have 200K on my 850 and still on my original PCV system since I change oil every 3-5K). You are still looking at a 10 year old car so it may be worth the $100 or so to have a mechanic do an inspection to check brakes, suspension parts etc for wear, look at the fluids (ie is the coolant green or brown? is the transmission fluid red or brown) etc - do the same whether you are buying a Volvo or a Toyota.