My parents recently passed a 2003 S40 along to me. The car is beat up as far as aesthetics, but my mechanic seems to think the engine and tranny are in fairly good condition. I'm trying to decide whether I should sink some serious money into it, or save that money to buy a Veloster Turbo in about 9 months and trade the Volvo in. I love the Euro design of the S40, its beautiful (I've lurked a little on this site and seen some great looking S40's). I know that most people here are going to be fairly biased, but that's understandable. I'm getting opinions from Veloster owners as well. The car has 120936 miles on it btw.

 

If you really like the car....spend the money, i purchased a 94 e320 wagon for 1800.00 last yr and put a additional 2k in her to get it the way i wanted it..I like the car, so it doesn't bother me...If your going to college/living on your own/or on a budget i would fix up the 03...

 

Ummm, I'd save for a newer car. My 2001 has taken quite a bit of TLC to keep it going. If you don't do the work yourself I'd really consider buying something that requires less money to keep it going. I keep mine because my 17 year old daughter drives it and I like the safety aspect.

 

Cars can look bad and clean up. If it doesn't have a lot of dents on it, it will likely clean up good. If seats are torn and it's dented up, you likely wont get much for it so I guess putting a lot of money into it wouldn't make sense.

 

imo keep the car and do not go into debt buying another...engine/tranny good... simply work on the appearance when your able bit by bit.
my 2000 v40 that ive owned since new has been super-reliable and at 88k runs like a champ....all scheduled maint has been done and its a california garaged car so zero-corrosion.....my impression is that car-owners that ignore maint are the owners that have the most issues.

 

I'm attending UTA in north Texas, but I actually get paid to go to school, due to the scholarships and financial aid adding up to more than my fees. Since I'm commuting to UTA, I get to keep the money to pay for gas, but even after that, I have around 3 grand left over every semester. By next year, with that and my job, I'll have saved up around 11k. I want to make whichever one I decide on faster as well, so in y'all's opinions, should I put the time and money into a car with a decently worn engine?
I'm torn, because like hudini said, it's a newer car and won't have as many wear and tear issues, and it also comes with a good warranty, but there's more aftermarket options for the S40 and it would be slightly cheaper.

 

The only option then...if it was me, buy the newest volvo 11k can buy you, i wouldnt mod it too much, because you want reliability too,i went too far w/my 08 gt, got too the point where i couldnt afford too drive it.Get your degree a good job...then you can buy the biggest baddest volvo on the market...

 

My '01 has 170,000 miles on it. We bought the demo with about 2,000 miles on it in '02. My wife drove it for 10 years. We just bought her a new Prius. I took over this S40 in April, new paint job, fuel pump, fuel regulator, front end suspension components, had leather seats and steering wheel touched up. All in All, I love this car, it's not perfect, and still needs some things, but it's running pretty good for what? Probably only half it's life span?