I've narrowed my sports sedan search to 2 cars-very different and different prices (I never compare apples to apples!). One is a '04 S650R with 110K miles at a used dealer with no bad marks against him that I can find. He has had the car for about 4 weeks and it hasn't sold, but neither have any of the others I've seen in the Northeast. Car drives well and looks very presentable. Timing belt has not been done yet. What else should I check for and, more importantly, what are looming pitfalls and problems?
The other car is a fairly well sorted s70 t5.

 

If the timming belt has not been do its a time bomb wating to explode. Also the Angel gear sleeve needs to be looked at. It connects the Trany to the angel gear. When it goes AWD follows. They have a Huge failure rate and most if not all have to be replaced at some point and at that milage i would guess that car is far over do $1000 or so. and the timming belt job at Volvo is $800+ Indy $650 or so .But other than that if the car has records and has been taken car of you should be fine if the price is right.Take a read over at Swedespeed Forums - Angle gear sleeve failure on my '05 S60R.......

 

+1 one on the timing belt. And making sure the AWD works.

There are a few different reasons why the AWD fails. The Haldex control module is another cause. The angle/collar failure rate really isn't that high. Yes it's a common problem but not 100% guarantied it will fail. Most of the issues came from the '04 models and every year Volvo says they have hardened the splines but they still have failed.

Are the car's manuals or auto's?
The S70 T5's are a really nice car and don't suffer from some of the higher maintenance costs of owning a P2R

Like MYS6T said, do some research over on Swedespeed and see what better suites you.

 

The T5 is a manual and the S60R is an auto.

 

I might look for a lower millage S60R that's a manual. If not available, I'd go for the S70 T5.

EDIT:
Never mind, Saw your post with the price and pics of the car on SS and replied there.