Hi, we are looking to by our son a car to take to college. We have found a 2009 s60 AWD that has 159,000 miles for $4500. The car is in great physical condition, the dealer took it as a trade and is selling it "as is", says that it needs a front left tie rod, oil change, new air filters, and new wipers. I am going to take it in to get inspected at Volvo dealership. Is there anything I should look for specifically? It is such a great price for the car, I am worried.



Just got back from the Volvo dealership, needs new cam seal and timing belt, front left hub bearing, and new lights. Is it a lemon or is this just stuff that needs to be done at this mileage?
Thanks!

 

Depending on the engine code (VIN decoder can tell which is in the car) the timing belt was due at 120K miles or at 150K miles so that's a must do maintenance item. Suspension parts like tie rods do wear with age, so I would expect a car with 160K miles to need some parts like tie rods, control arm bushings, sway bar bushing and yes the occasional wheel bearing (which is part of the hub assembly). Cam seals do go from time to time but may be a sign that there is too much crank case pressure due to a clogged PCV system (ie oil trap which vents crank case gases back into the intake to be burned). Oil filter, air filter, cabin filter, wiper blades are all standard maintenance items. Not sure what they mean by new lights - ie are the bulbs out or are they saying the headlight covers are foggy... To determine if this is a good deal you'd need to either be able to do the repairs your self or add the cost of shop time to the purchase price. Figure $700 for the timing belt/cam seals at a shop, $200 for the wheel bearing, $200 for the tie rod plus alignment (do when the bearing is done and get one alignment), $500-600 for the PVC system if needed and maybe $100 for the odds and ends and you are easily looking at adding $1500 plus or minus 300 to the purchase price. Yes these are typical issues for a car with 150K or more miles...

 

Thanks for your comment. We bought the car, got it down to $3500. Beautiful car! We have some friends that own volvos and have done work on them so hopefully we will be able to take care of some of the work ourselves.