It's got it's hooks into me! LOL

So, I'm trying to be level-headed about this. You S60R guys... what is maintenance like?

How many of you do your own work? The thing I'm scared most about breaking is the timing belt... that goes & there goes the whole car for the most part. I feel confident working on my own cars... I can do a break job, oil & filter change, maybe a timing belt- there seems to be a lot more room to replace the t-belt than my 95 Honda had. Anything requiring a wrench I feel pretty capable of doing. But what about the specialty stuff: suspension, wheel alignments (4 wheel or front wheel only?), transmission service, etc.

Are these yearly items? Is it any more than a standard 2.5T model?

Sorry for bugging, but this will be my first Volvo & I'd like to know what I can expect/ plan for.

Thanks!

 

So.... No pearls of wisdom?

 

I haven't had any maintenance nightmares with My S60R.
So far in 4 years and about 50K miles my 2005 S60R manual with just about 75k miles on it has had the radiator and power steering pump replaced under warranty and I dealing with some bushing right now. So all normal stuff so far.
When it comes to some of the R specific issues like the 4C Shocks and struts or the failure rate of the angle/collar gear, things can start to get pretty expensive.

Transmissions are pretty good and I don't recall seeing any off the top of my head go bad.
Keeping the car aligned and making sure the bushings are all in good shape is an important thing to keep up on as you can run into some side hop issues.

There's some other things to do that most all enthusiast R owners will recommend, Like removing the exhaust bracket and removing the resonator and replacing it with a straight pipe. Search "Exhaust bracket of death" and "rain squeal" for info on those two issues.

One of the first things to do before you buy an R is to make sure the AWD is working. These cars have a somewhat high rate of failure due to either the Angle or collar gear the Haldex DEM. So git it up on a lift to test the AWD and make sure the angle gear is not leaking fluid.

That's just some basic stuff. Do some searching around the R Forums on Swedespeed. There is tons of good R specific info that will keep you up all night reading.
Swedespeed Forums - R Forum (2004-2007))

 

Me n the wife was thinking of a 2nd car...naturally I will keep my 1997 GLT intact. And get her a new one so was looking at a 2005 S60R....thanks for these pointers, will get them all checked out before buying. 2nd hand cars most times one is buying the last owner's headache.