Hi everyone, I'm posting to get opinions on buying a 1998 S70. I don't know much about Volvo's but (for the last 15 years) have owned 7 Saabs and a few Mercedes. I found the above mentioned car for sale for $5000. It supposedly is a one owner car with all the dealer maintanence stamps, 118K, well cared for etc...etc...litlle old lady from Pasadena and so forth....being a big fan of the car forums, I was wondering what to look for in this car, what to watch for, do they have any common/known problems etc. I think you get the idea....any help would be appreciated. Hopefully, if this sounds like a good deal, you may have a new member. But please, don't tell they guys over at www.saabcentral.com. I'll get nasty emails! LOL

 

For $5000 I would say go for it. It depends on your area alittle, but KBB says it should be right around $5k. Things to look would be well, anything thats broken, engine light on? service light? any leaks taht you can see, does it feel smooth on the road. **Basically the same stuff you would check for in any car** I dont know of any specific problems, mine is still running at 211k miles.
Hopefully Tech and some other people who know alot more than I do will respond.

 

"But please, don't tell they guys over at www.saabcentral.com. I'll get nasty emails! "

To Late you've already been reported. But I think you'll be happy with the S70.

 

Make sure it has the maintenance records is probably the most important thing. 118K is pretty low mileage. It should have had the timing belt changed at 70K or every five years. That's very important. The best thing you can do is have a pre-purchase inspection done by a Volvo shop, either independent or a dealer. Should cost around $65 and is money well spent.The 98 model is a very good year for Volvo's.

 

Sounds like a solid purchase option to me. Like everyone said, just make sure that it is checked by a trusted mechanic.

 

The listing says the car had the timing belt changed at 75k. It also says there are no leaks, not burning oil etc.

 

Actually, here's the link to the car:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...:IT&ih=008

 

honestly I would never buy a car off ebay. You need to test drive it before you buy. Have it checked out and such. If you buy it from them who really knows who drove it or what has been done to it.

 

$5K? The average book dealer retail for that car is $4900. private sale avg is $3800 , The scraped up bumper cover on the left front shows that miminal if any reconditioning has been done to the car so the value should be closer to the private party value.

The car sold for $4500. That is why dealers like to sell on Ebay, they have better odds of hooking a sucker

 

You need to be cautious on EBay, but I bought my 1998 S70 that way and have been happy with it. I bought it back in 2001, with 75,000 miles, for $11,700.

It wasn't in perfect condition, but I had good knowledge of the issues, having done the CarFax initial screening, and then located (through some work and luck)a very thorough evaluator for the car, who checked compression on all cylinders, pulled off all the wheels to inspect brakes, did a road test, etc, etc, etc. - he spent hours, and I got 3 pages of data from him as well as the debriefing. Cost me a few hundred, but well worth it when you are risking 10-grand on a used car. I just used that knowledge to negotiate an appropriate adjustment to the price.

The price I paid was 40% less than I was seeing in dealerships at the time, and still 30% below private party sales. Even after I had it shipped from MD to MA, I still had a great deal.

If you're looking at a 10 year old, 100k+ milescar, in my opinion, you need to be realistic about condition. No car that's been through that is going to look like new, even if it's been taken care of. And if the exterior does look like new, I'd be suspicious of a majoraccident/repaint job.

 

I've been watching this one:

2000 S70 on ebay

I would echo S70 Driver, if you can purchase a car that is enough under value it is worth it, as you can bring the car up to par so to speak getting things done like timing belts, brakes, tires, fluid flushes, etc. then you have a really good starting off point instead of paying top dollar at a dealer or private party sale where you don't know exactly what was done, even on a car with scheduled mx done regularly. For example, apparently transmission flushes aren't part of the servicing that volvos received but it is neceassry in order to extend the life of the transmission. Had I known this I would have been doing it for years, however I just found out with 140,000 miles on my car and the transmission slipping...kinda late.

I'm planning on finding the lowest mileage car I can, then bringing it up to snuff doing *everything* on it, top to bottom. It also needs to be old, because I don't like to pay collision and comp insurance .