If I seen a 850 or S70 for $4,000 and a '05 Buick, Ford, Camaro, Hyundai, etc. for sale for the same price and the 850 and S70 looked to be rust free and a clean car fax, I would purchase the Volvo every time. That's right, I said it. I would purchase a 15 year old Volvo before many '05 cars even if the Volvo had 100,000 more miles on it for the same price. The only issues I'd think I would stay away from would be a bad tranny or blown head gasket.

I just picked up this wagon from up north east and the under carriage looks cleaner than the paint and interior. Volvo has really learned how to keep a car from rusting out. The only thing I didn't like about both of my northern cars is the aluminum oxidation. That darn salt spay gets aluminum every time. And you can't clean it. But I think I'm going to do what the guy did in the Sight & Sound section and paint the stuff.

 

I had just purchased my first V70 (Volvo in general) today and it has 200k on it. It has all the same issues with the chassis as my 01 Subaru w/ 100k on it.
I paid 2100 for it.

 

could not find not even a small rust spot on the car
I do have receipts from previous owner for over $10000 from volvo dealer
really good car
super clean in and out
I've owned over 30 cars in the last 10 years
this one is top 3 and probably the best for how much I paid for
I will post some pics soon(is raining now)

 

Did you get a case of dynamite to remove the wheels when rotating tires? Those northern cars freeze the wheel to the hub.

 

not yet but I will

 

pics available in my album. thanks for watching

 

Both of the 850's that I purchased up north DID have the wheels stuck on. It was mainly the fact that they DID NOT use anti-seize compound on the lug nuts when they installed the wheels. I could NOT get any of the lugs loose by myself. I had to get my 500+ pound nephew help me brake them loose so I wouldn't get stuck on the freeway somewhere with a flat.

This does happen here in the south as well. I helped a guy with a BMW on the freeway with his wheel stuck on the hub. The aluminum wheel was rusted on the steel hub. Metals that are of different type rust easy when water/moisture is entered between them.

 

Oh, I did find some rust on my new wagon yesterday. On the brackets that hold the rear bumper on. Both sides, will need to be REPLACED.

 

Although this is late, I'm responsible for the thread in GENERAL CHAT and it was not about southern mechanics not working on Volvos - it was about mechanics in VERY SMALL TOWNS, the town was in Northern Oklahoma, not really the South.

I suspect that the OP got a heck of a deal, primarily because the original owner kept all the receipts! I know he'll have a few things go wrong but that's part of owning a car - any car.

Tony needs sensitivity training. It's bad enough that those Northerners have to live with God-awful winters, hurricanes, some of the hardest hit economys in the country, astronomical tax rates, and Civil War Re-enactors. Lets leave the rust factor alone Tony - they suffer enough, and more importantly, we don't want them ALL moving south ('cept Florida, it's full of them already!)

 

I've NEVER had a wheel get stuck to the hub. With proper tire rotations that should really never happen. I have however had many incompetent mechanics who drastically over-torque the lug nuts requiring innovative leverage solutions to remove them, but that has nothing to do with rust.

 

The leather on the seats even still looks pristine - fantastic! Don't crack it up! ;-)

 

So I did buy the car for $ 4000 . Except maintenance like tires oil and soon brakes the only things I had to do so far after driving it 15000 miles is the top engine mount , tie rods and a front wheel bearing. I had this car on a lift in the shop. No rust and no damage on the bottom. Outside and inside the car still looks great like it did when I got it. I installed the hd end links from ipd and the sway bar and koni shocks are on the way. Plus the snabb intake and msd coil and new spark plugs. Probably when I have to do the brakes I will go with the bigger brake kit. I did owned about 20 something cars incuding a volvo 740 diesel in the last 10-12 years, but this car and my s2000 were by far the best ones. Thanks everybody

 

Good to read that you have enjoyed the car so far. My daughters S70 has been kicking my butt with repairs. It's always something with that car. I had to do a head gasket in the thing last summer in 100° heat. She's moving out of state this morning so I changed oil and tranny fluid. I really needed to do the dash tabs but I simply didn't have time.