My wife & I have found a 1998 Volvo S70 T5 for sale. We are wondering what opinions of this car are, & also what we should look for. I would definitely take it to the local Volvo dealer for a per-purchase inspection, but are there any issues with this model? The car is a CarFax certified 1 owner, has 108,000 miles, a 5 speed manual trans, & they are asking $5,995. I already know the price is too high, but it looks great. Any help would be great! Thanks!

Aaron

 

You said it yourself: price is too high, unless it's in immaculate condition, even though it's at that mileage.
Car wise it's a great car, fast, and you don't have the electronic throttle module problem on the 98 model, like the 99+ models. the manual transmission is very solid on this car.
negotiate the price down, and other than that if the previous owner maintained it nicely(ie oil changes, synthetic, good gas etc) , I guess your mechanic can help you check those things and tell you what repairs will be needed.

First Volvo I am guessing?!

 

You got it. This is the 1st Volvo we would be buying. We are looking at several, but this 1 has been a favorite. We both like it a lot. I looked at the cosmetics yesterday & ran the CarFax today. The car was very well taken care of by a fellow veteran who originally bought it through Military Car Sales overseas. All maintenance has been logged as it was all done at Volvo dealers. Motor mounts replaced twice, fuel door replaced twice, new struts within the last 25K miles. I'm thinking this would be a great car given being able to negotiate the price.

 

Car is priced right on the money, maybe a bit cheap if it's really nice
T5 manuals are very rare, (358 made) this has low miles and if it's nice is EASILY worth the money.

 

Edmunds.com says it's only worth $3500 at the most. It's in really good condition too.

 

If you don't buy it, I will!! Where are you?? Seriously!

 

you telling me my car is worth $5500 +?

 

T5 manuals tend to bring more than book value simply because there aren't alot out there and they offer alot of driving fun for the money, still 6k looks high, but 3500 is too low. (I think 5 would be reasonable to start, but that's me - your desire to part with cash may differ significantly)2 sets of motor mounts in 108,000 miles? Obviously the vets grandma hasn't been driving it.

Remember that it's an old car, despite the very low mileage things are going to need replaced frequently. Most S70 owners take that in stride.

Nothing wrong with taking it to a dealer or Volvo specialist and paying for a thorough eval. If nothing else it's negotiating fodder.

 

GDOG - I'm in Tucson, AZ. The car is at Grace Auto Sales on Craycroft. We decided not to buy it for several reasons. As nice as it is ... we need just a tad bigger for the family car. Plus they won't budge on the price, & it has been on their lot practically a year now. CarFax is clean. Body & interior are clean. It would be a great car for someone really wanting it.

 

NADA Guides is really the only way to go when pricing used cars. The sad thing about buying a 10+ year old car is that people bring the value down because of their desire to AVOID paying sales taxes. The put a lower tag on the sales slip so they pay less registration taxes. Really hurst good cars overall.

IMO, that car is worth the price from what you have shared. It will be a much better car and last longer than most $6,000 cars you will find out there. I agree with GDog, and if I had the money I would be in Pheonix right now on enjoying my car while hanging out with my wife's brother/family.

NADA Guides claims that car retails at about $5,600. That is likely low due to info mentioned above in two stages. I recently sold 2 nice Volvo's for a good deal more than what Edmonds and Kelly claimed they were worth.
1998 Volvo S70 Standard Equipment, Pricing and Information - NADAguides.com

If you really need something larger, I would recommend a S90 or 960. Very nice cars and easy to drive. I believe they were the best cars that Volvo ever made. I like the rare T-5R's at this time but I would settle for a '98 S70 T5 M any day without regret. Heck, if I had the money I would purchase the car on their word that it would start. I wouldn't even have it inspected because what ever would be wrong with it I would have fixed. I flew 1/2 way across the country to purchase my last 2 Volvo's. This wagon I have was not inspected and had a BAD tranny, which got me 1,500 miles home .

Also, if you dropped $5075 on the table, I bet they would ****** that money up in about 21 seconds flat.

 

Oh, just looked at the NADA value info and they took off $200 for no auto trans. They should have added about $1,000 for it being a manual.

 

Assume this is it? How did the dash look (i.e. cracks)?

Well if it was a wagon and not red I'd be on the road to AZ right now...