I am thinking about buying a 99 s70. I have been looking for a while now for one. I don't know to much about Volvo's. I have been trying to read as much as I can on them. I know that some of them have some electrical issues. Well the one that I have found has some of the electrical problems. When you start the car a bunch of the dash lights come on. They go off after about 5 mins. The lights that stayed on were the SRS, check engine and service lights. They too went off after a while. The speedometer, at first didn't work. A few mins of driving it it started working again. Are these major or expensive problems.

I don't know if I should buy this car or stay away from it. The car looks great. Both the interior and exterior are in pretty much mint condition. The car does however have 161,000 miles on it. It drove great and shifted great. The dealer that has the car started it and noticed all of the lights on the dash. They said they don't want to fool with the car. They are asking $1,800 for it. Should I buy it or walk away from it.

Thanks,
David

 

My gut feeling is walk away. A dealer that says that they don't want to mess with the problems and just sell it has an ulterior motive. I would bet they tried to fix the problems and realized that it was going to cost more than it was worth and just want to get rid of it as is.

 

True, however I did call before I went to look at it. They told me exactly what the car was doing. They are selling it as is.

 

Do not buy it, and for that matter do not buy a 99 s70 to begin with.

Get a 98 s70.

 

Are they really that bad. I thought it might have been a good deal. I can probably get it for $1,500. But if it's going to be expensive to repair, then its not going to be worth it.

 

If you can buy it for 1,500 I would say buy it.

I would try getting the ABS module fixed and see if it fixes the problem.

The 1999 and up are Networked cars. If the ABS module goes bad it can cause the same problem.

 

So I would have to assume that you have had some problems with your 99 S70 since you are suggesting to stay away from the 99-00 models. I have heard that the engine and transmissions are the same for the 98-00 models. But I do know that the 99-00 models have ETMs. But there is a newly recalled software that did came out for the ETMs. And if you did have any problems with ur 99 S70 can I know what they where because Im thinking of buying a low millege S70 in the near future 98-00 models but if the 99-00 models are that bad then maybe I should stay away from them.

 

Ahmed,

I am not sure who you are referring to, I have a 98 S70 GLT. My comment about walking away was based on my gut feeling and the fact that yes Volvo parts can cost a little bit more. It is rare for a dealer to sell a car so cheap without having tried to make the repairs themselves. A dealer can make repairs fairly cheaply without all of the mark ups. In my opinion if the dealer is not making the repairs it is because; they would cost too much and are not cost effective, they can't fix the problem, or they are concerned that any repairs they make won't take the car through the usual short term warranty before problems crop up again and they have to pay to fix the problem.