'02 Volvo s80 t6
 

Hello all, I've resently been car hunting for my mother and suggested to her the Redcross car pool in my state. They get many Volvos from dealer sell outs for older cars and many are donated. As it turns out they have many Volvos, mostly older wagons. I came across in their ad an '02 S80 t6 with 140k on it. It seemed to be the best available in the lot even though it was slightly above what she expected to pay. At any rate, she put down a deposit to hold it while they work out a couple repairs in order for her to put it on the road. It needed a new windsheild and sensor for the seats. I've been reading some mixed reviews on the car here and would like to learn more, also trying to get some possible records to see how it's been maintained, how many owners etc. They're asking $6,950. Some things are pointing to that being a bit much for the mileage, others are suggesting that's about the normal going blue book price. Any advice from those in the know will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. :D

Depending on what has been done to replace some of the known wear issues, I'd say that is too much $.
I bought one with less than 70k on it and had to replace the ABS unit and Throttle Body in the first 2 weeks I owned it - thanks Volvo123.com aka: Vehicleville. Those were easy enough to replace myself but parts alone were almost $700 for remanufactured stuff. Now I'm looking at major $ for front suspension issues that imho should not happen to a car until it is pushing 200k. Also a lot of the plastic bits seem to be less than premium car quality and the stereo cd changer developed an appetite for CD's. I have not had the tranny failure yet but it does have a noticeable shudder-shift from 1 to 2 which makes me think something even worse is looming out there for me to shell out big $$.

That is DEFINITELY too much for it if you KNOW there a problems..

I'm pretty sure you can get one in excellent condition closer to 100,000 miles for the money she is willing to pay...

Well, so far as we know it's been maintained. Fluids, brakes, stearing all seemed fine upon test drive. The guy running the pool said he drove it for three weeks to make sure any problems were adressed and as I said they're replacing the windsheild and sensor. I have seen others for sale for slightly less miles for around the same price but none very close by. Unfortunately we didn't have a very big time frame in which to decide on a car, she's driving a rental now which she'll have to pay for the last few days of until picking up the Volvo. She got rear ended and the guy that hit her's insurance (Statefarm) would only pay for a certain amout of time for a rental.:rolleyes:

personally, a volvo s-80 backed up with turbo charging for my mom? for that kind of cash I would look for a ford taurus or maybe a buick, lots of those out there and pretty easy to maintain, I have the wife in an S-80 2.9, and the daughter and son both in the ford taurus, the kids are a bit hard on the fords but they dont cause me much problems.

Lol, I realized it's a bit much of a car for her but that was after the fact that I found out it wasen't the usual family Volvo. She seemed to really like it, all the creature comforts and safety features. Volvo quality was an automatic selling point and I didn't know it was the t6 model until after test driving. By then she'd pretty much already decided it's what she wanted. At any rate, this video gives me hope that it's a tough car. Dispite the fact the Cash for Clunkers program was a complete Obamanation, what absolute fools for destroying this beautiful car.:rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD0Pv6yyGek

KBB price doesnt mean $hit if you are buying a used car IMO. Its so far out of touch with reality its almost comical. Lookup the edmunds TMV to get a more realistic assesment of its value.

TBH if it came to the dealer from an auction and they have to do some repairs that tells you something. If it was a trade in it might be different. The 02's seem to be better than the earlier ones. One thing is for sure, its probably the car in terms of crash sustainability for the money. That said, unless you plan working on the car for her, or she knows someone that will for near free I would say avoid. Dealership (and sometimes even indy) servicing and repair costs on a car like this will bankrupt her. I dont wanna be down on the S80, I love mine but only becuase I am able to service it (for the most part) myself.

On the Taurus, they are an all too often overlooked car. They have a bad (and somewhat unfounded rep) for bad trannies. Get an LX model with the 3.0 24valve Duratec motor. The LX is more comfortable and the Duratec makes decent power (200BHP) while being paired with the stronger Ax4N tranny. I had 185K miles on my 96 LX before I hit a BMW X5 head on. What more interesting is that the Taurus drove (well limped) away.

Thanks for the advice, it's funny you mention the Duratec because the car she got hit in was a '99 Mercury Sable (24 valve v6). The trans had just been rebulit a few motnths prior to the accident. It had over 210k on it and insurance totaled it out for just under 4k which is of course going to the Volvo. We'll see how it goes, like I said. Everything else on the lot was either not ready to be driven or too many miles etc., etc. There was actualy an '01-'02 s40 which had only 80k on it but needed an oil pump and I wasen't so sure that would have been all it needed. I'm crossing my fingers with the s80 in the hopes that it's seemingly rather good condition is suggesting it's owner(s) took good care of her.

I figured I'd bump this thread rather then making a separate one for a pretty simple question. I figured out the manual shift and how to use it properly but can anyone tell me what the button on the right side of the shifter labeled "W" is for?

"winter" mode. Basically holds it in 3rd gear.