Good day all,

I am looking for a good and reliable used car.

One of the dealer around my town, I am in VA, they sell one, 2012 S20 3.2L engine FWD.

It is a one owner with good maintenance history, no accident. Current mile is 118k miles.

Since I have never owned any Volvo before nor my family members, I cannot tell how good, I meant how reliable the used Volvo is.

The car has many options, such as blind spot, navigation and rear seat heater. I don't know what option package it is but it looks like fully loaded.

Asking price is $9000 + tax.

This is going to be a daily drive car from work to home most of time. I usually take a minivan on weekend and / or whenever I go out with family.

I would like to hear from the real owner and see whether I should take it to try or just buy Honda or Toyota used.

Thanks.

 

I'll take a stab at that.
First, any 10 YO car with over 100,000 miles is not going to be trouble free. Not just wear and tear, but things get old even if the car is hardly driven. And, the more options the more things that can break.
Second, Volvos had at one time a reputation of lasting a long time. So did Hondas. Neither enjoys that reputation now. Why? Are they building crappier cars? Not really, but they are building more complicated cars and Volvo, and Honda, owners used to be obsessive about maintenance. (as an aside, my wife bought a new MDX a year after she bought, and handed down to me, an S80. The Acura had considerably more problems and expenses over the first 100 K. To my eye, the Volvo is better built, especially the leather but interior plastic held up better in the Acura) In short, if you follow that schedule that comes with every new car, it'll probably last a long time - almost any brand except BMW's..
Third,Big Volvos are seldom abused and driven with.......verve. And usually it is us older folk buying the big sedans and we tend to take care of our cars better. In general.
I would trust a gray haired, 1 owner S80 over a S60R driven by a 30 YO all day.
Now to some specifics.
Where was the maintenance done? 1 or 2 shops? Has the schedule been maintained? My dealer and independent keep records and will go over them with you. (My Acura dealer deletes anything over 10 years, I found that curious, storage space is cheap)It is past due for a timing belt/water pump, if it hasn't been done I would be hesitant without a thorough going over of the car.
I've never had a non-turbo Volvo or a 6 for that matter so I don't know things to look out for on it. However, the general rule applies - if it doesn't have a turbo, the turbo can't break. And that engine was 5/6 years old by the time yours was made, should be sorted out by then.

I would think that you can expect a few "issues" a year due to age/mileage. If you don't do any work on it I would guess 1000, 1200 a year. But, it's a darn nice car, big (in a non-American sort of way) and nice on the highway, still nice around town. And safe.Every Volvo I've owned eats bulbs, maybe it's just a coincidence, I don't know, but learn how to change them ot it could get expensive.
What you drive is up to you, I can't think of a Honda I would prefer, but I have always like the Toyota Avalons, which I think is a cheap Lexus ES.
If you can find a Toyota Century they are very nice and rock solid reliable, but rare since they aren't imported until they are 10 years old, but that keeps the price down.
But all in all, I think if you drive the Volvo, you'll really like it.

 

My 2008 S80 3.2L FWD just rolled 197,000 miles and has been the most economical car I ever had in regards to repairs. Originally, my plan was to give it to my oldest child to drive full time when he turned 16. Well, his is now 22 and I'm still diving it. I bought it new as the first redesigned model at my local dealership after it was used as a service loaner, garaged most winters, and have NOT done all the suggested maintenance. Yes, it has required expensive repairs and maintenance issues, but I would not hesitate to recommend it.

 

I purchased a 2008 Volvo S80 T6 from a college student late last year. It had a number of expensive repairs needed so the purchase price was real low. ($1,000) It had 111,000 miles and i am the 3rd or 4th owner. It was involved in an accident during the first or second owner. The college student was not aware of the accident. I found the right front wheel well inner guard to be different in texture to the other three and the fender panel had been replaced. A slight difference in paint color shading on the right front panel and passenger door.Did a search to confirm accident but, do not know the extent of damage. The list of repairs I was able to do myself with the help of online videos is as follows. Replaced rear differential pinion shaft bearings fluid and seal. Replaced AOC fluid and filter. Replaced exhaust nuts to separate exhaust pipe under driver seat. Removed, repaired and repainted rear axle support due to corrosion. Removed blower motor and reinstalled with set screw because plastic clip was broken. (probably due to accident) Overhauled vacuum pump due to oil leak. Flushed coolant reservoir due to sticking level float. Later replaced water pump due to coolant leak as well as new coolant. Made a smoke machine to detect vacuum leak at oil filler cap and replaced o-ring. (responsible for P0171 code check engine light) The total cost of repair was approx $500. That includes making special tools to remove blower motor and pinion shaft nut in differential as well as thread lock fluid and oil and filter change. The car runs well but, gas millage is around 21 mpg combined for me. It is a heavy car, over 4,000 lbs curb weight.They are considered luxury cars that depreciate due to higher than normal car repair costs. Unless you can learn how to repair them yourself and find parts at more reasonable prices the cost to own can be high enough to surpass the residual value of the car. That said I really like the features it has to offer such as key less start. The car recognizes the key fob in your pocket and will unlock the door or just press a button to start car. One touch windows and moon roof. Heated front and rear seats.Never had a car that was so quick to merge or cruise on the highway. Built to protect the driver and passengers. It now has over 117,000 miles.Good luck with your choice.

 

Sorry for dredging up an old post, but I wanted to mention something in case somebody comes upon here and has the same problem of eating bulbs. There's a nice guide out there on how to find the correct replacement bulb, since sometimes Volvo's manuals say the wrong info or not enough info about the bulb. Multiple different bulbs can use the same base but have differences like voltage, and will burn out quickly if incorrectly chosen.

I recall that to replace my brake light bulb, I had to look at the bulb socket plastic holder and find a code stamped on it. Then search for the code on this bulb guide https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/fo...hp?f=1&t=61483
and buy the correct bulb. (my manual from Volvo specified a bulb type that wasn't specific enough) I'm not sure why I didn't just look at the original bulb and buy the same onw; maybe I wanted to double check, and it'd be bad to replace the bulb with the same type if the bulb that was already installed wasn't meant to be installed on the car.

I don't remember having issues finding the correct headlight bulb. I think my manual says the correct info about the headlights.


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