So I've had nothing but "crappy" cars my whole life. IE: OLD!

In order:

89 Mazda RX7 turbo (Actually a great car, my stupidity and being 18 is what killed it)
87 saab 900 8V
95 cutlass cierra
85 saab 900 turbo (modified, stripped the transmission)
95 ford taurus (transmission problems)
95 cutlass cierra again (finally transmission problems killed it)
89 honda accord (transmission problems)


Sooo.. now you see why I don't think the S80 is for me! I hear too much about the transmission problems but I hope it is one of those cases where it's ONLY the bad that you hear about and there are a great percentage of others who are driving their s80s every day hassle free.

A little background:

I'm 23 years old, work full time and am ready for a decent car that I'm not embarrassed to take a girl on a date with.

My credit is absolutely horrible and I finally found a dealership that could get me approved for $7 financing. My options: 2003 Ford Explorer w/ 89K miles. V6, 2WD.

OR...

A beautiful 2000 Black S80 120K miles, 2.9L

Now I used to work for a euro/german garage. I understand volvos are more expensive to work on, parts are more expensive, but the transmissions are what really get me!

I can keep any car running, as long as the parts are not astronomical and don't require thousands of dollars worth of special tools to maintain. I give up on a car when A) transmission quits or B) Its cost of maintaining is beyond my income... If it's engine or electrical related I can handle it. Every one of those vehicles engine wise was in GREAT shape. I did head gaskets at the slightest sights of a coolant or oil leak around the head. Tune ups, etc.

Now being that I worked on mostly european cars I know for a fact how much of a PITA they are to work on, hell I owned two Classic 900s... THE FLYWHEEL IS IN THE FRONT FOR GOODNESS SAKES!

I'm going to assume that at 120K miles the timing belt has been replaced but I obviously won't know for sure. I'm hoping I can look at the cover and see if it has been taken off before and hope that's a tell tell sign.

I'm just REALLY worried that I'm going to purchase this car and 2000 miles later the transmission goes out and I'm making payments on a car I can't drive and can't afford a $2K rebuild.

SO is it a case of "you only hear about the bad" or did GM really screw up the transmission on the 00-02 that bad?

Thanks for any assistance!
-Jonathan

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The GM tranny seems to be the least reliable part in the car. Some say it's Volvo's fault for making modifications, but I tend to doubt that. Might be their fault for not maintaining them like a GM tranny (with periodic filter and fluid changes) though.

 

I may be wrong but to the best of my knowedlge didnt the 99 s80 have the most tranny issues? As far as I know they sorted out nearly all of the problems by 02 (my year) especially in the NA model the trannys seem to hold up well by then.. I think they just didnt consider how much torque the t6 produced and as a result, the trans couldnt really handle it..

I was rather lucky because i bought my 02 before i found this forum, but im glad i took it over the 01 that I was considering...

 

i've heard they are problematic for 99-01 years, but mainly seeing how yours or the one your looking atis not a turbo model, ther will be alot less stress on the transmission.