looking for advice on 99 S80 T6
 

hello everyone
i am from Egypt and this is my 1st post
I have a very clean 99 S80 T6 lined up with only 70k miles on it without a scratch and the interiors are very clean as well.
The car is generally well maintained and lightly driven
the car was originallly imported from the US and since i am in Egypt i can't find someone i trust to tell me what excatly to look for before i buy this car.
I have been reading a lot of negative reviews about the car transmission and some serious electrical bugs that made me somehow hesitant to proceed with the deal hence i am here asking the "experts".
pls. help me.

thanks in advance

I will help you as per using Volvos in Middle East.

Though there is lot see into this car, but to sum up the whole problems or problem to come, Ask the seller to drain the old transmission oil and refill new one and drive about 500 miles at least. If the transmission will be ok, then buy it immediately.

But if car has some problems as of now either electrical or mechanical, then leave it.

Good Luck!!

thank you very much for the advice

one more question related to fuel type cause i have seen different opinions
In Egypt we usually use 92 unleaded octane , would that be good enough?

Thanks again.

For Volvos, higher octane will be better specially when you have old model, if you have 95 that will be lot better.

by the way share the picture of this car.

thanks for the reply.. here are some pictures

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From all I know and have read, don't walk away from that car, RUN. That may be the worse car that Volvo ever sold. This statement is specific to the '99 model, the '00 model is a different creature.

Thaks for the advice :)
I have been reading the very same negative reviews and on the other hand also there are some good review... not as many as the bad ones though:)
I guess at the end of the day if the car has been taken care of then it should be no problem, I'll will not proceed with purchase unless i get an official report about the car's condition from Volvo's dealership garage.

Also, 70k miles on a '99 seems low. It's very easy on this vehicle to replace the instrument cluster with a lower miles one. As easy as removing 4 screws. Check wear on the steering wheel and drivers seat. The original miles are stored in the main computer and can be read at the Volvo dealer.

Thanks, I'll keep this also in mind.

Not exactly how that works..

Hello,

Looking at the pictures it looks very tidy and original under the engine bay (felt cover over ECU, front suspension strut plastic covers - which I haven't seen before!). This (to me) supports the low mileage.

What I can't see in the picture of the engine, is a silver sticker on the timing belt cover indicating that the timing belt has been changed. Given the age, I would suggest the car will need a timing belt, tensioners and water pump. It has fresh looking coolant, so maybe some work has been done.

You should be able to check the trans fluid/engine oil to see what state they're in. If the trans fluid in mucky/smells burnt then the minimum required is a filter and trans fluid change. If you are able to break open the filter and look inside and find small black flakey bits, then chances are the gearbox is on the way out. The gearbox is a bit of a timebomb - my S80 T6 is in bits in the garage while I rebuild the gearbox...

I would suggest that unless you are mechanically inclined, or have a good budget for maintaining it and/or a friendly mechanic, I'd walk away!

If you did proceed and needed parts, I'd suggest purchasing from the US (FCPGroton/Europarts etc.) as I would think it more cost effective than buying locally.


Regards,

Chris

mshamy, you seems very lucking having lots of replies from seniors along our genius admin rspi in a single day.

RSPI is right, no matter how clean it is, but very soon, you will come up with issues. I think Specially Transmission / PCV.

Oragex I observed the same thing, changes in dash woods, climate control cover panels, I think previous owner must done some experiments.

In my opinion and experience, spare at least 1000 USD each year minimum maintenance cost.

Good Luck!

Thanks Chris for the subjective reply..
The owner has confirmed to me that he just had the timing belt replaced also the transmission oil & filter were replaced at 60K miles.

Anyway i am not decided yet on this car until i get a detailed official report about its condition from Volvo dealership!

I know i am a lucky man :D thanks for all the support from all members specially the seniors..
I have tried to find in info about this car in Egyptian car forums but no one has a clue what i am talking about
This car is very rare in Egypt.. according to someone in the agent, there are may be 3-4 cars T6 in Egypt.... also it is not cheap to tell you the truth the owner is asking LE 125000 = 17,482.52 USD
I know it is crazy comparing to the car prices in the US market, but unfortunately this is how it works in Egypt, the government just rips you off with paying 135% taxes for cars more than 1.6

Hello everyone
I kept on looking for another S80 and this time i found me a 2001 2.4T with also low mileage 73K
What do you think about this car? it should be a "different creature" :)?

Much better car.