So, I have a friend who owns a small Euro car dealership. He pulled a 2001 Volvo V70 T5 out of a dealer auction. He called me right away, because he knows that I am a V70 nut. (I own a 1998 GLT, and also have a 1998 S70).

This car is black and beautiful. Loaded to the gills. Black Leather. 17" Chrome wheels. Black tinted windows, etc. I am hooked. I have been driving the car for two days on a "demo" program, and it runs smooth and flawlessly, and has ridiculous power to boot.

The drawback....it has 203,000 miles. Scares the hell out of me. I have been doing some research, and seems like these transmissions are destined to fail. If those don't fail, there are other costly parts that will fail.

I pulled a CarFax and it has been serviced at Volvo dealers it's entire life. However, Carfax isn't detailed enough to tell me if the Transmission has already been serviced.

What's your thoughts? Is it a ticking time bomb? Oh, he only wants $3500 for it. Any input would be appreciated.

 

Hello, A dealership maintained Volvo with 203K shouldn't scare you. What's scary is the fact that Volvo said the transmissions fluid was lifetime. If the thing drives so perfectly-and you love it so much-buy it and flush the transmission fluid through a cooling line. As it is you can pull the drain plug and see what the 3.5 quarts which spill out look like. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? Go get 4 quarts of 3309 fluid, an aluminum crush washer-same as the oil drain takes-and tell us what you find. Go over the dealership's service invoices to see what's been done. Hopefully he didn't go to dealerships far far away. Turbo serviced? Any front end/suspension parts? ETM replacement? ETM and/or TCM software downloads? Has the PCV (breather system) been serviced? Does any pressure come out of the dipstick tube? Remove the dipstick and do a balloon test. What tires did the PO put on the car? Quality battery? Kira

 

oh c'mon its a volvo! its good for it. Besides it has full volvo service history.... that means alot!

 

Hello, How far away is this dealership? If the service guys won't/can't help you over the phone it could be worth the trip to get the printout in person. Since the PO took perfect care of the car it stands to reason that he had the "stop-neutral" feature turned off. People in the know say this one feature was the cause of many of these early problems. I want to believe that the transmission would've gone by now if it was going to. I don't know. A dealership which enters details into their Carfax data base is one to be trusted. $3,500 for a strong car you want to beat on? Or, do you want to keep it for a while? The 2004s or later will cost you how much more? Probably starting around $12,000. My transmission guy says he'd rebuild one of our 5-speeds for $3,000-$3,500. Cupped front tires means something's got to be repaired. Any other considerations? So far I'm guessing it's a buy. Kira

 

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Glad to read you got the car. I was getting worried. I can't believe they sold it to you that cheap. You are better than me. Congrats!!!

BTW, Please send me the guy's address so I can send him the other $300.

 

RSPI,

Not sure if you are cracking on me or not, but wouldn't blame you if you were.

I just got a little excited to get such a nice looking car for what seems like a steal. Volvos are so well priced, used, compared to other cars. My brother has been looking for a cheap car in the $3000 dollar range to buy with his tax return. He is finding nothing but 2001 Grand Prix's that have the strut towers rusted out. Nothing else, but Cavaliers and Neons for that price.

To buy such a good looking Euro Car for under $3500 seems like I robbed the guy. I am hoping that the great prices on these cars aren't due to expensive maintenance costs. My 1998's have been great on maintenance, and I hope it continues into this car.