Considering a 98 V70R with 70k miles. All regular maintanence is up to date, timing belt done in Nov. Anyway, what are the strong and weak points of the car? I have a 98 S70 GLT with70k miles and I love it. My main concerns are transmission, AWD, and rear air suspension. I see a lot of them have replaced trannys and people always mention the AWD needing serviced. Is this a issue I should be concerned with? Are there any other things I should look for? Thanks.

 

When I bought my 98 V70 I stayed away from the AWD ones for just the reasons you mentioned. I like my V70, but I wanted the R, but the V70R only came in AWD. I have no need for the AWD and it is just something else to go wrong and it reduces gas mileage. But all the high end accessories only come on the R for the V70. That's why I am now looking into a C70 Coupe because it has the upgraded stereo and high pressure turbo. My V70 has the low pressure turbo and it's ok. For the wife that is.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to tell you more shortly. I bought a 98 V70R last week. It has a lot of issues including a completely unknown service history. The ABS/TRAC computer is broken and will be fixed in a couple of weeks. The car is going into an indy shop for TB replacement and any transmission/AWD servicing it should have had. I've driven about 300 miles on the car so far and it feels good. I didn't know about the air suspension in back and will need that looked at too. The engine compartmrnt in the car is clean and looks as if normal tune-up servicing will be a snap. It'll get 4 new tires over the weekend and begin to go into regular 100 miles per day service shortly thereafter. It's my first Volvo (modern one anyway) and I'm somewhat concerned with its condition, but hopefully it will turm out OK. Mine has about 130K on it and my plan is to run to 300K or better.