Hello:

My name is Wayne and I am a new member to this Forum.

I am in the process of looking to purchase a used vehicle. I have been looking at Nissans and Toyotas and want to spend up to $10,000.

While doing my research I keep coming across quite a few Volvo V70 station wagon late model cars. The Volvo V70 station wagon is my favorite Volvo so I am I’m intrigued by them and kind of surprised that these vehicles are prices this low (I would have expected them to be asking more money) from the photos they look nice – obviously they can look much different in real life.

Without putting anyone out and without putting too much time into this, I would like to ask – Is Volvo V70 a good car?
Is an all wheel drive better than a 2WD (a friend of mine has a Subaru all wheel drive - it is a total night mare if you have a flat and have to drive on the small doughnut tire) Are they new known to have major problems, are there certain years I should focus on? What is a better choice of motor? I will sacrifice power to conserve fuel – even though that might not be the smarter buy (I have been told that they are pretty good on fuel)?

Also, and this is important to me and its why I have been looking at Nissans and Toyotas are these cars a maintenance nightmare as far as finding and replacing parts and being a luxury car are the extremely expensive to maintain?

I have been looking for technical info online and thus far have not found any good info out there. I’m also interested in the fuel burn – around town and highway with the different engine options.

Any guidance and assistance with be very much appreciated.

Regards,

Wayne.

 

Hi Wayne:

The best site to read customer reviews is www.Cars.com.

The best site to read about fuel mileage is: www.FuelEconomy.gov.

Parts are easy to come by at the dealer and after market places if you like to fix your own car.

AWD cars do NOT like extream different tire size runs, that can be deadly to a AWD system. Always find and carry a full size spare.

A NA (Naturally Aspired - non-turbo) car may get 10% better gas mileage so if you drive a lot that can make a difference. Other than that, I am NOW a turbo guy.

The good thing about Volvos of time past, pre-2000 cars, they simply did NOT fall apart. The average life of a Volvo is 18 years. Time will tell if the newer cars will hold up as well.

 

Avoid 01-02 model years, the early P2 had some tranny and ETM issues.

Also avoid AWD if you don't really need it, pricey when needs repairs.

'03+ FWD V70T5 with a good set of winter tires is a great choice.

 

Thank you to every one.
I know nothing about these cars so what ever information any one can share with me is greatly apprecaited.
Wayne.

 

Hello, Again, a new person hits the wall of difficulty in searching the very basic question of "problems-to-avoid" etc. There is no common language to the question, it seems.
People will assail the spark coils as trouble prone. I doubt that's true and a bad coil couldn't be easier to spot, isolate and fix. Sadly, a huge problem with older Volvos is dirty, fried transmissions due to Volvo's plainly stupid assertion that the fluid is lifetime. What lie could possibly dovetail more easily with people's propensity to be lazy and remiss with automotive maintenance. "Everyone" will tell you that finding a used car with a maintenance history is a must. That one is a laugher. I sold my 1999 V70 na with a full (from DAY 1) maintenance history and none of the nibblers cared. People don't keep these records. I must be a freak. I agree with several posters who claim our Volvos are easy to work on. Obviously you have to be into that and your level of competence will evidence itself. What I don't like and, frankly, resent is Volvo's cute way of tying their various gadgets together through their CANBUS system in their P2 cars. You can't grab a junkyard master window switch and pop it into your car because it's been married to the first car and cannot be divorced and reused. If your auto-dimming mirror goes out you must remove it's circuit board and solder it to a junkyard unit because the electronics are married to the car.
If you want to read about the good and bad aspects of old and new V70s then research the following: Bevel Gear, ABS, DIM (Driver Information Module), Stop neutral feature, ETM (Electronic Throttle Module) and bubbling door panels.
All in all they're very good cars. I have 130K on my 2002. I love my car. The boards-yes, there are more than one- should come up with a way to pare down the volume of empty or repeat posts. It would make searching easier. Since you're new to these things it behooves you to test drive LOTS of them. If you're lazy, you'll pay. Kira

 

Kira, you hit the nail on the head with the Ford technology. More the reason to hunt down a pre-2000 car. I wish I could go buy 10 Volvo's built between 1995 and 2000 and hide them for later use.

 

I got my 03 V70 2.4T because my uncle had a Volvo, he is dead, the car is still on the road with over 400,000m.
Mine has a 98k, it has been sitting for the past 4months, no one seems to know what is wrong with it.
Sorry but had Hondas prior to this car and everyone of them
had over 150k with no problems.
The Volvo is more lux but at this point i'm leaning towards going back.
My Volvo has really let me down and i"m afraid it's going to cost alot more than the
roughly $800.00 i've already spent.
When the Volvo is running "great car", when it breaks????????

 

I am going back to Volvo for a bit, v70 in particular. I've found some good 98-00's to look at. Leaning to FWD but not cast in stone. One thing that works for me is that I can do a lot of the maintenance and repairs myself. My first Volvo was a very mis-treated 98 V70R. Nightmare and expensive parts broke (driveshaft) BUT I was successful in fixing a lot of what would have been expensive things, the ABS, bulbs in the dash, air-bag passenger side, electric seat switch, brakes, oil leaks, transmission fluid change etc etc.
I sold it because I was scared of the bevel gear but looking back it was in pretty decent shape after my work was done. And it was EASILY the most comfortable car I ever used for my 100 miles a day commute. So now I will look at the earlier V70, late 850's and get the best I can in that range of years and at least get back the nice ride, great A/C, great radio (after I put in a new one) and a car I actually like again. I'm looking forward to my new car, I look forward to being an FCP Groton customer again, they were great. A Volvo's not a Honda or Toyota, a Volvo is a special car and not well suited for a lot of folks.

 

I have had my 99 V70 now for two months - I drive 75 miles a day plus around town. I get 29 mpg consistently tank after tank with my non turbo 5 cyl.

I lived in snowy climes for 50 years - IMHO Front wheel drive is all you need for normal driving - In snow and ice people overdrive their AWD because of over confidence. I am amazed how many AWD sport utes are on their roofs in the ditch.

This car is dream to drive and great looking too. I do a lot of my own repairs but forums like this are invaluable.

I have always commuted pretty good distances to work and have owned many many cars of many different makes. After just two months of my first Volvo - I am a huge fan.

Bruce

 

I will simply share my experience with my own car. My 2001 V70 was purchased in 2003. I believe it was a lease turn in so we had proof of adequate servicing. My car has close to 100k miles on it and I'm hoping to get another 100k out of it. It drives wonderfully well and gets 26ish miles per gallon on average. I did have to replace the catalytic converter about two years ago, which was exorbitantly expensive since it is paired with the exhaust.

Mine is reliable, for sure. I would recommend it and plan to drive mine until it is a bucket of bolts.

 

98 v70 awd with 198k miles. No major issues. The radiator will crack (plastic) at some point and need replaced. 26 miles per gallon. Window regulator on most older / high mile cars (like mine) will fail at some point. All in all a great vehicle imho and experience. The reason i've still got it.

 

Hello again, So there you have it Wayne; several, representative opinions. Look for a well cared for car with a crisply functioning transmission with clean fluid. If circumstances present you with a high value (to you) AWD remember to keep your tires rotated and consider buying a matching 5th wheel and tire. Should you trash a tire, you'd still have a set. Also consider the drain hole modification to the bevel gear of early AWD systems. It's merely drilling and tapping a hole in the bevel gear's case so the fluid can be changed.
Make sure the intake system (oil trap) is clean by doing the "balloon test" which is holding a balloon over the dipstick tube to see if it inflates with excess blow-by gases. Kira