What are some things to look for? Car is going for $12k and has around 60k miles.

Ditto everything the previous post said and, have it inspected by an indie mech who is familiar with Volvos. You are going to need this person in the future anyway.

You did not give much information on the car you're looking at. Here are some general hints, but you may already know this:

1. CONDITION, CONDITION, CONDITION! If the car is nasty inside and it looks like it was owned by a sloppy person or a frantic suburbanite, stay away. It just isn't worth trying to repair a previous owners's neglect.

2. What transmission? Beware of automatics that have never had the oil changed (the "lifetime" oil where the whole unit fails around 100,000 miles).

3. Smoker or dog-owner car. It's hard to remove the smell.

4. Look for silt under the carpets and in the trunk. There are many re-titled flood cars floating around (so to speak). Stay away.

5. Sunroof. Does it leak?

6. Leather seats. Does it look like the previous owner cleaned and treated them?

Good luck

Seriously, get a Japanese car instead.

Do you have ANY idea how much it will cost you to own a S70 over 5 years???

Sigh here we go again... you do realize this IS a Volvo board? Do you work for Honda or something and come here to discourage people from buying Volvos?

I've had my 5 speed S70 for 1.5 years now and have only done regular maintainence. Changed oil, flushed coolant, tune up, and now repacing the ignition switch ($40) as a preventative measure since it's loose. I have driven this car from CA to Ontario, lived through the winter there, and drove it back again and it has provied me with very reliable performance. It's the best car I've ever owned.

My '94 850 made it to over 350k miles and would have lived longer if I had been the one taking care of it for it's entire life.

You must not be a Volvo owner, or you are a particularly unlucky one. Volvo owners put up with only average reliability (it is truely no worse than average, with a few exceptions) because of the performance, "feel", safety, and longevity. While I think the Japanese cars are the most reliable in the world (we also own a Honda Odysey minivan) they trail considerably on the performance and feel. They generally are very "white bread" in those areas. You truely feel "one with your Volvo" when you drive. So I put up with letting it be a little "one with my wallet" in return.

His sig is "volvonut". He must want that "extra measure of excitement" that Volvo brings to your life, never knowing when you leave your driveway if you will bring it home with you again. Or even if you will get home at all, even without your Volvo, if it breaks down in the wrong neighborhood. Those reliable Japanese marques are just so boring.

Volvo is an acquired taste like lutefisk.

What can I say, my wife is Swedish. Except... she drives a Honda.

-BTC

I think your cat got too close to your dinner plate :)

--
(V♂LV♂s 1995 854T, 1998 V70R)

I think your cat got too close to your dinner plate :)

--
(V♂LV♂s 1995 854T, 1998 V70R)

Which one of those things is the lutefisk? I'm Greek but despite 3000 years of culinary tradition can't recognize the stuff on the plate. Is the green mass in the foreground the coagulated debris that comes out of a "lifetime fill" automatic transmission?

Lutefisk is dried cod soaked in caustic lye, and served warm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutefisk

I KNOW the Vikings went everywhere -- they had quite a business enslaving Irish nuns and then selling them to the Arabs, for example. I think Vikings actually ran Sicily at one point. Did the Vikings not influence Greek cuisine also?

I am not sure what the green stuff is but it kinda looks like the grease I use on my poly IPD sway bar bushings.

-BTC

Ewww is that stuff food?

My GOD. Someone else who knows about lutefisk!! My wife is Swedish and Norwegian!!