Friday afternoon, I decided to get rid of my ratty-assed old Caddy. Saturday afternoon, I found a gorgeous 2002 S80 T6. Not a mark on her, inside or out, only 77k miles, and $10k. Getting my mechanic to check it out Wednesday, and should be driving that afternoon.

I've spent hours looking for a reason to think it's too good to be true, and can't find enough complaints about that model to think it'd be a mistake. Only bad thing I can think of, is that our rusty 245 will look so sad next to it.

Sorry, but I have to agree that 10K does sound like a lot of money for an '02.
Take a breath and re-evaluate after your mechanic looks at. Don't be impulsive.
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"Differences of opinions should be tolerated, but not if they're too different" - Sharon Craig

Thanks to all you guys for the input! You were all correct, and my mechanic stopped inspecting the car after he found $1700 worth of repairs needed. When I took it back to the dealership, they argued with me about it, the salesman said the inspection was bogus, even though it's the same mechanic he uses for his Bentley. The boss there said "I'll go halfway on that", so I asked, "You mean you'll sell it to me for $5k?"...nope, he wanted me to give him the inspection report, and claimed he'd fix everything on it, but still sell it for $10k. Needless to say, I didn't take him up on that.

We'd taken the whole day off from work, so since we had a few hours to kill, we decided to go check out this place that I remembered from when they were next door to my mechanic's shop. He takes his cars in to my mechanic for inspection/repair. I test drove a '99 S80 2.9, liked it well enough, but that one hadn't actually been inspected or repaired, and between the bald tires and uneven wear on them, I wasn't impressed. Tried out a '99 S70 AWD, couldn't find much to complain about...he'd had it repaired, and showed me the documentation for what was fixed, and what it needed (rear rotors). Again, same shop did the work. I decided that the little things didn't bother me (right turn signal bulb burned out, dead batteries in the remotes, antenna snapped off, a little wear on the driver's seat, small tear in driver's door, missing cap for the washer fluid, hinge on console compartment half broken, and one piece for the cup holder missing). I looked at the timing belt, it appears to be in great shape (must have been replaced, I think).

I bought it for $6k, got my insurance coverage taken car of, bought new bulbs (no tool required bulb change is awesome!), and remote batteries, and filled the tank. Took it out to Lake of the Woods county park to take a few shots.

http://fav.me/d4zardm
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I think I did OK on this one. Again, thanks for the advice. I might have bought the S80 at that price anyway, if it'd come out with no repairs needed...but probably would've regretted it.

If you are lucky enough to have a pick&pull close to you, get the trim parts there. Buy yourself a folding Torx tool, usually around $5, and keep it in the glove box.

I suspect the PO had tried to remove the kick panel under the glove box and had no idea that the glove box must be removed first to get to the screws holding the kick panel in place.

Find a door panel in the P&P that has no bubbling in the door pull part and put it in your car.

Antenna masts are easy to replace. Turn on the radio. Unscrew the 16mm bolt on top of the fender and pull it out. Insert the plastic back in as far as it will go and turn the radio off, pulling the plastic back into the motor.

The plastic cup holder can be replaced.

The wear on the seat back, from the seat belt is common.

The timing belt and manual tensioner were supposed to last for 105K miles. Most of the 1999 engines had them changed 70-80K miles because the tensioners were prone to early failure. Check for a sticker in the engine bay for miles and time so you will know that 100K later, it will be time.

Klaus
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My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic

Ummm...it's the S70 AWD, not V70. Heh.

I have an array of Torx bits, and various handles, including a Pockettool II, which is always in my pocket. Perhaps I should review my collection in case I'm missing some sizes.

Erm...HUH? There's no damage around the kick panel/glove box area, apart from the marks someone's shoes made from getting in/out.

I've got a couple of pick & pull yards in my area, so I'll check with them.

Do you think that replacing the plastic hinge on the console compartment with a cut-down piano hinge might work? I'd rather it doesn't break again.

The antenna thing is a relief. I was afraid that I'd have to replace the entire unit. I guess I'd better ask...how likely is it that the motor for the antenna would die?

The timing belt looks good, no cracking. The dealer seemed shocked that I knew where it was, and how to get at it. Still, I'll have my mechanic check it out. Much cheaper than repairs/replacement of engine.

Yup, I knew I'd found the right forum alright.

I misread glovebox for center console. Yes, a thin piano hinge would work nicely. The real problem is owners/kids that try to bend the hinge too far back and the screws then are ripped out.

If the antenna motor is not disconnected, you should be able to hear it when you turn the radio on/off. PO probably went through a car wash with the antenna up and just broke it off when it was at a bad angle. Volvospeed used to have a nice write up for mast replacement.

A fun task is to check the switch lighting. Replacement bulbs can be bought at RadioShack #7219, 2 for $1.50. They also work for the instrument cluster warning bulbs.

If you take out the cluster, remove the bulb for 'service'.

Klaus
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My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic

THAT's how my antenna got bent: it was up when I took it to an auto car wash! I wondered how it happened. It recedes into the trunk when turned off, so I wondered how it got bent. Mystery solved.

I think a 10k price tag for an 02 isn't very good. You can probably get one with the 2.5 turbo engine and more reliable 5 speed auto like Klaus said for that price. That would be a better deal.

That dealer's ad that I pointed to was for a 2005.

The T6 is faster than the 5 cyl LPT, but then the 2.4L has less engine bay heat and it is much easier to DIY. Besides, some of the DIM problems were fixed by 2005.

The AWD is probably not needed in central Illinois, not very many hills :>)

Klaus
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My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic

Probably just crazy :>)

I found a 2005 2.5T in the twin cities:

http://www.automotionsales.net/vehicle/3774402/2005-volvo-s80-4-dr-sedan-nice-clean-low-miles-volvo-we-finance-saint-louis-park-minnesota-55416

Make sure your new car has maintenance history, somewhere.

Klaus
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My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic