posted by
someone claiming to be Dale
on
Sun Jul 20 03:12 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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My wife and I put a deposit on a 2000 S80 2.9 yesterday. 63K miles. Price is $14,900. Car is in great shape in terms of the body (moondust) and interior. Seems to run and drive well, although we couldn't get it to a mechanic and neither one of us are really experts. We've been happy with our (now quite old) 740GLE, and my wife really wanted another Volvo. But this morning she did some reading that indicated S80 of this year are especially prone to mechanical problems. It has a bit nervous. I just wanted to get some input from people before we consumate the deal, thanks. Dale
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posted by
someone claiming to be John H.
on
Thu Jul 24 04:29 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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After owning a 99 S80T6, my first Volvo, I would recommend you get your deposit back or forfieting your money. Either way, you'll still be ahead. I will NEVER own another Volvo much less recommend them to my friends.
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posted by
someone claiming to be John H.
on
Wed Aug 20 16:28 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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Double Ditto from another John H.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Punxsutawney Phil
on
Sun Jul 20 06:36 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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The 1999 and 2000 S80s are both on the Consumer Reports latest "used cars to avoid" list.
If it's a Volvo "Certified-re Owned" car with a 100,000 mile Volvo warranty, and you usually don't try to drive your cars more than 100,000 miles, well, the S80 is comfortable, and it's safe.
Otherwise....
-d groundhog
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posted by
someone claiming to be Frank
on
Sun Jul 20 03:43 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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There is a flood of '99, '00 lease returned used S80s on the market now and some of them have been very poorly maintained (totally neglected). '99s were the worse but '00s are far from perfect as well. Compared to your 740, the S80 is nothing similar. Early S80s have had many problems.
If the car is a Volvo dealer certified used car, it has an extended warranty. If bought elsewhere, its warranty expires at the normal time period and the newer Volvos (especially S80s) are not a good car to own w/o a warranty IMHO.
If you're intent on buying an S80, a '01 on up is a better choice than '00 and before BUT do have it inspected BEFORE signing papers.
How close are you to a Volvo dealer? New Volvos ('99 on up) all require trips to dealers for various electrical, drivabilty problems and sooner or later, that'll be happening. If you have to drive more than 1 hour one way, and that might bother you, a newer Volvo might not be a good idea.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Dale
on
Sun Jul 20 08:18 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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I probably already know the answer here... but if you don't buy directly from the dealer, can you still pay them to do the inspection and buy the warranty?
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You can pay for the inspection, they will do that for you. The extended warranty offer from the dealer expires after 50K (I was told), but you can buy a policy from one of a couple other places that offer warranties. You can find those names in the archive files. The usual problems with the non-dealer warranties is they are reimbursement type setups, and if you have major trouble you could have a large chunk of cash outlayed while you wait for your money from the insurance company. I will second the statement that this car will be nothing like your 740. The S80 cannot be serviced by anyone except the dealer and it is pricey. Everything you'll have a problem with seems to start with a necessary computer download, $75.00, and if that doesn't fix it you'll be back for more downloads and mechanical repairs. I found the S80 extremely comfortable, liked the style, and an excellent highway cruiser. The car, however, had some affinity for being in the dealers shop and sucking my wallet dry...it had to go. Back to my old 240 for awhile and then bought an american car because the dealer was in town. I can't leave in good conscious without telling you my advice is to leave the S80 alone, but the S60 of late is getting good marks.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Frank
on
Mon Jul 21 00:10 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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True, in comparison the S60 has been a far better car than S80s. The S60 is newer however. The newer S80s have been better but the best of those being newer than '02 as well.
As for a Volvo dealer only "Certified Used Car". That's a program that Volvo started a couple years ago to handle all of their lease returned cars. Those leased cars are all auctioned off to mostly dealer used car managers who then have to spend money on each one in order to bring them up to Volvos used car standard. There's a long check sheet that goes with that. If any major services weren't done (and they're usually not), they have to be. If brake rotors are rusted, they're replaced, etc, etc. Some of those cars need about $3000.00 in internal dealer repairs as yes, they've been neglected. Those are the higher mileage cars however (45K-60K miles). Once certified, those cars then have an additional 2 yr warranty (not sure on mileage) through Volvos VIP extended warranty. Some of those cars are no nice, usually the higher mileage ones. You can get a good idea of how many (or few) oil changes it had by removing the oil fill cap and looking at the general color of the top area. If it's very dark and full of "crud", you can assume that the oil was rarely changed.
If you buy a car elsewhere, a dealer can still do a general safety inspection but they can't certify it. You'ld have to purchase a used car warranty elsewhere and they're not all the same, some are better than others. Some don't cover much at all, have many "fine print" loopholes as to how they can refuse to pay.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Dale
on
Mon Jul 21 02:01 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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I appreciate all of the advice. As it happens, a kind of family crisis is making me walk away from the deal anyway. But I can't help but think that it might still have been a good deal *for the price we would have paid.* I would have been pretty unhappy to pay blue book for the car and then read all of this. But the asking price was low enough that we could have spent a lot in repairs before we got up to the BB price. And it is an awfully pretty car...
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posted by
someone claiming to be John A
on
Wed Jul 23 16:12 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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Our family member's 99 S80 ended up as a trade-in at the Infinity dealer. After two new Volvo's, they finally learned to cut their losses and run.
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posted by
someone claiming to be swsteckly
on
Sat Aug 16 19:40 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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I bought a 2000 S80 T6 (45k miles), for $25,000 USD a few months ago (certified).
It is the nicest car I have ever driven or ridden in. BY FAR.
It is in great condition, seriously like new inside. The previous owner kept VERY good care of it. I called the dealer where the guy had it serviced and requested some records. It turned out that he had been in for all of the maintenance services, and had had a few basic repairs (O2 sensor, front strut mount, engine mount, new tires, minor stuff), so that made me feel good, so I went ahead and got it.
I've had it for three months. I've had to get a bunch of trivial stuff fixed (trim pieces/clips, things like that), and few moderately serious things (headlights adjusted, a few bulbs burned out, etc). There were only a couple major things (the front rotors were warped and needed new pads, the radiator fan controller went out, some element of the A/C system went out and was setting codes). Everything was fixed to my satisfaction, and everything is in perfect working order now.
I just equate those things to standard oversight when buying a used car. There's nothing major, everything got fixed, I'm happy, and have what's IMO the best car on the road.
I know a guy who's had a 2000 S80 T6 (bought new), and has had hardly a single problem with it. There are two other S80s (2.9s) in town here, and I see them every day. I know nothing about their reliability, however. There is also a myriad of newer wagons and a HUGE number of vintage volvos around.
I'm sorry to hear you can't do it, but I'd suggest that you take another look at Volvo in the future.
I'd like to pose this question, simply as food for thought, not as conclusive evidence of anything. These types of forums are dedicated to helping fix problems, aren't they? Would it make sense that someone without a problem would come here, much less post giving a positive outlook without a question being asked? This is highly unlikely, IMO. Therefore, this forum is concentrated totally of people with at least one problem, and is in no way an accurate representation of the actual reliability of the S80 model. I'd suggest you visit a forum for owners of the other 'better' models, such as Honda, Lexus, Mitsubishi, etc. I'm sure you'd find the same thing, everyone in the forum rating about some problem or another, complaining of poor quality.
This is true of 'help' forums. They are concentrated fully of people needing help with problems, and should be taken with a grain of salt.
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