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The S70 is a minor restyle of the 850 sedan. It came with a naturaly aspirated motor, a low pressure turbo ("GLT") and a high pressure turbo ("T5").
Consumer Reports does NOT recommend it as a used car. But they don't say "avoid" the FWD '99, either.
The cars are very "maintainance intensive".
A couple of useful sites regarding SVC70 and 850 problems are:
http://kinovolvo.velez.ws/
Kino is a Volvo owner who did an owner's survey. It's on the site, click on lower RH coner.
http://www.volvospeed.com/bay13.htm
..is a meticulous collection of "how-to" articles written about common problems by a dealer Volvo tech.
I've had my '98 V70T5 5-speed since new. (It's now accumulated 110,000 miles. It's at my dealer with 2-3 problems today, BTW.) I have a collection of service and repair orders that's so thick it won't fit in the glovebox anymore, in fact, it's earned it's very own file box in my home office. I'll add I'm very compulsive about maintainance, by-the-book at least and I always use Mobil-1 synthetic and I've recorded EVERY service, every repair and every gas purchase since new.
I've considered adding a second 850 or 70 to the family motor pool. When I have these thoughts, I usually come over to "AWD" and scroll around and read about other people's problems, ones that I've not experienced YET and that usually makes any such thoughts go away. If I had to deal with TWO of these puppies at the same time, I think I'd pull out my remaining hair. So I tend not to recommend them to others.
I like driving my car. It's fast. It's fun. It's useful. It's safe. But I wouldn't buy another one at this point. (I also don't NEED another one at this point since I already have one!) My daughter may be getting a nice, high mileage V70T5 5-speed in a year or so, nevertheless.
Good luck! And if she goes for it, have her check it out with a good Volvo shop and make sure EVERYTHING works, all those power gizmos and especially the AC!
-bdc
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