Thanks for the rundown of things likely to go soon. Glad to hear they are DIY items. Not sure I'd want to get into replacing struts at my age (and with my back acting up) but the engine stuff should be manageable (have done timing belts on other cars in the past).

Yeah, don't know about the clutch. She said she didn't have the receipt, but needed to get this done while travelling out of town: slave cylinder or hose developed a leak (inside the housing I presume).

Well, all the switches, controls and displays appeared to work when I test-drove it, so hopefully the electronic gremlins will remain dormant for a while...

Yeah, I'll have to teach my partner to drive manual, which should be fun...

Will take the car in for pre-purchase mechanical inspection this week. Would you recommend my taking it to 1) my general mechanic or 2) Volvo dealer for this? I'm thinking dealer may be more thorough?