Great car! At seven months now, my S40 has been just perfect.

Comman problems with 2000 & early 2001 models:

1) Rear brake pads wear out at average of 20,000mi. The newer pads for these cars do not wear out so quickly. Pads themselves can be found for 30 bucks online....change them yourself in about 45min.

2) "Check Engine" light comes on often. A recall was issued on this recently and software upgrades were made on affected vehicles. Since the car you are looking at is at a dealer, this was likely done already....at least confirm this with the dealer.

Both problems have been addressed. Otherwise, I'm not sure there are any other "comman" problems. There have been a few people with problem cars but these are rare. Although these cars are relatively new to the U.S. (MY 2000 on), they have been in Europe since '96 and there are many at over 150,000mi doing just fine.

mormit
1985 245DL 232,000mi
2002 S40 5,300mi