'99 Xc70 - Good Buy?

[evilspoons]

My girlfriend is (finally) getting her license and is looking at buying a first car. Ideally she'd like something in the "older Honda Civic" price range, but I saw a Volvo for sale today and couldn't pass up an attempt to get her into a decent Swedish vehicle.

The car is a '99 XC70 that has apparently been "meticulously maintained" (with records) by the place that is showing it on the curb. It's a private sale by owner, however.

150,000 km, $10,250 CDN. Comes with winter wheels in addition to stock mags with summer tires. Car has premium features (8 speaker audio with 3 CD changer, cruise, sunroof, climate control, leather, fogs, etc.). Also comes with winter floor mats and a cargo mat and net. It is a "190 HP 5 cyl turbo" which I presume is the low-pressure turbo on the 2.4 cyl unless one of you tells me otherwise.

What should I be looking out for (visually identifiable problems) on this car? Is the '99 even a good buy or should I avoid 10-year-old AWD in the first place? (AWD sure sounds nice for the 8 month long winter here!)

Thanks!

[jlj3394]

Volvos are expensive to repair for your first car, especially AWD ones.

To me 98-09 Volvos do several things better than other cars, with the tradoff of high/frequent maintenance costs.

Advantages:

1. You can cruise at 110mph all day with 4 adults and a full load of cargo (or while seating 7, if that is your thing). No SUV will do that, and outside of another European wagon, no other car will.

2. Safer than ANY SUV made, then or now.

3. Hold a LOT of stuff with the seats down.

4. Great seats (see #1)

5. Better mileage than 95% of SUVs.

6. Lots of luxury and features for the price point.

If you need a car for those things, then go ahead. If you're simply wanting to get from A-B, then I'd look elsewhere. You can pick up a rock solid ES300 for >$9,000 and have all the luxury without all of the repairs (just make sure you don't get a sludgy engine). You won't be able to go as fast or carry as much, but you'll spend much less in repairs. My wife's ES300 has 140,000 on the clock and has only had to have 1 coil pack repaired. It rides and drives better than 85% of NEW cars made today. Our V70R has 260,000 and has had a LOT of stuff replaced/repaired. Probably 4Xs the repair/maintenance costs.

We love both, for different reasons. We made a 3 hr return trip from the lake in 2:15 yesterday with a bunch of gear and a dog in the back. Nothing else will do that as well.