1999 S70 Awd W/120K For $2500

[Netwreck94]

Hi again folks, thanks for all the replies.

The car was sold on ebay "as traded" by a reputable dealer with great feedback on multiple other "as traded" lower priced cars. The free Autocheck through Experian showed no accidents and only 2 owners (2nd owner had it from 5,000-120,000), the car is located near Philly (Newton Square). I had a dealer friend of mine do a carfax though to double check before driving 5 hours to see it. There are a TON of service records all done at the volvo dealer, including about 10 different bulb replacements every 6 months lol. Drive belts done at 80k along with new brakes. However here's where I become weary, although it has a clean title there was an accident. On 7/06 which was the last dealer service record the car has 94,000 miles on it. Then on 4/07 there was an accident reported, no information given to how bad it was (but not enough to junk the title). Since that accident there are no records until "car reported for sale at xxxxx". So that means from 7/06 to now the owner only put 26,000 miles on it...seems highly unlikely that the same owner drove so little from driving 15k per year in the past 6 years of ownership. The car does have a current PA inspection until 5/11 so it was obviously still being driven at the time of trade in on a new subaru. I guess I'm afraid that some pretty serious damage was done and the car sat for a year or two or was barely driven due to its condition. However with the service records and the condition I gather through the photos it seems hard to believe that it was in a serious wreck. The price certainly is right and I really like the cars styling and functionality, but this really worries me. It could be anything from a light fender bender and the guy just didn't drive it as much for the last 4 years, or a serious accident that went unrepaired for a year or two hence the low mileage for those 4 years. I'm at a loss at what to do, I'm not completely scared off by this issue but the 5 hour drive makes it difficult to want to drive that far. And these cars aren't exactly easy to find, especially for anywhere near under 4,000 with 121k. I live in SW NY near Jamestown, which gets plenty of lake effect snow so AWD is a near must for me.

As for the Subaru I understand where you're coming from, but those main issues with the head gaskets and AWD were on the mid/late 90s to early 00s. For 2005 the legacy was completely redesigned and is not only built incredibly well, but has excellent reliability as well. Aside from some turbos failing on the 2005s, there haven't been any real issues whatsover since the re-do in 2005. And 250hp/250tq on a 3,500# awd sedan is hard to beat as well. I just don't see myself dumping that kind of money into it when I can probably get about 6,000 out of it as it sits, vs 10-12,000 when in mint shape. I'd certainly love to keep it but it just doesn't seem economical to me right now. I'm certainly a little weary now about the 99 s70 AWD, especially with maintenence costs being so high and having so many issues that will need addressing at the age/mileage mark of 120k...but I suppose any car will have some decent expenses at that age/mileage. I'm leaning towards just getting a 98 GLT but would really prefer the AWD around here. Especially considering that I drive through a major lake effect band every morning 40 miles each way on the interstate.

Any extra advice is appreciated, and if anyone lives in the Philly area and can take a look at this volvo please let me know.

Thanks again

Evan

[Two Turtles]

So, did you buy it?