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Hi Tracey, while I don't exactly agree with the "Run from this car" mentality, an early Volvo AWD may not be the best option for you if you prefer simplicity over AWD. The AWD system adds weight and complexity which inevitably means many things will be tougher to work on yourself and will take more money to maintain.
$3500 at 119K miles sounds rather tempting. At that mileage it has another 30-50K left in it before most things are due to start breaking, wearing out, and becoming a more or less constant bother to keep fixing. 8,000 miles with nothing but oil changes sounds right to me. It shouldn't need much else. That said, even with service records in hand the current owner of this particular car has shown that he doesn't really care for it (the service light). That's not a good thing, and is indicative that there may be more issues under the surface. I wouldn't get hung up on a POTENTIAL tranny/glycol issue. That's a new one to me.
For a "good old reliable" wagon I would tell you to find an 850 but good ones that don't need a bunch of work are becoming hard to find.
Here's how I've been looking at it. If I'm going to go with an XC I'll buy the best, newest, lowest mileage example I can find and afford --avoid the fixer-upper. I don't know about your area but around here there are many to choose from. For a FWD 850/V70 I'll compromise on condition, maintenance history etc. because they are harder to come across and I'm more comfortable about the cost to maintain and ease to wrench on.
Good Luck,
Will
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854 - 244 - Mini
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1999 Volvo V70XC - run away from this thing, don't look back [XC][1999]