Hi guys,

I'm kinda new to the whole FWD Volvo thing, but I've been driving and working on Volvos since '01. I've been taking care of our 855 for about 7 months now, so I'm learning. Anyway, as much as I love my very clean '94 964, I've decided I want something more youthful to park along side my beloved V90. I went and took a clean '98 S70 T-5 SE 5-speed, black on black, Volvo serviced, with 110K km (~69K mi) for a drive yesterday after work. My younger sister tagged along (our 855 driver) and the owner (very nice guy) sat in the back and we talked about the M5 he's getting. The S70 was very nice, but did have a few issues; I think it needs a heater core as there is a coolant smell upon startup and for the first few minutes of driving. The wipers don't park properly when in the intermittent setting, I'm not sure what's going on there. The steering wheel was wobbling at low speeds (20-50 kph), but that was pretty much non-existant at hwy speeds and I didn't notice it pulling like the alignment was out. I'm really not sure what's causing that; Alignment? Bad axle? Bad tire? Bent rim? We had a hard time getting the keyless entry to work. The owner had to take it apart and mess with the battery. The brakes are pulsating, but not real bad, will need rotors in the not so distant future. The air pump doesn't work (lambda light on), but I'm not too concerned about that one. I think it needs a thermostat as it didn't seem to really come up to temp completely. No big deal I guess. One thing that I found kind of weird was that the rad fan was on for around 3-5 min after I turned the car off, but the engine didn't seem to be overly hot. Other then that and a bit of wear on the front seats (suade/leather), nicks on the dash buttons, some corrosion under the hood, and a little oil around the oil cap, the car was in pretty good shape. The lack of rattles and squeeks varified the 110K km odo reading as did the power (WOW!). It was more lively and better in traffic then the 855R 5-speed I drove a couple months ago (same owner). The hissing of the turbo was apparent and the car pulled hard and shifted smoothly once I got use to the clutch. The ride was smooth too, smoother then our 850, although the 850 has a lot more kms. So, any thoughts on the problems I noticed? I was most concerned about the heater core and steering wobble, but I'd also like to know what is going on with the remote locks and wipers. Any thoughts would be helpful. I'm picking the car up today after work and my mechanic is going to meet me at his shop after hours to look over the car with me. The guy wants $7000 CDN ($1500 less then advertised as I sort of have 1st dibs) for the car, which seems pretty reasonable, but I was thinking of asking for a little more off considering the problems that I would want to fix ASAP (I like my cars to be working as they should). I did really enjoy driving the car, it's very posh inside like my V90. Oh, one other thing; it has the stereo with the 3-disk cartrage and the guy said he had it replaced twice under warranty. Are these things problematic? It looks like a pretty cool unit, but I suppose if it failed again, I could just put in a regular CD/Tape (816?) like my V90... As for upcomming maintenance; Does this car require a T-belt at 112K km (70K mi) if it hasn't already been replaced? Would I be well advised to replace the t-belt pulleys at the same time as well like the 960/S/V90? That would kinda suck right off the bat...
--
Chris. Halifax N.S. '98 V90 > 206K km, '94 964 > 100K mi, '97 855 GLT > 265K km. SOLD: '91 745T and '91 745 NA (I miss both of them!).