Hello All, after an unfortunate incident with icy roads and a post I must now retire my 1994 940 (380,000km with alot of life left in it) and get something newer. As a replacement I was considering a FWD 2002 S60 Turbo with the 2.3L engine with 96,000km. I have read the postings on brickboard and most of the buying S60 posts date back to the early 2000s and I was hoping to get fresher info.

I am aware of the Marelli ETM issue and would make sure it has the Bosch components. All the other consumer reviews seemed to be pretty positive only indicating problems with bulbs and the bulb sensor and fuel doors falling off which I think are pretty minor.

Are there any other issues I should be aware of or look out for? What have people's experiences been with this model/year? Would this make a good replacement?

Any info you would have would be really helpful.

Thanks,

Dan

I have a 2001 s60 with 2.4 T. Love the car. Have had normal (no big deal) issues, but do have a broken passenger side rear strut. Car has 180,000 on it. Not sure if that is typical or not.

Always offer a lower price! And don't take the 1st NO to the new price, either. How do you know when you actually got a good deal? When the sales manager goes into the backroom, where he yells and curses after you close the sale and drive away.

Anything less and you probably left money on the table.

Good luck.

I have owned a 2003 S60 since new -- non-turbo, stick shift, cloth seats -- now with about 88k miles. Anecdotes are no substitute for CR survey ratings, which have been pretty good for a FWD Volvo. My experience doesn't contradict them. Total repairs and maintenance about $4000 at a Volvo dealer in 5.5 years. A lot of that has been in the past 2 years, however, as brakes, shocks, tires and other parts have worn out.

The car is comfortable, safe, and reasonably fun to drive. With real snow tires it's excellent in winter here in New England. The car looks nice too. All in all, no regrets, and I expect to keep it 6-8 more years.

Thanks Everyone for your replies. I test drove the car overnight last night and spent some time at the Dealer. The car was original leased and then sold at the same dealer (the only Volvo dealer in town). The Salesman printed off all the maintenance records and I went through everything. All servicing has been done at the dealer and most of the maintenance issues was more small stuff(predictably) bulbs etc. The car is a 2002 at 95,000kms and the salesman said they would do the 96,000km maitenance on the car.

They also installed all new bushing and new front brakes. He offered to get new summer tires to put on the alloys (which they have in storage) and it comes with winter tires currently on it. Car drove great. Its hard to test in winter with slippery roads but it held the road great on the highway and never felt unstable under any conditions. Its the T5 so it had tons of power and a really nice interior.

I did a preliminary inspection and things looked good. I looked under the oil cap though and there seemed to be some dried out black stuff on the cap. I thought this was odd as my 940 which had 3 times the mileage had a clean oil cap. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Should I be concerned about it? Also at idle I felt a vibration come through the seat and steering wheel. Didn't feel like anything major and I thought it was probably just a worn engine mount.

Also, the windows kept fogging up and the only way I could get them to not fog is if I pressed the defog button on the automatic climate control. It worked great but it was super loud. I thought this was annoying but also that maybe I didn't know how to properly run the system.

In respons the Klaus's advice dealers do seem to be hard up for sales. Last night witout me saying boo the guy dropped the price of the car 3k. This seemed odd, Should I pitch him even lower and should I be concerned?

The other car I am looking at is a 2005 Toyota Camry SE 4cyl with the 5 spd manual. Nice car, I can get it for the same price as the Volvo and it made me think alot of my old 940. It was big, had great visibility and I could drive it for years with good fuel mileage. Downside was that its not as much fun as the volvo and has about 100hp less then the T5.

Thanks for your help!

D

The windows shouldn't keep fogging up once they are "defrosted", unless the floor mats are wet.

That's a tough one. The Camry is good tranportation, but hardly a driver's machine like the T5. But much less maintenance, and cheaper parts when you need them. The first "tune up" for a Camry is at 170,000Km, plugs, points, Tbelt. The 4cyl is a dog, the V6 is much nicer and the mpg bhp is about the same as the T5.

I am going to get my daughter a newer car, I sold her 854T. A used Honda or Nissan is in her future. A used S60 would be nice, but she will park it outside at shool and might use it 1/month. I don't want AAA to be a regular to jump the car when she needs it, and there are more garages to work on the Japanese stuff.

Klaus
--
Volvoless. Sold the R. There is now a void...

Here's more of KlausC's wisdom on buying from Dealers:

Don't believe anything a salesman says, especially when he mentions a "rock bottom" price. Find a car that has been serviced at that dealer, look at the service records that are on his computer, and be prepared to make a rediculously low offer.
I just talked to a Nissan salesman and he showed me his invoice on a bunch on used cars. They were selling 1K below his cost or trade in value. All low miles and 2007.
--
1998 V70 AWD Turbo 180k+

What is your budget? Mr Klaus is right that dealers are hurting badly and you may be able to make a great deal on a new S60. The Volvo dealer in Jackson, MS, even has a couple of 2007 model year brand new S70s on the lot. Think they might be willing to negotiate?

I went to www.paulmoakvolvo.com and couldn't find any 2007 S60s. Only 5 2009s.

Klaus
--
Volvoless. Sold the R. There is now a void...

Their sales dropped drastically in Nov and Dec, but maybe they found a way to move some stock.

I meant 2007 S60s, still unsold.

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/cto/982812644.html
--
Volvoless. Sold the R. There is now a void...

The S60 is MUCH smaller inside than your 940, especially the rear seat area.

Get a replacement that is as new as possible. The USA dealers are hurting and selling cheaply, I don't know about Canada. I can get a 2005 for around $15,000US. The same holds true for a V70, which has the same space as a 945.

Klaus
--
Volvoless. Sold the R. There is now a void...

Hi Klaus thanks for your message. My concern really isn't with the space since I am a single guy with no family(although the 940 was really great for moving around stuff and the smaller space is a valid concern). I guess my concern is more with maintenance and reliability issues.

While the 940 needed some continuous small repairs it never left me stranded and started everytime and was easy to work on. I drove it all the way accross Canada without a single issue. I expect alot of this has changed with the new front wheel drive models and I doubt the newer engines are as robust as the B230. So I guess I am concerned about the cost of maintenance and up keep on these newer cars.

Dan