I am considering buying a 2000 S70 SE. It would be for my 19 year old daughter who commutes 50 miles each day to college. The car has about 60k miles, has the 2.4 liter engine, appears very clean. They want 14900 which includes a two year volvo certified warranty. Any advice from someone who has experience with this car would be appreciated. Would you buy it for your daughter?

1. Have the car checked by an IM.
2. Miles are low, price seems kinda high, warrantee from Volvo is worth the money.
3. Neither of the rice buckets named by other posters will take a crash the way a Volvo will, part of why it costs more. Well maintained Volvos are not money pits, poorly kept up ones are. The service by the prior owner is critical.
4. Miles are low enought that your daughter may drive this one for a decade or more. Non-turbos are good for kids, not as fast means less chance to get in trouble.

Good luck.

If you're shopping for a sedan I think you're more likely to have success with a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Volvos are comfortable cars but from my experience they can be relatively expensive to repair and maintain, both in terms of frequency and cost of repairs. If you're set on this car then press for maintenance records and take it to an expert tech for prepurchase inspection.

I chose Volvo because there weren't really any other wagon choices that fit my needs (I've had a 1995 850 GLE wagon for 5 years). I put up with its foibles because it's a great vehicle in most practical respects, but if I wanted a sedan? Forget it! There are better options on the market.

If you're running some financial forecasting scenarios for this car I suggest including a scenario of selling it shortly after its 2-year warranty expires and deciding if that would be acceptable. Not that that's a certain fate, but you may find yourself in that situation if you come to rely heavily on the warranty.

I don't have a daughter but if I did I would only support a Honda or Toyota - provided it had a NHTSA 5-star protection rating.
Another option is to make lots of friends with cars to bum rides, use transit, rent occasionally and save a pile of money to help with the career launch when school is finished.

Best of luck.

Well, I might!

But I'm a bona-fide Volvo nut who belongs to the Volvo Club of America and enjoys tinkering with his cars. (Actually, I would buy her a T5, the non-turbo SE is a slug!)

But if I weren't a Volvo nut, and I didn't have a good set of metric tools and a tame independent Volvo mechanic, I'd probably think of buying her a new 2005 Honda Accord EX, AT and cloth seats, low $20s and it comes with stuff you couldn't even get on a 2000 Volvo, like stability control and both head and side airbags in addition to 3 years of warranty. When people ask me about buying Volvos I always caution them that the cars are awfully maintenance intensive.

I happen to have a daughter who turns 20 today, who is way at college and who walks around in a state of perpetual sleep deprivation, since she's unwilling to sacrifice academics or extracurricular activities. ("Extracurriculars, sleep, work; you'll have time for any TWO!")

She has no car at college and has access to a rustbucket $200 Merc station wagon for when she comes home. I feel much better not having her commute to college at all. Her housing costs $3,980.00 and the Standard Board Plan is $3,510.00, and this is at an extremely overpriced liberal arts college. Still cheaper than a used Volvo S70 or new Honda Accord, and I sleep much better at night.

My $0.02

-BTC

'98 V70 T5 5-speed, 147k mi. iPd stabilizer bars, Volvo strut tower brace and skidplate, Bilstein HD, E-codes, Valentine-1

I have the same car, from new.

Be sure the few Volvo recalls have been done (light sockets, light harness, headlight wiper stops etc) and have the car checked for engine/transmission codes before final purchase.

Enjoy! I bought this car for my wife, and I find it a wonderful highway touring car whenever I drive it. Excellent fuel mileage for the weight and size of car.

Because our car is driven softly, it benefits from an "Italian Tuneup" after each oil change - 4500 rpm for 15 minutes on highway (3rd Gear) cycling the car from closed/full open throttle to about 6000rpm 3-5 times during that 15minutes. I usually do it when its cooler (night) and there is less traffic. Car idles like glass afterwards - throttle response/ sensitivity to small movements is better as well.

MAT

MAT,

I'm interested to know more about your "Italian Tuneup" method. Are there any more details you can provide about it?

Thanks, Dave