In the process of buying a VOLVO C70 Coupe 2000

Hi all,

I literally felt in love for a C70 coupe made in 2000, with 160000K
miles. High pressure turbo
Price is around 7.500$. I CARFAX-ED it and there are no major
problems .. just a failed emission (fixed) and an oil leak (fixed)
What should I do? The mileage seems to be high. A reliable car is the
most important thing for me. What should I check before I buy it? What
should I ask the dealer?
Any suggestion is appreciated.

Thanks

 

I would have a local mechanic or Volvo dealer perform a prepurchase
inspection of the car. Such an inspection would cost $75.00 to
$100.00 and should review all major systems. Because it is a high
milage car check for looseness of the doors and evidence of body
repairs and if it is a convertible check for proper operation of the
soft top.

You might want to check the price of your car on Edmunds, but key to
the valuation is an honest estimate of whether the car is in average,
clean or outstanding condition. The seller will tell you it is
outstanding, but in my experience there are almost no high milage cars
in that condition.

 

The car is a coupe, in pretty good body conditions, not perfect. I
drove it and it feels great. (anyway .. that's easy with a 238 HP)
I'm ready to accept the not perfect body.
What I would not like is buying the car and figure out after 2000
miles that there are major engine/transmission problems.
Anyway, I'll definetily ask for an external inspection. I'm using
Edmunds, I think is the best website for that
I don't know that much Volvo. Of course I know about the reputation of
Volvo cars but I don't know how much could be the life span of that
engine/transmission. Would be too much asking the engine/transmission
to stay alive for other 60.000 - 70.000 miles?
Thanks

 

Whether it will run for another 50,000 or 200,000 miles really depends
on the care that was given the car for the first 160,000 miles of it's
life. Given that there were two things to repair and that it is in at
best well used and average condition the price would seem a bit high
to me. Still, you might have some negotiating room with the seller if
you know what is wrong with the car. I can't emphasize this enough -
you need to get a mechanic who knows something about Volvo cars to
evaluate the car and give you some sense about whether big problems
are just around the corner.

For example if the transmission fluid has never been changed
transmission problems are soon to come. If the owner was not
scrupulous about oil changes the turbocharger may be nearing the end
of it's life. If the brakes were never flushed the ABS master cylinder
may be getting ready to give problems. Etc., etc.

By way of background I bought high milage cars (Volvo, Saab & Toyota)
for my kids to take to college and they all performed as needed. But
I had them all checked out by a mechanic beforehand. And we excluded
several along the way because of hidden problems.

 

Then a C70 is probably not a good choice. In fact, no modern Volvo is
probably the vehicle of choice if reliability is your top consideration.

 

I have a 1998 C70 HT Coupe - I bought it new, as it was the most
beautiful car on the road (in my opinion) at the time. Now it has 110k
miles on it and still runs perfectly. I have had it dealer-serviced
from new, though, so I would recommend you check the service records
of the car. Mine's a manual transmission which would reduce complexity
a bit (and makes the car somewhat rare )