2007 Volvo S40 T5 Question

[dlock13]

Saw one online for $5k near fully-loaded, clean vehicle history with 149k miles on it. Is it even worth my time to consider the idea of replacing my main car with this, or would it be more of a headache down the road? I've no knowledge of Volvos, so I'm not sure it would hold up.

Essentially, the wife and I want to save some money, and I figured I could get rid of my car loan and get a mediocre vehicle for the next 3-5 years. I barely squeak past 10k miles a year, so it wouldn't be driven too, too much. I figured I could trade my vehicle with loan and just end up paying the title and taxes.

Anyway, it is just a thought and I wasn't sure how risky of an idea it is.

 

[Zargon]

my cursory knowledge of Volvos is that these are extremely reliable mechanically

 

[JCH13]

Volvos are the lowest cost of ownership of any luxury brand (last I checked anyway) and last quite a long time. If you can find a reputable local independent mechanic get a pre-buy inspection done. If you'll be reliant on Volvo dealers for maintenance, think really hard about how much that'll cost.

 

[dlock13]

So the dealer told me that the ABS and Anti Skid light are on. Is that possibly something bad?

 

[postmortemIA]

I would be worried for the parts at this point. Volvo sold 30k cars total in US last year. And S40 has been discontinued. They might be good mechanically, but expect lots of sensor problems.
The probable reason for why this one is so cheap is perhaps owner is tired of fixing it.

 

[tortillasoup]

Unless you're certain you don't have an oil burner, I'd avoid the volvo. The PCV systems get messed up easily on these cars and once they become oil burners, I don't think it's possible to reverse that trend. I really can't recommend these cars at all.

 

[someone16]

So the dealer told me that the ABS and Anti Skid light are on. Is that possibly something bad?

Well, if the dealer doesn't wanna fix it before selling the car it's probably not an easy fix.

 

[wand3r3r]

Well, if the dealer doesn't wanna fix it before selling the car it's probably not an easy fix.

:thumbsup: Exactly this! It costs them a fraction of what it would cost you and they either haven't tried due to cost, or tried and failed.

In general they are fairly reliable, but not perfect. I suspect they cost a lot to fix.

 

[Zenmervolt]

So the dealer told me that the ABS and Anti Skid light are on. Is that possibly something bad?

If it's the ABS computer, it's about a $600-$800 repair.

Unless you're certain you don't have an oil burner, I'd avoid the volvo. The PCV systems get messed up easily on these cars and once they become oil burners, I don't think it's possible to reverse that trend. I really can't recommend these cars at all.

Sure it's possible to reverse it. You clean out the PCV system. It's easy to check for a PCV problem as the high crankcase pressure will cause the oil dipstick to pop out while driving (at which point the crankcase will simply vent to atmosphere)

Aside from the PCV system needing "frequent" (on the order of every 50,000 to 60,000 miles) cleanings at about $200/each they're solid engines.

The problem area on these cars is the 5-speed automatic which had the TSB to reprogram it and stop it from going into neutral when the driver was on the brake. These transmissions tended to fail early (before 100,000 miles) and were generally problematic. If the car has had its transmission replaced with a version that has the updated programming it should be fine, but if it's on the original transmission the car is probably on borrowed time.

ZV

 

[tortillasoup]

I mean yes you can clean/replace the PCV system at regular intervals but what I was saying is that once you have an oil burner, even if you do the PCV system, it's no guarantee that it will cease to be an oil burner/leaker.