Volvo S80

[Dash01]

Any insights on this car, especially of the '99 vintage?

Wife and daughter have an eye on one, but I know nothing of them, good, bad, or ugly.

Your insights much appreciated!

[Zeuk in Oz]

Any insights on this car, especially of the '99 vintage?

Wife and daughter have an eye on one, but I know nothing of them, good, bad, or ugly.

Your insights much appreciated!

Safe mediocrity !

Could be a cheap car to buy, depending on prices in your country.

[winfred]

they suck imho, 850s are better, pre facelift 70s are a little better, 90s are slightly better, 960s good car so so engine but they do seem to make it to 200k miles, 940 one of the best volvos you can buy, easy to work on and fairly cheep to fix for a euro car

[Dash01]

This is good input to have--keep it coming.

Winfred, how come they suck? Are they prone to expensive maintenance or failure, unreliable, etc.? Other than different sheet metal, why would the S80 be significantly different than a 940 of the same late-'90s vintage?

I need the insight and counsel of guys like you on this list, who know a lot more about cars than the average bear--or car salesman.

[winfred]

horible design from a working on it stand point, lotsa low grade electronic components, stuff wearing out that shouldn't be wearing out yet, me and chuck hate to see a 80 come in for work because they are in general a pain in the ass, we use to not like 850s then the 80s started comming in and the worst turd of the bunch seems to be the 40 series, my favorite problem of all is the lack of oil pressure on the 40/70 and 80 series, they sludge up pretty good which doesn't help but they have these o-rings in the internal oiling system that shouldn't of been used in that application because they fail and you loose oil pressure, replacing the o-rings doesn't always get you op for long before they **** out again, we are still working on a real fix. if i needed a cheep 4 door car and couldn't find a good e34 id jump on a 940, i think ford ****ed volvo in the ass and killed their quality

Winfred, how come they suck? Are they prone to expensive maintenance or failure, unreliable, etc.? Other than different sheet metal, why would the S80 be significantly different than a 940 of the same late-'90s vintage?

I need the insight and counsel of guys like you on this list, who know a lot more about cars than the average bear--or car salesman.

[Wyn]

I'm loving my 850 turbo so far... except that it's FWD and automatic. But really, It's a pleasure to drive.

[DaCan23]

Their auto trannies are prone to failure between 60-90k miles

[winfred]

eh i am seeing them with 150-200 and still chugging, i've yet to change a 850 tranny, sold a few and have a **** load on the shelf that id like to sell, once i get a couple of every one i stop saving them, probably crushed half dozen to a dozen the last crush in cars with dead motors, car has a good motor the tranny rides it to the shelf

Their auto trannies are prone to failure between 60-90k miles