Hi,
Again a question on behalf of a colleague who is not a member of this site.
He is look at purchasing a Volvo S80 2.5 TDI. He has not actually seen a particular one nor driven one. He just likes the look of them. Car will be used for commuting about 400 miles a week. He is looking at the older S80's upto about year 2000. having done some research these engines are audi sourced from the old shape audi 100/a6 and also came in the VW transporter van.
Are the S80's good solid cars.
Engine wise any known problems?
Are they durable like the volvo's of yesteryear?
Any current / past owners opinions?
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The earlier S80s were not the best in terms of build quality. There are several well known faults, most of which were sorted by around 2002.
For me, I'd save up some more and try and get a D5 (much better than the Audi 2.5TDI) or a 2.4 petrol from 2002 or later.
They're not bomb proof like Volvos of yesteryear but they can still take a fair bit of abuse and can and do run to high mileages. Just expect the old big bill here and there, e.g. on these early cars the ABS unit may need replacing / repairing, and that don't come cheap.
My S80 D5 has been utterly solid, but is a 2005 model, when all the gremlins were sorted and it's only done 43k miles.
I have a colleague with a 1999 S80 2.9 petrol, it's not been problem free and has presented the odd large bill, but does seem to go on and on despite not getting any TLC at all.
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Timing belt interval is 80K, pump belt 40K.
Turning circle is terrible - is that significant?
Check the electric window controls, the main switch is a common failure and comes in at £80 or so for the part.
Drop links are a common failure , but cheap / easy.
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Turning circle is terrible - is that significant?
Terrible? It's not even that good :-)
I can't speak for the diesel engine, but my '99 2.4 petrol has done 154k with somewhat scant servicing.
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We've had a 1999 2.4 for almost a year and it's been very well behaved, no big bills at all. It's got about 110,000 on it I think?
I've found the turning circle to be ok, no worse than the Mitsubishi Galant we had before. It's no supermini but it's vast inside so perhaps the price you pay
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My father is on his third or fourth (owned not leased)
Does a fair milage for an 80 year old who has been to North Cape, Spain and Hungary and almost everywhere in between (Swiss alps last month) with caravan on back in his.
Must be OK as he keeps going back for more. Tends to change as the warranty expires. On his second D5 at the moment and much prefers it to the earlier engine - better to drive and more economical.
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any ideas if the manual gearbox is from audi aswell?
Had a look on autotrader and there seem to be quite a few over 140k miles, so they seem ok for high mileage. Not seen any of them in the flesh so dont know how worse for wear they look?
Have told mate about the 2.4 petrol suggestion but he plans to run on 50% diesel and 50% Veg oil mix ( he will be able to get hold of used veg oil for free)
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The manual gearboxes are from Volvo, they're generally sound, but can have noisy splines.
Too expensive to fix for this problem and generally nothing more than an irritant.
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update: my mate has seen one on the trader for £1500. MOT is for 4 months. I am always worried about buying a car with short MOT because it may fail disastrously in the next one and cost more than the car to fix or am I just too cautious and giving advice which is too cautious?
Seems to look tidy (I have seen it on the autotrader website) but only seen it on the photos?
Any advice to give when going to buy the car? vwhat to look for?
how is one supposed to make an offer on the car? do you just say I will give you £1450 or is that offensive to ask for £50 off?
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How is one supposed to make an offer on the car? do you just say, I will give you £1450 or is that offensive to ask for £50 off?
Start below a Grand. You can always go up, but not down.
Good luck..MD
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