Volvo Findings! (What have you found on Craigslist?)

[June]

The 16 year old drives the car by choice and they paid $8K two years ago and have some records.

They paid 8k and thrashed 7700 of value out of it in two years, indeed...



Volvo fit and finish is just so beautiful that you can't look at any Volvo and not think its worth 5k to someone....the problem is finding that someone. My second-part-owner 1998 still cries "Dont kill me" in my garage every night.

The paint is either in great shape or no shape. They all cry "Don't Kill Me" and "Take Me Home" even if it is parked in the driveway for sometime.

I completely agree! To crush a Volvo is a Cardinal Sin! My daughter is on my sh-t list right now... I can't believe that it's the same car I bought. So many dings, bug damage, ruined leather, spilled drinks just everywhere inside. When I picked it up she informed me it had a roach that made appearances and she even named it!!!!! If you know me at all I insist on my surroundings to be impeccably clean. My car included. Don't forget she blew the head gasket, broke the front struts completely as well. It just makes me sick! That pizza delivery Volvo has been through HELL! JUNE

[bmdubya1198]

I completely agree! To crush a Volvo is a Cardinal Sin! My daughter is on my sh-t list right now... I can't believe that it's the same car I bought. So many dings, bug damage, ruined leather, spilled drinks just everywhere inside. When I picked it up she informed me it had a roach that made appearances and she even named it!!!!! If you know me at all I insist on my surroundings to be impeccably clean. My car included. Don't forget she blew the head gasket, broke the front struts completely as well. It just makes me sick! That pizza delivery Volvo has been through HELL! JUNE

As a 20 year old, I keep my cars cleaner than just about anyone else my age. Then again, I've been a car nut since I was a baby, so maybe I have a natural respect for my cars!
My cousin who's also my age has his S70 full of trash all the time... and he's just as into cars as me (in fact, he's actually paid to be a mechanic... I totally rebuild all of my own cars for free ). Food trays on the floor, empty potato chip bags, bottles, a subwoofer and amp in the trunk (that's messy to me, I prefer cargo space to haul around car parts... another reason I've always had a wagon!). Anyway, I hate a messy car. My mom's almost as bad, I have to clean out the XC90 pretty regularly! The most you'll find left in my car on any given day is a gas receipt.

They paid 8k and thrashed 7700 of value out of it in two years, indeed...



Volvo fit and finish is just so beautiful that you can't look at any Volvo and not think its worth 5k to someone....the problem is finding that someone. My second-part-owner 1998 still cries "Dont kill me" in my garage every night.

Agreed. Some get lucky like the seller of that 740TIC on BaT the other day... sold for $7k! Insanely expensive for that car, but some people will pay when they really want a particular car. The bid before that was like $3,250. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1986-volvo-740-4/

You mean like $500 or $750 low ball?

EDIT: The seller was not trying to paint red lipstick on a Moose . Going over the folder he had on the car I saw the majority of the information and asked him about it. It took several months after the car was parked for them to pay it off before they could sell it so they are just trying to get it out from in front of their neighbors home in the court.

I'm just going by what I read in the ad, I wasn't calling out this seller in particular. Just making some observations. Glad to hear he doesn't seem to be painting up this V50 to be something way nicer than it is!
But yeah, it's worth a shot. It sucks to have to be making payments on a car that isn't running, but unfortunately you can't recoup that kind of money from a non running car.

[amblerman]

I completely agree! To crush a Volvo is a Cardinal Sin! My daughter is on my sh-t list right now... I can't believe that it's the same car I bought. So many dings, bug damage, ruined leather, spilled drinks just everywhere inside. When I picked it up she informed me it had a roach that made appearances and she even named it!!!!! If you know me at all I insist on my surroundings to be impeccably clean. My car included. Don't forget she blew the head gasket, broke the front struts completely as well. It just makes me sick! That pizza delivery Volvo has been through HELL! JUNE

Do you mean she wore them out or actually broke them? How do you even do that??

Head gasket too huh?? From various posts, I know you're not the biggest fan of the C70.... I've read some other challenges you've had with the top I think..

[bmdubya1198]

From what I've heard, the tops can be a real pain. I was talking to a tech from the local Volvo dealer not long ago when my cousin bought some wheels from him, and he's the only trained convertible tech at that dealer. He says he could get maybe 3 done in a week with the rest of the usual work load, depending on what's wrong with them. It was so bad that his manager was complaining to him that he was not getting enough work done, and it was due to working on these C70s because diagnosing them is so time consuming.

[June]

I completely agree! To crush a Volvo is a Cardinal Sin! My daughter is on my sh-t list right now... I can't believe that it's the same car I bought. So many dings, bug damage, ruined leather, spilled drinks just everywhere inside. When I picked it up she informed me it had a roach that made appearances and she even named it!!!!! If you know me at all I insist on my surroundings to be impeccably clean. My car included. Don't forget she blew the head gasket, broke the front struts completely as well. It just makes me sick! That pizza delivery Volvo has been through HELL! JUNE

Do you mean she wore them out or actually broke them? How do you even do that??

Head gasket too huh?? From various posts, I know you're not the biggest fan of the C70.... I've read some other challenges you've had with the top I think..

Punctured holes in strange places like the backs with god knows what and allowed the leather to get wet I would guess. The leather has shrunk and become really hard in those places especially the passenger seat bottom. Even the back seat leather is hard now.

I didn't see the car for a year and in that time every body pannel is dinged or dented including the metal top, tops of the fenders, and other strange places for dents to appear.

The top went through a nightmare phase of getting stuck eating$500 per time minimal, the "octopus hose" blew and my ding-a-ling daughter just drove it blowing the head gasket. That cost me nearly $9,000 among three tickets to straighten out just the head gasket. Keep in mind I was long distance on all repair.

Yes I feel the C70 has areas where the quality and design is less than Volvo standard. Ie. The "octopus hose", inside door pulls and handles, uncomfortably placed hard plastic on door armrest, poorly built transmission with impossible to find dipstick, and on and on I could go in just the little I have driven/dealt with the car.

Now there are lots of wonderful things as well. Like the retractable metal top (when working) also Air Curtains deploy upward out of the door panels. Probably the only convertable with Air Curtains. The Premium sound with subwoofer and Sirius option is wonderful sounding even with the top down. And again safety,safety,safety!

I believe the V50 the OP is referring to is also a P1 car like the 07 C70. So the cheap hose with plastic connects otherwise referred to at Volvo as the "Octopus hose" is a problem spot and the door handles are cheap crap so be super careful using them. They are a real expensive repair! $900 each assembly to change!!! June

[bmdubya1198]

Punctured holes in strange places like the backs with god knows what and allowed the leather to get wet I would guess. The leather has shrunk and become really hard in those places especially the passenger seat bottom. Even the back seat leather is hard now.

I didn't see the car for a year and in that time every body pannel is dinged or dented including the metal top, tops of the fenders, and other strange places for dents to appear.

The top went through a nightmare phase of getting stuck eating$500 per time minimal, the "octopus hose" blew and my ding-a-ling daughter just drove it blowing the head gasket. That cost me nearly $9,000 among three tickets to straighten out just the head gasket. Keep in mind I was long distance on all repair.

Yes I feel the C70 has areas where the quality and design is less than Volvo standard. Ie. The "octopus hose", inside door pulls and handles, uncomfortably placed hard plastic on door armrest, poorly built transmission with impossible to find dipstick, and on and on I could go in just the little I have driven/dealt with the car.

Now there are lots of wonderful things as well. Like the retractable metal top (when working) also Air Curtains deploy upward out of the door panels. Probably the only convertable with Air Curtains. The Premium sound with subwoofer and Sirius option is wonderful sounding even with the top down. And again safety,safety,safety!

I believe the V50 the OP is referring to is also a P1 car like the 07 C70. So the cheap hose with plastic connects otherwise referred to at Volvo as the "Octopus hose" is a problem spot and the door handles are cheap crap so be super careful using them. They are a real expensive repair! $900 each assembly to change!!! June

Yup, the V50 is a P1. The P1s have some quality issues from what I've heard... mainly cheap interior complaints. Like the previous generation S40, they weren't designed by just Volvo, either... it's loosely based on the Mazda 3, among other cars. I like them, but they are quite a bit different than the "main" Volvo models of the time... which were all P2s.

After all that I'd send her the whole P1 forum and tell her to learn how to fix it herself, then maybe she'll be more careful next time! As Robert says, don't play coolant roulette! $9k is a lot of money to sort out all that stuff.

[amblerman]

Wow June.. that's a lot of repairs . And costly as well. Ugh. Sorry to hear that. I just looked up the octopus hose. Yeah, I bet that is fun to change. I just watched a video where the narrator said "it kinda looks like a Christmas tree that's been through a tornado..."

[June]

Wow June.. that's a lot of repairs . And costly as well. Ugh. Sorry to hear that. I just looked up the octopus hose. Yeah, I bet that is fun to change. I just watched a video where the narrator said "it kinda looks like a Christmas tree that's been through a tornado..."

They should have called it a expensive Christmas tree that's been through a tornado prone to failure! June

[MoVolvos]

I believe the V50 the OP is referring to is also a P1 car like the 07 C70. So the cheap hose with plastic connects otherwise referred to at Volvo as the "Octopus hose" is a problem spot and the door handles are cheap crap so be super careful using them. They are a real expensive repair! $900 each assembly to change!!! June

Well, thought my son had an obvious no fault accident but the other driver lied and said my son cut her off so no pay out on the totaled Lexus till we can prove otherwise. Just as well, the P1 V50 sounds like a mess and the interior door panels have all come unglued. Like the whole door is a map pocket with goo in it.

Thank God my son had another picture of where the Police Cruiser and other party was parked after pulling over to the shoulder. Took a Google map view along with the picture to try and prove why it could not be possible that he cut her off instead of her failure to stop after merging and hitting him.

[MoVolvos]

I'm just going by what I read in the ad, I wasn't calling out this seller in particular. Just making some observations. Glad to hear he doesn't seem to be painting up this V50 to be something way nicer than it is!
But yeah, it's worth a shot. It sucks to have to be making payments on a car that isn't running, but unfortunately you can't recoup that kind of money from a non running car.

Don't worry, didn't want you to be upset at those who do paint lipstick on a Moose.