Looking at a 97 850 sedan, any issues I should look for?

[j-dawg]

my opinion - rusty exhaust and brake bits are par for the course and generally not harmful. exhaust and brake systems are exposed to weather and they get warm. this is a recipe for rust, but it's not the kind of rust that destroys a car - chassis rust. generally a little surface rust on those parts is harmless. (rust on the rockers and wheel arches, though, just walk away.)

my perspective may be skewed as i am from chicago, but if you restrict yourself to cars with no surface rust on the exhaust and brakes, you may be looking for a very long time

[Spiney]

Was beyond just rusty everything looked seized. Such as brake bleeder nipples etc. some exhaust hardware was ready to break or rust through.

My mechanic felt that there could be more issues of seals going bad from it just sitting too much.

I trust him, that's why I never buy a car without him looking at it. He tells me he'd rather warn me now than have to charge me thousands in repairs later.

I just wasn't willing to pay $3950 plus drop another $1000 right away and then maybe find more issues.

Maybe I should have, but I don't want a money pit. If dealer had been willing to negotiate more it would be sitting outside my house right now.

Just wasn't meant to be this time.

[abscate]

4k for a ready to drive low mileage Volvo is pretty much on target. Every 15 year old car is a bunch of repairs, already in progress.

If you test drive, and the car stops well, and all 8 rotor surfaces are shiny the entire width of the pad, you are good to go.

Mechanics inspecting used cars for purchase are a bit like lawyers in business. You pay them to tell you no.

Car fax would tell you exactly how long it has sat. You can't get tweaked at someone not wanting to sell something at your price. It's fair for her/him to get as much as he can, after all.

[erikv11]

Perhaps, but the whole point is that this one is not "ready to drive," there is oil all over the bottom of the engine ... for $4k the car needs to have had lots of recent service and few large flaws. This one had several (RMS is unlikely but a remote possibility; $4k for a car needing an RMS???), including the salesperson.

I still vote good move walking away, there are others out there that are much more worth it.

[abscate]

My post was a bit snarkier than intended, sorry about that. Good point erik...if I were selling this as a dealer, I would address the oil issue, certainly.