When it's time to move on (and what did you buy?)

[bmdubya1198]

E39 was a great car overall, especially the M5! The N54 had great power and are crazy easy to tune, but the N55 is more reliable and sorted most of the bugs; although less tuneable.

Select owners of the previous generation always poo poo on the successors. I think the F30 was a great generation, it looks better than the E90. Some say the material quality decreased, I didn't notice that: I think it looks good. The problem was the N20: 2.0L turbo engine had issues with timing chains until 2015; otherwise it is a great engine: good power and much better economy than the I6; just watch the early years. I love the E46, but they had rust issues (not serious) but where I live it will show up and I will not buy a car that rusts: I've owned too many of those. Too bad as they drive fantastic.

Very true, that goes for any car. I like the F30 as well, but again, I've never driven one to say much for the quality or drivability.

I would absolutely love an E39 M5, but the values are shooting up. Junk salvage title examples are going for $7k! That's outrageous for a car that'll need another $7k in work to get sorted out. One day I'll find one real cheap... at a price where I don't MIND putting $7k into it.

Ahhhhh....not Scotty!!!!!!

I just stuck a URO dipstick in my eyes and ears to try to stop it, but it snapped.

I'll send you a ProParts dipstick. That one will just twist and bend.

[tryingbe]

I sold my 850 wagon when I didn't use my back seats for more than a year.



When I try really hard...but I average around 45-60mpg with running a/c

[wheelsup]

Those can be good deals but I seriously worry about long term issues such as transmission and steering components. I'm not sure I have the heart to do what I did with my car again. I hate to say it. I just don't enjoy working on my car anymore. I have seriously considered just taking Uber/Lyft to work and back, since I only need it once a week.

That being said I am blown away at how inexpensive the initial purchase price of those mid 2000 V70's are. But how much money will go into them after purchase?

Also any thoughts on the 2008+ model years? I really like the inside and outside of those cars, but I realize the mid 2000's would be easier to work on (electronically). Which is another scare of mine - the 850 was the last of the "pre-electronic" cars.

Once per week???

How far round trip?

Cost estimate

Cost per mile
Uber 1

V70 (fixed cost)```````````````````````````Cost per year
Insurance```````````````````````````````````````223.20
Registration````````````````````````````````````200.00
Depreciation and Maintenance``````````1000.00
Fixed cost`````````````````````````````````````1423.20



V70 (Variable cost)````Cost per mile
Metro Mile insurance```````0.029
Fuel`````````````````````````````0.2
Variable cost`````````````````0.229

Miles per year
``````````````````````````1000`````2000``````3000```````4000``````5000``````6000```````7000```````8000```````9000```````10000`````11000
V70`````````````````````1652`````1881``````2110```````2339``````2568``````2797```````3026```````3255```````3484```````3713```````3942
UBER``````````````````1000`````2000``````3000```````4000``````5000``````6000```````7000```````8000```````9000``````10000`````11000


If you are really under 2000 miles per year then it might make more sense to UBER

BUT..... if your other car is also old then you could buy the V70 and just take UBER if your primary car need some TLC and your wife takes the V70.

If it were me I would buy the V70

Take care

Paul

So that's a good summary and breakdown, thank you! I put about 200 miles a month on my car, so for me I would much rather have a reliable older car with A/C that works when I need it to. I just don't need anything that costs a lot because it will mostly just sit. I would love to get an electric car but with the battery depreciating more than I drive I can't make the numbers work.

My wife has a 2010 Prius which she drives about 5,000 miles a year.

Ideally I'd get a smaller car that can tow and equip it with a hitch. I don't need the capacity to carry a lot but every now and then it would be awesome for things like furniture or home improvement (drywall, studs, dirt).

My current 850 has some issues that I have dealt with for years. Slowly losing coolant (not sure where to, maybe heater core), ac with bad clutch I think (already zip tied it, I do have a spare compressor), rear bumper rusted off and being held up by trailer hitch, window wipers will not stay tight and come lose after just a few minutes, and don't wipe the windows (over 15 years dealing with this), seats all ripped. And who knows what awaits me such as fuel pump or sensor failure in the future.

I'm just not sure I'm up to dealing with it but driving so little I really don't want to drop a lot of cash that would just be wasted in my driveway sitting.

Ugh.

[bmdubya1198]

Based on that, I think your best bet would be to find a clean naturally aspirated P80 S70 or V70. They're cheap and economical, but they're still decent cars to drive and they can tow and haul when needed.

[lext]

Sentimental topic

I've thought along the same line (as wheelsup the OP). I bought mine used in late 2004, that was when I first registered for this website. Went through many maintenance/repairs although none as big as transmission. It's still running well now, but paint is starting to peel, and it has some strong gas smell on startup. I wonder if it can pass the next smog test (California std). If it doesn't I'm not sure what I'm going to do - should I try to fix it and continue with a 21mpg car, or just buy a used Volt. Nowadays I don't drive so much anymore, only once a week, for relatively short trip at that, so a plug-in hybrid like the Volt will suit me just fine. Although not knowing anything about Volt, I'm scared of things like "broken control module" and "unexpected loss of power" (the website carcomplaints.com seems to have a few complaints of that kind.

Right now I'm mostly in a wait-and-see mode. See if this passes the test, see if anything major develops, or see if there's a great deal on a Volt somewhere

[abscate]

The Volt has great potential, but only for tall people, Shorts are dangerous.

[bmdubya1198]

The Volt has great potential, but only for tall people, Shorts are dangerous.

I see what you did there...

[abscate]

The Volt has great potential, but only for tall people, Shorts are dangerous.

I see what you did there...

Terminal illness.

[bmdubya1198]

The Volt has great potential, but only for tall people, Shorts are dangerous.

I see what you did there...

Terminal illness.

I bet that hertz.

[MoVolvos]

I was concerned about transmission issues and replacement parts costs on the XC90's. I've been doing some research and it seems the 2008 and up is a safer bet but is there an engine/transmission combo that is better? Generally I would steer clear of any turbo as that adds complexity and I wonder about costs on the V8 as well. Same idea for AWD which I don't need at all.

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Did you ever find anything. This one is back again from 20 days ago. 3.2 Non-Turbo, FWD
"2007 Volvo XC90, ~ 124000 miles, 7 passenger with 3rd row. Leather interior, DVD players.
Runs well, Newer brakes and tires. Sold as-is, $2500."
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https://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/d/ho ... 46143.html
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2007 XC90 FWD.png (1.33 MiB) Viewed 1129 times