Which older volvo do you recommend? [merged]

[454cid]

2003 onward are the better FWD versions to go for.

I have read a lot about the 01-02 as being bad cars. They were afflicted with the same bad ETM's as the 99-00 P80 chassis cars. A rebuilt part will give another long life with the Xemodex contactless position sensors. The other 'bad' issue was the transmissions, again same as some of the last year 00 P80 models. The main issue is owners believed Volvo when they said they were 'sealed for life' but nobody told the oil that! Most owners also passed on the later rescinding of the sealed for life and 80,000km flush and naturally the transmissions failed with mostly bad solenoids. That or they took them for a flush at a quick lube place who pressure flushed the trans which promptly failed with moments of leaving their premises.

Passing at this age is possibly a wise decision unless you can find a manual trans.

Neil.

What is an ETM? I also passed on a 2001 V70 in part because I was leery of the transmission. I've just found a P80 S70 that I want to take a closer look at, Though..... no idea of the year, and I think I forgot to take a picture of the VIN.

I've read something about the programming of the 2001 transmissions that eventually leads to failure, but maybe that only applies to P2s? Something about it shifting to neutral.

[scot850]

There was. They had added some kind of idle disconnect (I may be way off base on that) in the software to reduce fuel consumption, but that led to bigger issue. Not sure why. I had forgotten about that. I do think there was a software change to fix that but naturally you would need to check. Yes it was a P2 issue as I understood it.

Neil.

[Sveedy]

Electronic Throttle Module i.e. drive by wire. Luckily we don't have that little gem.

[454cid]

Electronic Throttle Module i.e. drive by wire. Luckily we don't have that little gem.

Thank you, just found it, but haven't done any reading on it, yet.

I like my mechanical throttles.

[matthew1]

If you want to enter the ETM saga timewarp, here's the high-level view https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/volvo ... le-fiasco/

[volvolugnut]

2001 P2 (and maybe a couple later years) had transmission software to shift to neutral whenever you stopped in drive. It was like a early version of automatic engine shut off while waiting at a stop light. To get rid of it, you needed a dealer reprogram.
My 2001 V70 still has this original software. I never got it to a dealer to change it. And yes, it has had a transmission rebuild.
volvolugnut

[scot850]

Thanks for the clarification! Sometimes (well often!!) my memory gets most of the details right but not always.

Neil.