Volvo S40, a Good Buy?

MeatProduct

Hello,

Over the past few days I have been looking to buy an automatic Volvo S40 but I couldn't find any. Just an hour ago I went to a dealership and he just happened to have gotten in one today. He said it had 100,000 miles on it but when I looked it had 130,000 up on it. It's a 1.8 engine, 1997, don't know what model though, although it did have a fake wood finish around the dash. There are a few dents around the car and I'd say it's had some tough drives. He said it only had one owner.

He wants E3600 for it and he'll get it NCT'd till next year (the NCT ran out on it in 2004).

Should I go for this or is it a bit on the dodgy side? Is it a reliable car?

Many thanks for your time, any help is greatly appreciated.

Nick

DubTony

My wife has one of those. Although it's a 2003 Sport model. If the model you're looking at is a 1.8i it may have a Mitsubishi GDI engine in it. My wifes previous car was a 2001 S40 1.8i manual. Lovely car, very lively, nice handling and an all round bloody good car.

The newer model has a Volvo engine and is automatic so I can't really compare like with like here. It's lovely to drive, handles great, good poke for a 125 bhp motor. The auto box is geared toward performance which is great if you want to boot around the place, but a little annoying for general all round driving.

A couple of problems we've had with the car.

A rubbing noise from the left side front wheel
Steering wheel can be noisy at slow speed. ?!?!?!?!
Sounds like part of the exhaust needs replacing (heard it today)

These have just occurred in the last couple of months, and the car is due a service.

I would certainly recommend the car that we have, but it's probably a bit different to the '97. Autoboland in Waterford regularly have low(ish) mileage 2 year old S 40 autos. www.autoboland.com

Good luck

Tony

MeatProduct

Many thanks for that DubTony. If it's a Mitsubishi engine that would be fairly reliable I would have thought? I had a look at that site but they are all a bit too much for my meagre pocket at the moment, thanks for the link.

Nick

Eoin

Have a look at www.carzone.ie to see what you can get for that price. This search page should show you all the automatic cars you can get for less than 4K. 130K is always a lot of mileage, especially if it looks like it has hard a hard enough life.

Eoin

bazz26

Not sure about the Mitsubishi GDI engine being used in the S40 especially the automatic version. I think the 125bhp 1.8 auto version was Volvo's own engine or possibly even a Renault unit.

The old S40 were generally ok but suffered from various electrical problems, also servicing from a Volvo dealer can be expensive.

Check out http://www.honestjohn.co.uk for a review of the car.

stratos

You already seem a bit spooked about this car. Personaly ,I would walk away if i don't feel right it probably ain't. Just my opinion the s 40 has no resale value, and is a truck, with a load of girders in the back.

kasintahan

My parents have a 1997 1.8 manual S40 (Renault engine AFAIK).

It's a nice car but after 97 Volvo changed the entire suspension for some reason (it is a bit hard alright).

The electrics are fine and it's never needed any serious maintenance, that said the car has only seen half the road as the one your looking at.

MeatProduct

Many thanks to all of you for your advice. It's not an easy decision now. I might offer him 3000 if he does the timing belt, new set of rubbers and gives it a full service. If he goes for that then I'd be a bit more happy about it although why say it has 100,000 miles when I could just go look at it and see 130,000 miles up on it?! Was he planning on "fixing" it perhaps. If so I then I would forget about buying it from him.

Nick

alias no.9

Haggle hard, if you don't buy it from him, he'll just send it to auction or sell it to a trader. Dealers don't keep cars like this on the forecourt. As for the mileage, in the trade, anything over 100k is often just called 100k as it's pretty irrelevant after that point when it comes to value.

MeatProduct

alias no.9 wrote:

Haggle hard, if you don't buy it from him, he'll just send it to auction or sell it to a trader. Dealers don't keep cars like this on the forecourt. As for the mileage, in the trade, anything over 100k is often just called 100k as it's pretty irrelevant after that point when it comes to value.

Ah, I see. But it's still false advertising surely? Would I offer 2500 do you think? Just make that offer and tell him he can get back to me if he wants.

Nick

alias no.9

What it all probably comes down to is how busy his workshop is. If they're quiet, he'll be happy enough to keep the mechanics busy with the timing belt, otherwise, he mightn't be so keen. I'm not sure what kind of price these go for, but an 8 year old 'small' volvo automatic is not a highly saleable commodity. I can't see it even making €2000 at auction but you've got to add in the servicing cost (to him) and some margin to cover a 3 month warrenty. Bring cash with you, that will give you most leverage.

conformist

nah man thats gay

MeatProduct

alias no.9 wrote:

What it all probably comes down to is how busy his workshop is. If they're quiet, he'll be happy enough to keep the mechanics busy with the timing belt, otherwise, he mightn't be so keen. I'm not sure what kind of price these go for, but an 8 year old 'small' volvo automatic is not a highly saleable commodity. I can't see it even making €2000 at auction but you've got to add in the servicing cost (to him) and some margin to cover a 3 month warrenty. Bring cash with you, that will give you most leverage.

Great, thanks very much for that. I'll pop over to him tomorrow or on Monday to see what can be done.

Nick

Eoin

stratos wrote:

You already seem a bit spooked about this car. Personaly ,I would walk away if i don't feel right it probably ain't.

I agree totally, if something doesn't feel right then just walk away.

Out of interest, what is the important part for you - the S40, or the automatic part - or does it have to be an automatic S40?
Check the link to the search page I posted earlier, I would be surprised if you don't find something that is better value for money (and that will give you good piece of mind).

MeatProduct

eoin_s wrote:

I agree totally, if something doesn't feel right then just walk away.

Out of interest, what is the important part for you - the S40, or the automatic part - or does it have to be an automatic S40?
Check the link to the search page I posted earlier, I would be surprised if you don't find something that is better value for money (and that will give you good piece of mind).

Yes, you are probably right. The only real important part is that it is an automatic, everything else is just pleasing my ego. An automatic Honda would be suitable and probably cheaper and more reliable.

Thanking you,

Nick

thesteve

My old man had the98 model as a company car. He was driving 600km a week and in 3 years he went through 2 S40's. Both of them had the same problem with the suspension/wheels. One of the wheels even collapsed under the car when he hit a small pot hole at a moderate speed... I thought he was just unlucky until I read the previous post about the dodgey suspension....

MeatProduct

thesteve wrote:

My old man had the98 model as a company car. He was driving 600km a week and in 3 years he went through 2 S40's. Both of them had the same problem with the suspension/wheels. One of the wheels even collapsed under the car when he hit a small pot hole at a moderate speed... I thought he was just unlucky until I read the previous post about the dodgey suspension....

Wow, that's pretty serious.

Is it as simple as just replacing the suspension or would there be more involved in order to sort out that issue in this car?

Nick

thesteve

I haven't a clue to tell you the truth, he had it as a company car, so when the second one went the same way, he demanded a different car from HR/the leasing company...

DubTony

bazz26 wrote:

Not sure about the Mitsubishi GDI engine being used in the S40 especially the automatic version. I think the 125bhp 1.8 auto version was Volvo's own engine or possibly even a Renault unit.

Mitsu GDI was in the 2001 S40 1.8i manual. This was the "jazzed-up" model (4 electric windows, cruise control, aircon and all leather as standard). There was a regular 1.8 (no "i" )at the time with a Volvo engine.
The 2003 1.8 automatic has a Volvo engine. It's a lot less economical than the Mitsu. At 80 to 100 miles less per fill, I couldn't just blame the auto box.

There have been so many different versions of the S40 over the years that it's difficult to compare. My siter-in-law has a manual 2.0t . Now there's a car that has waaaaay too much power going to the front wheels. Have wondered as I've accelerated through a corner if the thing is just going to go straight on. A little bit hairy.

Tony