1999 Volvo S80 2.9 from North America - Comments

I have had a minor fuel leak.

Had it for only a few weeks and it has been exceptional. Reading some other reviews here and understand completely about the reliability issues; however, this fact is already evident in the price. I got my like new S80 for $9500, which is less than I would have paid for a comparable Camry or Accord of the same model year. The way I look at it is, the S80 probably went for about $10000 more than the Camry or Accord that model year, but because of its reliability issues it did not hold its value as well. Yes, I will have more repair bills, but I'll bet it will be less than the $10000 my Volvo cost to buy over the Camry and Accord when they were new. In short, I love my Volvo and I believe it to be a relative bargain over the Camry and Accord. I also hedged my bets a bit. I only bought it when I was sure many of the issues already written on this site about it were already addressed. In other words, most of the headaches were already dealt with by the previous owner. This doesn't eliminate all the problems, but it does better my chances.

I understand what this guy is saying, but I bought my '99 S80 in March of this year via a broker and while driving home all the error codes associated with the ABS system came on. The car had a little over 85K miles. I eventually changed out the ABS unit myself and the codes when away. My son who is college actually drives this car, and today 9/28/06 he called me and said there are other error codes that popped up. Like the 02 sensor no activity; EZAP emission control system leak; manufacturer control fuel air metering; system tooling bank 1; and random/multiple cylinder problems detected. The car currently has a little over 90K miles. I said all that to say that because they are not there now doesn't mean that they're not coming. Hopefully this guy is mechanically inclined or know a trusted mechanic, because the dealership charges a small fortune for repairs.

Outstanding after a few weeks of ownership? My S80 T6 was also outstanding in very short spurts between major meltdowns over the course of my six years of ownership. Tell me about how outstanding it is after continually rebuilding every part of the car over the course of the upcoming months. There is an excellent reason why these cars have virtually no resale value. It makes them great buys as used until the initial euphoria is replaced by the reality of re-buying the car many times over in repair costs with frequent interludes on the side of the road. Sorry to inform you, but you have no idea what you're in for. Good luck.

I post this comment happy, why. Because my Volvo has served me well. I have owned it for about 4 months, put a little over 10,000 miles on it, but never had a issues with it.

I have had an LS430, and although we can't compare them - the LS is fairly superior, it's not too far off either.

Great gas mileage, 20gallon tanks - convenient for long trips and exceptional safety reputation - had an accident (yeah, did a 360 degree turn to land in a ditch at full speed) but the car stayed stable, without a dent.