Discussion
Hi everybody,
I am buying a cheap car (less than 2000 pounds) to do a 100 mile round trip commute on a daily basis which is 95% motorway/fast A road. I have looked at a number of other cars (BMW 3/5/7 series, Audi A4, Passat etc) and the volvo looks like a lot of bang for the buck. I have been offered a 1998 S80 2.9 auto with 69K and FSH for 1750 pounds or a 1998 S80 T6 with 95K for 995 pounds. Are they very different in terms of drive, MPG nad reliability (2 turbos is more to go wrong)? Are they rear or front wheel drive? Is there anything special to look out for other than standard issues with a car of this age? Finally, which one would you chose?
Thanks
I am buying a cheap car (less than 2000 pounds) to do a 100 mile round trip commute on a daily basis which is 95% motorway/fast A road. I have looked at a number of other cars (BMW 3/5/7 series, Audi A4, Passat etc) and the volvo looks like a lot of bang for the buck. I have been offered a 1998 S80 2.9 auto with 69K and FSH for 1750 pounds or a 1998 S80 T6 with 95K for 995 pounds. Are they very different in terms of drive, MPG nad reliability (2 turbos is more to go wrong)? Are they rear or front wheel drive? Is there anything special to look out for other than standard issues with a car of this age? Finally, which one would you chose?
Thanks
Can't comment on the 2.9, but volvo petrol turbo engines are renowned for their reliability. Don't expect the T6 to return the best MPG or for the front tyres to last long if you use its 'potential officer'. Check out the Volvo forums on the 'net and google 's80 t6 reliability'-its bound to come up with something. Nice barge though, sorry can't help anymore.
I had a 98 T6 for a year back in 2003. It was a great car all round until things started going wrong. Lots of black boxes went wrong, and most seemed to be £400-600 and only available from Volvo...typical 
..other than that it was reliable, and I bought it for the same reason as you - a lot of bang for buck at the time, especially the 280bhp fully loaded T6 version
..other than that it was reliable, and I bought it for the same reason as you - a lot of bang for buck at the time, especially the 280bhp fully loaded T6 versionS80s aren't bad on the whole but early T6 cars are a nightmare.
Quite amusing when they are working - It's the only front drive car I've ever driven that can lay two long black lines down when coming hard out of a corner (thank twin turbos, lsd and soft suspension for that).
Autocar used to have it listed as having the sweetest turbocharged engine in production. Shame volvo didn't put it in a rwd car or find a gearbox to cope with it. (276hp was a detuned output to try and save the mechanicals, but they still broke...)
Amusingly rapid for a barge once the gearobx has decided what to do (I seem to recall 80+mph in second). 24mpg at best though I think.
Still have fond memories of the T6 executive that I ran as a demo - swedish crytal glasses and bottle opener acompanying the champagne cooler in the rear armrest were amusing!
Expect something to go wrong in the first 4 weeks.
If you want an S80 look out for a 2.4T. Far superior car in the real world and much more reliable. Not as smooth as the T6 the 5 cylinder still makes a nice noise and has a much better 5 speed auto.
ETA 2.9 has fewer problems, but you may as well by a 2.4 (170hp) instead as it is really slow for a big engine and does sub 20mpg frequently.
Quite amusing when they are working - It's the only front drive car I've ever driven that can lay two long black lines down when coming hard out of a corner (thank twin turbos, lsd and soft suspension for that).
Autocar used to have it listed as having the sweetest turbocharged engine in production. Shame volvo didn't put it in a rwd car or find a gearbox to cope with it. (276hp was a detuned output to try and save the mechanicals, but they still broke...)
Amusingly rapid for a barge once the gearobx has decided what to do (I seem to recall 80+mph in second). 24mpg at best though I think.
Still have fond memories of the T6 executive that I ran as a demo - swedish crytal glasses and bottle opener acompanying the champagne cooler in the rear armrest were amusing!
Expect something to go wrong in the first 4 weeks.
If you want an S80 look out for a 2.4T. Far superior car in the real world and much more reliable. Not as smooth as the T6 the 5 cylinder still makes a nice noise and has a much better 5 speed auto.
ETA 2.9 has fewer problems, but you may as well by a 2.4 (170hp) instead as it is really slow for a big engine and does sub 20mpg frequently.
Edited by JimexPL on Tuesday 14th October 16:35
Gassing Station | Volvo & Polestar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff