General: What to buy used S60 or S70??

[potentialowner]

I'm looking to get a commuter car and can't decide on which Volvo so I need your help.

Here's what I'm looking at:
S60 T5 (or Turbo) 2000 - 2001 model Automatic
S70 T5 (or Turbo) 1998 - 2000 model Automatic

A few questions for the experts:
1. Which would be lower to run and use (2 hour commute round trip daily)
- Gas, maintenance, labor, etc

2. How reliable are these cars?

3. What things should I be looking for when looking at second hand cars? By that I mean what are issues that are known to a 14 year old car for these 2 models.

I'm having a mechanic check over anything before I buy, but I would prefer to eliminate any bad examples before getting that far.

4. Are the NA engines cheaper to run and maintain?
My preference is more power, but not if the cost is so much higher. The NA powered S60 and S70 are 30% cheaper in my area.

5. What would be a good first step for maintenance when buying either of these models?
I saw a site was selling a "starter kit" for used Volvos with new plugs, filter, soft parts, etc for the engine. Is that a good suggestion?

6. What's the mileage cap I should be looking at before the odds of having a big maintenance bill increase exponentially?

I'm open to hearing any other suggestions.

[capt jack]

S70 any day.

Older engineering, much less reliant on computers, much easier for DIY, much bigger interior. Possibly one of the best cars Volvo ever built - and hugely under-rated.

My V70 went on to do 300,000 miles (same engine, gearbox and chassis).

We've had our S70 for 10 years now and would not give it up for all the tea in China! It's now on 170,000 miles and is running as well as ever.

Personally I'd recommend the non-turbo 2.5 10v B5252S engine. Good gas economy, smooth, reliable and easy to drive, last forever.

Cheers

Jack

[John_C]

The S60 is however safer, more refined and just as capable of high mileages.

They're both good cars, it depends where your priorities lie OP

[Rawas]

Originally Posted by capt jack

S70 any day.

Older engineering, much less reliant on computers, much easier for DIY, much bigger interior. Possibly one of the best cars Volvo ever built - and hugely under-rated.

My V70 went on to do 300,000 miles (same engine, gearbox and chassis).

We've had our S70 for 10 years now and would not give it up for all the tea in China! It's now on 170,000 miles and is running as well as ever.

Personally I'd recommend the non-turbo 2.5 10v B5252S engine. Good gas economy, smooth, reliable and easy to drive, last forever.

Cheers

Jack

Fully Agree,
However I will Opt for the 2.5T light pressure turbo, impressive pulling power
of 200 bhp for the 1.5 Ton the vehicle weigh.

[dme123]

The S60 is a much more modern car. Ride, handling, NVH and interior are streets ahead of the old S70, which very much shows it's 1991 origins. The S70 is, however, a simpler car and probably better suited to bangernomics.

You do need to watch out because the later S70 cars came with the same 5 speed automatic gearbox that causes so many problems in early P2 S60/V70 cars.

For either car get the most powerful version, fuel economy barely changes from various engine power outputs and the turbochargers and related gubbins are very reliable. The NASP versions are only worth looking at if they are very cheap or you're hardcore about running it on an absolute minimum outlay as they are pretty sluggish.

Early P2 S60 automatics have a poor reputation for longevity of the gearbox and not many saw more than 130 - 150K from their original box. Ostensibly this is because fluid changes were not included on the service schedule as it was for older gearboxes (this is common with BMW and Jaguar models with 5/6 speed auto), so buy with extreme caution and a long test drive. Worst case a remanufactured box is about £1500. As I said above the late model S70 had the same or a similar box, but I don't know how reliability is with those.