In the process of buying a VOLVO C70 Coupe 2000

I would have a local mechanic or Volvo dealer perform a prepurchase inspection of the car. Such an inspection would cost $75.00 to $100.00 and should review all major systems. Because it is a high milage car check for looseness of the doors and evidence of body repairs and if it is a convertible check for proper operation of the soft top.

You might want to check the price of your car on Edmunds, but key to the valuation is an honest estimate of whether the car is in average, clean or outstanding condition. The seller will tell you it is outstanding, but in my experience there are almost no high milage cars in that condition.

The car is a coupe, in pretty good body conditions, not perfect. I drove it and it feels great. (anyway .. that's easy with a 238 HP) I'm ready to accept the not perfect body. What I would not like is buying the car and figure out after 2000 miles that there are major engine/transmission problems. Anyway, I'll definetily ask for an external inspection. I'm using Edmunds, I think is the best website for that I don't know that much Volvo. Of course I know about the reputation of Volvo cars but I don't know how much could be the life span of that engine/transmission. Would be too much asking the engine/transmission to stay alive for other 60.000 - 70.000 miles? Thanks

Whether it will run for another 50,000 or 200,000 miles really depends on the care that was given the car for the first 160,000 miles of it's life. Given that there were two things to repair and that it is in at best well used and average condition the price would seem a bit high to me. Still, you might have some negotiating room with the seller if you know what is wrong with the car. I can't emphasize this enough - you need to get a mechanic who knows something about Volvo cars to evaluate the car and give you some sense about whether big problems are just around the corner.

For example if the transmission fluid has never been changed transmission problems are soon to come. If the owner was not scrupulous about oil changes the turbocharger may be nearing the end of it's life. If the brakes were never flushed the ABS master cylinder may be getting ready to give problems. Etc., etc.

By way of background I bought high milage cars (Volvo, Saab & Toyota) for my kids to take to college and they all performed as needed. But I had them all checked out by a mechanic beforehand. And we excluded several along the way because of hidden problems.

Then a C70 is probably not a good choice. In fact, no modern Volvo is probably the vehicle of choice if reliability is your top consideration.

I have a 1998 C70 HT Coupe - I bought it new, as it was the most beautiful car on the road (in my opinion) at the time. Now it has 110k miles on it and still runs perfectly. I have had it dealer-serviced from new, though, so I would recommend you check the service records of the car. Mine's a manual transmission which would reduce complexity a bit (and makes the car somewhat rare :))