I was wandering around the "auto mall" and came across this v70 at a no-name place beside the nissan dealer. It was black on beige, 5spd man, rear cd changer, tinted windows, sunroof and crappy across rack bars. There was a bit of rust that was touched up once awhile ago, the under carriage was fairly clean, but the belly pan upfront was oily and the engine oil cap area on top was heavily oiled. Somebody didn't have the proper equipment to change their oil!

Anyhow, in general it need a very good clean inside and out as it was traded in 3 days prior. We took it for a test drive and my first impression was this car shifts like a gm product. The clutch was super heavy, the gears were fairly reluctant especially 3-4th, then there was audible and physical drive line noise and vibration. I have never driven a v70 much less a awd vehicle before, so i passed it up as everyday awd. on the highway it cruises nice, the a/c works quite well the sunroof open at 100 kph is noisy as hell. The seats were not cracked or ripped, dirty but very comfortable.

Overall we decided after this test drive that we want a v70, but has anyone in the group owned one of these? Is what sounds like drive shaft vibrations normal? the car has 275k the car was maintained before 2004 but no records in the car after that date. While driving through coaldale the abs and traction control light came on, the dealer said it was a wire that needed to be replaced. Its out of province and because of that he was very willing to bargain which makes me worried that something else major is wrong with the car.

When i get dressed ill post a picture of the car, i forgot my phone in the glove box.

Modules go bad for the ABS/Tracs problem. Big money for a new one.

Driveshafts are a common failure, could be why it vibrated.

PCV systems need constant attention. Thats probably where all the oil came from.

I'd avoid a manualAWD though. They were rare, so if the tranny went, you'd be hard pressed to find one in a JY or the like.

Jordan

abs module for that is 1300ish. I do have a spare one but still its expensive and it is not a wire that needs replacing. Driveline problems are common especially with the viscous differential like that has. If the oil filler cap is oily then I bet that seal is dry as an old lady but thats a 6 dollar fix and the oil will trickle down to the lower end of the engine causing a mess but if the angle gear is leaking then I would leave it be, I quoted $7000 or so for an angle gear and viscous coupler recently. The service history I think would make or break this deal, the engines sludge up pretty bad if they are poorly maintained and then you get some nasty problems with the oil trap and crap everywhere else. Plus seeing about driveline history as well. If it drives well then maybe its worth a second look but keep those eyes open especially if there is rust at hand.

Saw that one in the Shopper, from Ontarustio no? I was tempted to go look at it for the hell of it b/c it was priced so low, I think all of the above explains why...

if i wasnt worried about what the repair costs could be, we would have bought it. It was nice to look at even with the little rust it had, the interior was in decent shape, it was very peppy, everything worked and the seats were super comfortable. If you know someone who can fly it through the oopi for a case of beer its worth a look, because he was ready to bargain.

Found another 98 V70 AWD with a stick here http://www.buysell.com/root/detail/Calg ... 5_cyl.aspx. There was also another one for sale for the longest time in Bow Island with ~165K, white over tan that "looked" ok in the pics. The ad is gone now though but it was parked on the highway a lot of the time, not sure if it sold or he gave up? I looked at the 5 speed AWD wagons for awhile but decided against it for all of the reasons that Andy and Jordan listed above. FWIW we just sold our 2002 V70 AWD to a) reduce our repair expenses, b) the thought of doing a transfer case some day made me queasy.

Was in the neighborhood so I stopped and looked at this car. It sure has alot of rust for an S/V series that usually don't rust like 2/7 series. The guy that runs the place strikes me as the quintessential sleazy used car salesman. Blathered on and on how clean the car is with no rust except the few spots down low, no mention of the rust around the TOP of the windshield which I don't ever recall seeing on a car of this era. I didn't spend much more time looking at it.

While I was there he noticed the Valdez and exclaimed he had a nice 740 sedan just in. Go to the back and it's an 88 740 GLE with a b230F, m47 and ~ 360k. The hood is completely peeled, checked, rusted etc. as is the sunroof, neither look like they should be on that car as the rest of the paint isn't half bad for the age. He just got it and hasn't figured out why it won't run. He "thinks" it might be from Ontario but isn't sure :groan:, although if it is it's not rusted like an Ontario car. It's grey over black leather that's pretty worn but not cracked or ripped, still it looks it's age and then some. The underside looks relatively clean and sans a ball pein hammer the floorboards and subframe appear solid in the usual rust spots. For S&G I asked what price he had in mind once this gem was running... $1750 , I smiled to myself and left him to is LSD and magic mushrooms...