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</p>
<p>Volvo’s owner web site is here:</p>
<p>[Volvo</a> Information | Owners & Enthusiasts](<a href=“http://www.volvocars.com/us/top/yourvolvo/Pages/default.aspx]Volvo”>http://www.volvocars.com/us/top/yourvolvo/Pages/default.aspx)</p>
<p>They might allow you to order a medal after registering. (The old Volvo owner web site from when Volvo was owned by Ford allowed that.)</p>
<p>We get rid of cars when they fail on us or we think we are looking at repair bills of $1000. Since we both work in NYC, we don’t put lots of miles on our cars and they keep their value. Just traded in our 10yo Town & Country minivan w 60,000 miles and got $5000. If the dealership had looked closer they would have seen it needed a new battery (which had died on us that morning), new brakes (they were smoking earlier), cracked rear bumper and leaky sunroof w very wet carpeting that was ready to start growing mushrooms. </p>
<p>I have no patience for car repairs and working in NYC, neither of us have much flexibility to drop it off at dealers.</p>
<p>DH’s Lexus, which had 80,000+ miles when he bought it, is currently at about 205,000 miles. Just this past weekend I noticed the transmission seemed a little sluggish. I wonder how much longer it has.</p>
<p>Now our 2000 Honda Accord is at 146,000. The kids share it at college. I took it to a Honda mechanic two months ago and charged him with finding whatever needed fixing on it before we sent it off to Houston with my son. The mechanic couldn’t find anything. We will end up shooting it by the side of the road I’m sure.</p>
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If you haven’t already done so, consider having the tranny fluid and filter changed. This may solve the problem. With a car with this many miles the mechanic may point out a bunch of things that ‘could’ be replaced but I’d generally ignore that and tell them to just do what you brought it in for at this time (unless you’re convinced to replace other things and that they really need replacing as opposed to they’re somewhat worn). OTOH the tranny might truly have bigger issues. I like to start with the simple and inexpensive things first.</p>
<p>My car is 11 years old and runs great. Also gets 40 mpg. Trade it in?? Not likely!</p>
<p>^^Thanks GGDad. I will do that!</p>
<p>My car is 8 years old and has almost 110,000 miles on it. Works fine. Looks lousy (lots of scratches and dings). But then, I don’t look as good as I used to, either.</p>
<p>"… other cars have had over 100k miles on them and were all stolen. One right out of our driveway!"</p>
<p>Where is that driveway exactly? (All our cars have >100K and I’m looking to upgrade a couple of them.)</p>
<p>On a related note, low-mileage cars are becoming more scarce. It has been our habit to buy 3 to 5 year-old vehicles with under 30K miles. Today (in our area) many of those cars are priced close to new. We’ve been dragging our feet on replacing the older cars.</p>
<p>Be careful with low mileage used cars for sale, since some of the patterns that cause low mileage are not desirable:</p>
<ul>
<li>Mostly city driving.</li>
<li>Infrequent cold start short trips.</li>
<li>Sitting long periods of time between drives.</li>
<li>Odometer fraud.</li>
</ul>
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</p>
<p>That is part of the focus of the link in my original post. In my area of the country there are a couple of businesses who sell only used cars of a relatively limited number of makes and models. Most of their cars are lease cars or fleet executive cars.</p>
<p>I am in a situation where my 1997 XJ6 probably needs a CAT and Oxygen sensor. It may run over $1600 but the car only has 89,000 miles on it, is in otherwise good condition and I average driving it less than 3600 miles a year. Probably will buy the CAT/OS.</p>
<p>NewHope- lol a suburb of Detroit. Not the one I currently live in.</p>
<p>Just go to Detroit if you want a car. When you call 911, they won’t even come out unless shots are fired. They told my dad on the phone that the car was gone and to come down and file a report. No one was going to come out to him.</p>
<p>My Landcruiser is closing in on 190,000 miles. I plan on keeping it for as long as I can …I like not having a car payment , especially while having to pay college tuitions ;)</p>
<p>A 2002 car with 136,000 and a 1999 with about 180,000. They run fine and we’ll keep them until they die.</p>
<p>My car is a 16 year old Volvo with 90,000 miles. It’s first 5 years, it was our family car; since then it’s been mine (commuting, errands, driving kids around while they were still home). I love the car, but there are several annoying things wrong with it and it’s beginning to develop some more costly problems. I’d love to find a new car, but everything I’ve tried is nowhere near as comfortable as my Volvo.</p>
<p>We have a 12 year old Volvo with 145,000 miles on it. It has always been serviced at the dealership where we bought it. We did NOT get a medal for our grill. With the amount we pay for service now…I think I’ll ask when I take it in next week for tie rod and AC work!</p>
<p>We have a Mitsubishi Diamante, 2002 with 225,000 miles, a Mitsubishi Galant 2005 with 127,000 miles, a Mitsubishi Eclipse 2005 with 158,000 miles and the “new” car, a pre-owned Mercedes C230, 2005 with 68,000 miles. Our previous 3 other Misubishi Galants all had close to 200, 000 miles. Husband used to travel on his job and passed the cars down the line in the family. OTOH, my 95 yr old aunt has a 1999 Misubishi Galant sitting in her driveway with only 12,000 miles on it! We want to buy it from her but she says it is therapy for her to look out the window and see it sitting there. We have replaced tires, wipers and batteries and borrow it every few months just to run it for a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>shellfell…I’m having the same problem. I love my Volvo…the 2000 S70SE. Of course, they don’t make that model anymore…and honestly, I don’t like the S60 all that much…and I certainly don’t like the $39.000 price tag!</p>
<p>We are half heartedly looking at cars…luckily we have three cars so if one dies, we’re ok. Well…at least until January when DD will be here again. </p>
<p>Oh well.</p>
<p>We’ve always bought used and driven to death. The car I drive right now was my grandmom’s, then my mom’s, now mine. It’s 17 years old but has only 135K miles (Grandmom didn’t drive a lot).</p>
<p>I do all the maintenance I should (as did they) and have had next to no problems.</p>
<p>But I have never owned a new car and I think after this one I may get one…and drive it forever, of course. I dread the car shopping part though. I hate the car buying process…new, used, whatever.</p>
<p>^^ Assuming you know what car you want to buy, buy your new car through either the internet sales department in between CC posts or through Costco/AAA/Credit Union or some other buying service. You never need to go through the salesperson dance, never even have to go to the dealer until you pick up the car (and some might even deliver it to you). The price will usually be better than you’ll get if you do the whole salesperson rigmarole, there’s substantially less hassle, and the whole experience is superior unless you enjoy talking to the sales people and spending hours at the dealership.</p>
<p>I second this ^^. I bought my Lexus (used) via a dealer’s internet sales department. I had driven exactly the same car at my local dealer, and ended up walking out because of the high-pressure sales job I was getting. I got online, found a dealer an hour away who had the same car and I called and closed the deal in 3 minutes, no joke. It was FABULOUS.</p>