2000-2003 Volvo advice?

I found a guy who's a retired dealer who gets quite a few Volvo trades. Various models but several in the '00-'03 range.

He told me manuals are hard to come by but not impossible. Autos are much more prevalent (duh!).

What would you guys look for in a Volvo of this vintage? Cars I'd expect to be right in the $3,000 area. Any nightmares? Any gems? Automatics are crap etc?

I think I had a thread similar to this but I wanted to weed out earlier and later models in the discussion.

Thanks guys for putting up with me and my ADD (I'm in love with Golfs remember?)

Edit: this is to be a reliable appliance with safety, durability and maybe a very small nod to fun (shhhhhhhhhhh.....)

Read your other thread, and the paragraphs I wrote there.

• Lee

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

Thanks, I'm gonna look for it. I'm afraid that one is very similar to this one and I'm gonna make the higher-ups angry!

Ooh I just found it. It IS very similar. I forgot about that thread. Sorry guys. (But feel free to post here if you missed the last one!)

2001 v70 and s60 auto transmissions have a very high failure rate.