Hi Clee. In january, I bought a 2002 Volvo S60 from McMillan and Saunders. The car was a 2.4 turbo, black exterior with leather interior and 17 inch alloys, 73,000kms and the end price I paid was $28,500.
I've had the car for 3000kms, 3 months, and have had a great experience so far. The only downsides have been a dipstick that was rusted in place (cost me $17 to replace it, it isn't covered by the approved used warranty.) . Also, I have a power locking gremlin which means that sometimes a lock that is opened manually will not lock automatically, unless you power unlock all the locks first and then power lock the car once more.
As well as the 5 year / 120,000 kms warranty that you get from Volvo as part of their certified used programme, for around $2000 you can extend it by another 2 years / 40,000kms, with $50 deductible.
So I got my April 2002 , 73,000kms car in Janury this year with bumper to bumper warranty coverage until April 2009, 160,000 kms.
As for the dealership itself, I'm reasonably happy with it. One thing I appreciated is that from the moment I walked in the door they treated me as a serious buyer, never even questioning my ability to afford anything I looked at. (this being suprising to me because I was 23, and told them I'd just moved to Canada so it would be pretty clear I had no credit rating).
I felt treated with respect and had no pressure from the salesman beyond him saying "This is a really nice car, do you want to test drive it?"
When I went to pick up the car I had a boo-boo. I went in a blizzard, and when paying for the car 2 weeks earlier I had specified winter tires and indeed paid $1200 for them.
When they broght the car out, it did not have those on. The service depertment was closed, and the storage area where the tires were was locked and the service deprtment manager unavailable to open it (him not being around because the department was closed)
They initially asked if I would drive home on the all-seasons (through the blizzard!!!) and come back later to have the winter tires put on. I was not impressed.
They then redeemed themselves to me. One of their mechanics dropped in for a social visit and they grabbed him, then a team of Volvo salesmen spent around 45 minutes picking the lock of the parts storage area!
FInally, I got my tires installed. Just as I was driving off the forecourt, I discovered that the widhsield washer fluid had frozen (they had put in -20 fluid and it was colder than that).
For no charge, they took the car back in, drained the fluid and replaced it with -40 fluid.
Finally, as I was about to drive off again, I managed to lose ALL but the spare keys to the car. The salesman I bought it from (Raymond, the chinese salesman in there) then spent about 15 minutes out in the snow with me before he finally discovered the keys wedged down the side of the seat, where they had fallen out of my coat pocket.
Anyway, all things considered, I was happy with the dealership. When they screwed up, they were nothing but helpful in solving it.
I like them enought that I drove my car all the way fron North York to Mississauga just to get the oild changed and summer tires put on there - I've had a good experience there and I'll stay with them for the next 4 years.
One thing is don't take the 2.4 non-turbo. 168 bhp and not enough torque for the weight. The 2.4turbo is very nice. It outs out 197 bhp, but has a ton of torque. Try taking it for a test drive and see! Of course, being a turbo you have to be more careful with the oil you use (synthetic!!!! ) and you need to wait a minute when starting and shuttting down the car for the turbo to spin up and down.
But I have no regrets with either the car or the dealership!!!
Plus, the 2.4 turbo comes with 8 speakers that put out very nice sound. If you can one with the top of the range 13-speaker system, all the better for you!!!!
(Message edited by skypoint on April 29, 2005)
