At $8,900, Does This 1998 Volvo V70 T5M Got It Going On?

While today’s Nice Price or No Dice Volvo has over 230K on the clock, the rebuilt five-pot under its hood has only done 1K of that. Let’s see what this uber-cool wagon might just bring in cold, hard cash.

A Small and Overpriced (for Volvo’s Target Audience) EV is Coming

At $25,000, yesterday’s 1993 Honda del Sol TransTop was priced at the very tippy-top of the market for such cars. A set of aftermarket tail lamp housings and arguably gauche wheels detracted from its ability, however, to live up to that status. That was the opinion voiced in both the comments and in the 98 percent no Dice loss the car suffered.

OK, I’m just going to start the discussion of today’s 1998 Volvo V70 T5M with the most salient of details: this is a manual-equipped turbo wagon with what the seller claims is a 300-horsepower rebuilt motor. Yeah.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s a wagon?

Look, I know we just had a Volvo just a couple of days ago, but this V70… (insert Samual L. Jackson saying dammmmmn). The only things this car seems to be lacking are the fold-up third row and Haldex AWD, although the seller mitigates the latter’s absence by noting that the FWD car is made 400 pounds lighter by turning only two wheels.

While the car has 236,100 miles on the clock, a substantial amount of it, including the suspension, exhaust, and the 2.5-liter DOHC five pot under the hood, have all been refreshed. Along with the rebuild, the engine has been chipped to make those 300 ponies. Receipts for all that work will be included in the sale.

The result is a car that the seller describes as being “fully restored.” According to the ad, that restoration was a homebrew, but the seller claims to be a mechanic with 40 years of experience, so it’s probably not a Mickey Mouse rebuild. They seem to be pretty confident in their work, and the engine bay definitely shows some care was expended on the finished product.

The car surrounding that looks pretty good, too, with factory Ferrari-red paint and C70 BBS alloys sprucing things up. The bodywork presents well and is claimed to be rust-free and to have lived its life snoozing in the garage when not called into action.

The interior shows the car’s mileage, although it’s pretty good for a ’90s Volvo. Most of the upholstery is intact and, honestly, in pretty decent shape. Only the driver’s throne shows any serious wear and will require attention lest it be allowed to get worse. Everything save for the shift knob (which is still from another Volvo) is original in there. There are no CELs or alarming gauge readings, and the car comes with the OEM tool to reset the maintenance reminders.

Per the ad, the engine has just 1,000 miles since its rebuild. That’s not even fully broken in yet and will probably require its next owner to plan on an oil change soon after taking possession. Of course, that will mean popping the car in the driveway for an afternoon rather than enjoying it out on the road, an unfortunate sacrifice.

Another sacrifice is the $8,900 the seller is asking for this clean-title car. That’s up there for a V70 of this age that doesn’t have an “R” at the end of its name, but then, this is a pretty uniquely kitted and seemingly smartly refreshed edition, so we may have to adjust our expectations.