'98 Volvo S90 as a first car?

My coworker came to me as the resident "car guy" to ask my opinion.  He was looking at cheap cars online for his daughter, 16 and temps for the last 4-6 months I guess.

Said he found a Volvo over the weekend fairly cheap, wondered what I thought of them.  I said I don't know a lot about them, but I do know they're fairly bullet-proof and are tanks.  It sounded like a great first car for a teen!

I looked it up online, interior looks nice if everything works, looks like at least two brands of tires but maybe just front pai and rear pair.  Body not bad for a '98, a few dings and scratches.  Moonroof, heated seats, 122k miles.  $2395 and it's been there awhile. I suggested offering $2k and see what happens.

Was I correct?  Good deal for a new driver?

GOTta be better than my grandmas hand me down 84 Chevy cavalier.  86 hp and a non od 3spd automatic. Woooo

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

It looks better than my '77 Grand Prix in 1985.  Heated seats?  Moonroof?  CD player?  I would have been a baller back then.

My mom had two Volvo’s, a 740 and 850. Never left her stranded but a lot of small issues with them. AC were a major problem area. 

This was the last iteration of the fabled rear-drive 900 series.  Tried-and-true 4-speed Aisin automatic.  Prolly the 2.9 inline six.  Good solid structure.  Excellent outward visibility.   Looks to be fairly well-kept.  Exactly the sort of car I'd want my kid driving.  Not sure about all the "little" stuff that could go wrong, but seems an excellent choice.

Speedo inop, seat heaters inop, weird havc noise when cold, trim panels falling off/ loose and ac was expensive to repair. But it always got her were she needed to go. Indestructible drivetrain. Well designed crash protection 

That Volvo does look clean. 

I do wonder, "is the parent ready for 20 year old Volvo ownership?"  This is no longer a "common car" since this '98 model was the final year run of a vehicle first launched in 1990.  Part are readily available but may have more parts needs that other more common cars.  

I second wonder, "is the teen ready for a 20 year old Volvo?"  For this 16 year old driver, this 20 year old car is "older than the beginning of time."  At least older than the kid has been alive.  The kid may be more respectful of something about 10 years old.  Sure, you can say the kid should just be grateful but there is a reality that they may not be.  

My go-to recommendations for teen drivers are Solara and Scion TC as a way to get a bargain on what is essencially a 2dr Camry. 

Pontiac Vibe can also be a bargain way to get a Corolla wagon.  

FWD, Impala based Chevy Monte Carlos can also be cheaper than the same Impala.  

It's an interference engine, and the timing belt should be replaced every ~100K miles or 5 years whichever comes first.  If there isn't irrefutable proof of the timing belt having been done, that should be a priority.  Budget for timing belt tensioner, idler pulley, and water pump all at the same time.

Should be a fine car.

I had a couple of early '90s 4 door Grand Prix as my first couple of cars, with a Jeep Wrangler, thrown in the mix, and eventually got a hand-me-down Volvo 850 during grad school that lasted me close to 15 years.  It'll be a fine first car as long as it's not neglected too bad.

I've had 3 Volvo 960s (what the S90 used to be called). They are good solid cars that are a good used car value...if they are not completely ragged out. Things this car will probably need UNLESS you have documentation that they have been replaced: timing belt/tensioner/maybe water pump too (interference engine), front control arms or just the bushings, maybe the climate control board will need resoldering-if the a/c works as it should it is probably good. Of course you're gonna want to service the trans filter/fluid. They are nice driving cars (IRS) that will get around 17/25 mpg. Pretty easy to work on as cars go.
 

The big things I found through 900 Volvo ownership is that parts were largely available online only and that it was hard to get parts right now.

I am not sure how much that matters to a non DIYer.

Thanks for the input guys, I'll pass along the recommendations on service stuff to check/have done.

That thing looks pretty good..  I wouldn't expect to never work on it, so i think John Welsh asked the right question. My experience maintaining a slightly newer Volvo up to 230k (so far) has been that the big parts are great and the little parts are annoying.