Plan A should address both discounts & extended warranties.
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With a replacement engine, would the trade in value of you bought any car at any dealer be around $3k? If so, the $5k trade in for a Volvo that you would not keep long term does not seem good, since such a replacement $30+k Volvo would likely depreciate more than $2k or even $5k over the next few years.
If I were in this situation, I would take the replacement engine, then take my time shopping for whatever car I really want, even if it may mean waiting for a few years for a new model of any brand.
Hmm I canāt imagine a private sale with a new engine wouldnāt get you well in excess of $5k since itās listed for well over $5k with many models that presumably have older engines.
That said not all are comfortable selling privately from a safety or convenience factor.
If you go new and buy an extended warranty, then make sure you find out the msrp. Many dealers try to sell ELWs for multiples of MSRP. Iāve seen some sell for 350%. If you 3 year lease you wonāt need a warranty behind the standard.
Thatās why car dealership finance managers do very very well. The link is set up for 2012 s60 nationwide.
Wellā¦as noted aboveā¦I would be honest and disclose that this is the second of the SAME engine in the car. It wouldnāt Net me a lot of money. The warranty on the engine does not pass to a new owner (I already know that).
The car you listed had 75,000 miles on itā¦and mine has 126,000 or so. And the list you have is by small auto dealersā¦who usually get more than a private sale anyway.
I doubt I could get much for it.
I donāt want to sell this car with a second new engine privately. I knowā¦I wouldnāt buy it under those circumstances!
Addingā¦Iām expecting Volvo to give me their extended warranty at no cost. I think thatās reasonable. It will only cost them money if there are car issues, right!
Oh I thought it was 60k. That was the 2nd engine. Duh.
To me if you can afford you should go new because of safety. Iām fortunate but my son is in new wheels each 12 months so always a safety laden vehicle.
Of course affordability is different person to person. Note maintenance on new high end vehicles is also through the roof cost wise.
Itās clear safety is important to you. Technology is constantly being updated.
I agree with taking the new engine. What you need to do is look at the depreciation of your options over 3-4 years or however long you plan to hold the car.
You can likely sell or trade your current car + new engine in a few years for at least 2-3k. Any other new car would probably take about 10-15k in depreciation over that same timeframe. If there was a car youāre excited about then the depreciation would be worth it, but it sounds like thereās not.
Volvo is moving heavily into SUVs (as are most manufacturers) so I suspect you might end up in something else in a few years. I definitely hear you on not wanting any type of SUV or crossover - we drove one for 20 years when our D was growing up, but now as empty nesters we have zero interest in anything other than small sedans.
As an aside, in terms of value the new engine is probably 10-15k. Maybe around 8-10k for the engine itself (assuming a new and not rebuilt v6) and another 3-4k for labor to install. Usually needing a new engine is the kiss of death for an older car and youāre fortunate Volvo is standing behind their warranty, although admittedly it sounds like thereās some sort of design flaw with the engine if they keep self-destructing with such low mileage.
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Yesā¦and this is going to be part of my discussion with them. They would be putting the same year engine in as a replacementā¦.because it was the last year this engine was made. That doesnāt instill confidence in me!
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You may want to ask on some Volvo or S60 forums about known engine failures and whether there is anything that can be done to avoid them (either repair / modification, or how to drive it).
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This is a known Volvo issue on āsomeā engines made during a period of time. There is nothing that can be done to avoid this. Recommendation for synthetic oil changes is every 10,000 miles and we have consistently done these changes at 5000ā¦I think that helped us along the way.
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We left our Highlander hybrid in Maine after we built a garage at the cabin this summer, so we needed a car in AZ and just went through @thumper1ās calculus two weeks ago. Even though we were planning on buying either a used EV or Prius Prime (pluggable hybrid), we went with a new Camry hybrid. Iām still shaking my head a bit (we never buy new), but here goes the logic:
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We have whole-house solar on our AZ home, and our electric provider will install the car charger at no cost (via rebate).
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We have been wanting to go all EV for years (and absolutely will eventually).
BUT:
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Every single low-mileage used EV and hybrid available to us currently is within $5K of the MSRP on a new car!!! No such thing as a real deal on an acceptable used car in this category.
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No such thing as a used Prius Prime. There is an order/wait. And itās just plain ugly (IMO). We drove one in Maine that had not been prepped yet for its buyer, and Iāve been a passenger in others. I feel like Iām sitting in a bucket, and itās just too small to act as our primary car. Even though this car was number one on our list for the ability to drive all-electric around town with the convenience of gas for longer distances, we just didnāt want to wait and pay sticker for a car that isnāt big enough.
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We keep eyeing Tesla, but weāre not willing to pay that much for a car.
Like @thumper1 wanting to stick with her brand, we stick with ours. Also like @thumper1, we view this purchase as temporary until EVs hit the balance weāre looking for, especially as Toyota is teasing about a 700-mile battery before 2026.
So, given the cost of used vs. new Toyotas, we decided the difference was negligible and reluctantly caved on a new Camry XLE hybrid that was on the lot in the trim kit we would have ordered had we needed to. Out the door, it was less than the Prius Prime, gets 48-50 MPG and, given that we will only be driving it 6-7 months a year in AZ winter weather, it could potentially last us 20 years, plenty of time to ride comfortably and efficiently while we wait for better EV range and technology. I donāt care about safety.
Thatās my justification, and Iām sticking to it. 
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The Camry hybrid would probably be on my list if I wasnāt getting something from Volvo. Itās not like I want to stick to this brand, but my current car has zero value right nowā¦and to get the best ātrade inā volvo is where I need to be.
Plusā¦I do really like my S60 and the newer ones are even nicer.
Addingā¦we donāt take the 2012 on longer drives anymore. It might be nice to have a car I feel confident driving further than the grocery storeā¦if I want to!
Stay tuned. This is a work in progress!
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If it were me, I would not want to sink any money into another Volvo, so I would get the new engine ā but get car shopping soonish for a non-Volvo replacement.
If you buy a Volvo now, even with the $5,000 discount, and then get an EV in 3-5 years, I donāt see any way that isnāt going to cost you more money.
But keep an open mind for deals and thinking outside the box.
My spouse and I had a pattern, where each of us kept a vehicle for 10 years and then got a new one on an alternating basis (so every 5 years the āhouseholdā got a new car). Early in the pandemic, my spouse was due for a new car and the plan was to give his old car to our teen.
But as I started shopping, I realized that at the time (no one shopping), dealers were heavily discounting brand new vehicles. Little did I know there would be a shortage later! Without the ability to do a lot of indoor shopping and test drives, my spouse did not want to commit to a purchase. We were also mulling over EVs, etc. And working from home, etc., we were hardly driving anyway.
I ended up finding a decently ranked but not luxury sedan for $18,000 and bought a brand new vehicle for our lucky teen! To our shock, it actually went UP in value the year after we purchased it!
And now at the end of 2023, my spouse is STILL driving his 2010 and I am still driving my 2015, my kid has a 2020 with only 10,000 miles on it and our old schedule is out the window.
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BMW had something similar with certain 4-cylinder engines and the timing chain. The guides were prone to breaking and destroying the engine.
IIRC BMWās solution was pretty terrible. Something like extending the warranty but not by very much. Owners had to pay to replace/update the defective parts on their own dime if their engines didnāt explode during the warranty period.
@CMA22 thats part of our calculation. My husband is driving a v60 with 120,000 miles on it. Itās also the only car we use for longer trips (like to see our families who live OOS). That car is a 2016ā¦and isnāt going to last forever for those long trips either. It will be replaced sometime in the next not so many years. And maybe that one will be our EV purchase, and my car will be the ICE car.
We definitely do not want to be replacing two cars at the same time!
But I need to see whatās out there at volvo and that starts in about 30 minutes!
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Carvana bought our sonās Mustang GT for exactly what he paid for it two years prior. 
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Fwiw, since I found myself advocating for new, when we replaced an older car this summer, there were 2 things that might be relevant to you.
The first was that DH realized he had let that old car limit his activities to āshort-range.ā So we would only travel further if we were together and could take my vehicle. Heād become so accused to this self-imposed limitation that he didnāt realize he had it! The first time he had the opportunity to do something alone that was a 6 hour drive away after he had a new car, he hesitated and then realized that his "impediment " was gone. For the record, this old car ran fine, had never broken down, any had been serviced - he just didnāt fully trust it!
The second is that while we had a couple of people express interest in his old car, they were all people we knew would find a big repair a hardship, and frankly, we just felt bad thinking about that. We knew that the struts had limited life in them, that brake work would probably be needed soon, that new tires were needed, etc. Given your carās history and the person you seem to be, I understand the reluctance. (I have a car with 200,000+ miles I can sell in good conscience, so itās not general resistance to private sales.)
Lastly, my 200,00+ mile car is in mint condition, but the value on it is dropping quickly per those reports the dealer and carfax send. So your old car, repaired, is likely to experience the same. You seem pretty savvy about depreciate on old and new cars, but pointing that out.
Looking forward to hearing about your outing.
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I sold one of my previous Volvo sedans to a friendā¦with a clear conscience. It was over 10 years old and had over 200,000 miles on it. A 2000 S70ā¦and they drove it another 30,000 miles or so. I got $2000 cash for it in 2011.
This carā¦ack. I wouldnāt want to sell it privately to a stranger from across the countryā¦which makes me wonder why I would want to keep it!
And yesā¦my 2012 hasnāt been on a trip other than local ones for years.
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Youād want to keep it because a) better the devil you know ā¦ or b) you canāt or donāt want to swing the cost of a new car.
Those are really the only two reasons, right?
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@thumper1 - quick thought if you decide to have the new engine put in. At the end of the vehicleās life (to you) you can donate it for a tax deduction, in any condition. We recently donated a 2000 Ford Windstar that was literally being held together with duct tape. We could never have sold it on the open market or traded it in. It had no emergency brake, 120k miles, no windshield wiper reservoir, the roof was rusted and leaked rain/carwash water, the passenger window no longer opened or closed, the engine blown, and more. We donated it to a local public radio station we support. The minimum donation receipt weād get was $500. We called, filled out a form, they came the next day and flatbedded her away. 5 weeks later we got a āthank you for your donationā letter with a tax receiptā¦she was sold at auction for $1,500! So thatās our donation deduction. She wasnāt even worth the $500! Iād bet your Volvo would sell at auction even higher.
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