What's the service history like?
If the car has been regularly serviced and if the mileage isn't already starship mileage then it'll probably keep going mechanically as long as you want it to, but it'll cost you money to maintain it. (It's an old car.)
It is an old Volvo, however, so the body probably won't fall off the sub-frame in bits due to rust, unlike some German brands.
If the interior is in good order then that's also worth something.
If it's starting to spend more time off the road than on the road, however, then there's also a cost in terms of disruption.
If, however, you love the car, then that's also worth something.
If your budget is limited then your options are limited and sometimes it's better the devil that you know.
Let me tell you a story.....
Three years ago I sold on my 53 reg V70 D5 manual with 190K on the clock because of anticipated bills including clutch and cam belt service. Big mistake! Otherwise, the car was in excellent order and I should have kept it and had the work done. It's resale value would still have been very low, but it's value to me would have been immense.
Instead, I bought a 2009 Skoda Superb for £8.5K but hated it and sold it at a loss 3 months later, having had to replace the infotainment head unit before doing so.
Then I bought a 2009 Mondeo for £4K that I loved but which soon needed a new clutch, a cam belt service and a new air con condenser. Eventually, last April, I part-exchanged that, with 160K on the clock and for very little money, for a 64-reg V70 D4 SE Lux Auto, which I love.
The moral of the story is that in order to avoid spending money on my old V70 I poured huge amounts of money into two costly ventures that emptied my wallet and that yielded no real benefit apart from persuading me that I needed to own a Volvo again.
A wiser man would have kept the old V70 and traded that in last year for the new one, and would also have had the spare cash for a nice holiday or three.
I'll probably keep the new V70 until it hits 300K miles and then think about it, depending upon how tired the seats etc. are.
The real question to answer, and this is irrespective of age and mileage, is "Is it a good car?". It's a hard question to answer correctly, so if you can't answer this yourself, then perhaps a non-franchised Volvo specialist would be kind enough to offer you an honest opinion.
The one that I trust is Horton Cars in Oakley, Bucks.
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