Why does a volvo s80 t6 have terrible suspension?

I purchased a 2003 volvo s80 t6 with 120 000 kms on the clock. Soon i noticed that the car seemed to rattle and it has a hard suspension. The car does not handle or feel like a prestige car. The noise it makes on the road surface is irritating. Is this common to these cars?|||The stiff suspension is a by-product of handling so you can feel the road better,


The rattling is probably your sway bar link rods or your strut mount bushings and bearings.


another common suspension issue on these is the control arm bushings.


One last unrelated thing check your timing belt for cracks.|||I don't know what some of these people are talking about, but they must have owned some pretty crappy cars if they think suspension failure is part of normal wear and tear with such low mileage. All of my Volvos have been more than a decade old with over 100k miles and never had to have suspension work done. The suspension on the '89 got sqeaky and soft approaching 200k miles, but that was it. If your Volvo is making clunking noises and you don't feel it's riding properly, something suspension related is probably worn out. Don't take it to the dealership. Find a good independent shop that does suspension work. I hope for your sake its something silly and cheap.|||An S80 T6 does not have terrible suspension. If it rattles and doesn't handle properly it means some of the suspension components are worn. This is common with ANY car. There are links, joints and bushings that will wear over time.





Just looks like you got taken and bought a car without checking it out first.





Someone else mentioned shocks (struts), and they are wrong. It's very uncommon to have to replace shocks. However, it is common to replace normal wear items like control arm bushings, sway bar links, spring seats (strut mounts) ,etc, all of which can make noise and affect handling.|||So-called "performance" car with associated stiff suspension? Think about it. As for the rattles, that's Volvo's crappy engineering and shoddy assembly.|||Volvos commonly have the struts give out which causes the ride to be rough and noisy. Visit a suspension or a brake service place. I think it will cost you about 1000 though, so look around.