Buying Help - 94 850 Turbo 157K miles

[Lucasszy]

Newbie to the forum, not to older cars. Member of Fiat, Chevy Caprice, and Lotus 7 owners and modifiers clubs.

Recently I saw a gorgeous 850 turbo for sale near my house and was hoping to get some insight on what are the things to look for as well as general tips on Volvo Ownership.

Some questions:

1. Is the 850 Turbo a reliable car? I've already read up that they are great little cars and reliable, but I'd like some further verification.
2. What are the main things to look for when buying one of these? Chevy's have bad starters, Fiats have crappy electrical, what about volvos?
3. What are thing that I should replace right off, or hope to have already been replaced.
4. What are the general prices for parts (general maintenance as well as repair parts)
5. Any other tidbits that may be recommended or recommended reading.

thanks in advance and I'm glad to be here!

Lucas

[Ozark Lee]

Some questions:

1. Is the 850 Turbo a reliable car? I've already read up that they are great little cars and reliable, but I'd like some further verification.
2. What are the main things to look for when buying one of these? Chevy's have bad starters, Fiats have crappy electrical, what about volvos?
3. What are thing that I should replace right off, or hope to have already been replaced.
4. What are the general prices for parts (general maintenance as well as repair parts)
5. Any other tidbits that may be recommended or recommended reading.

thanks in advance and I'm glad to be here!

Lucas

1: Yes, very reliable. They have little performance issues with sensors and vacuum lines and such but they will get you home darned near every time.

2: The same things go wrong with all of them. The glove box won't open. The odometer doesn't work. The AC evaporator is blown. The AC accumulator rusted out at the bottom. The heater core is leaking. The headliner material on the sunroof shade is unglued. The cabin blower resistor is blown. The spring seats fail. The magnets fall off of the speakers....

If all of that stuff works at 157k then it has likely been fixed already and you are good to go.

3: On a "late" '94, other than the obvious stuff make dang sure the timing belt was changed at 140 k miles. If not change it immediately. If it is an "early" '94 make sure the belt was changed at 100 k or 150 k miles and, if the last was at 100, you need to change the timing belt immediately. If it is a "late" model '94 and it was changed around 140 k miles you are good to go until 210 k miles assuming the water pump and idlers were changed at 140 k.

4: Parts are more expensive than a Chevy but a heck of a lot less than a Porsche (Trust me, I know). The local auto parts chain stores are worthless for Volvo parts and what few parts they claim will work will cause you more problems than they will fix. Don't even buy an oil filter from them. If you buy the car, FCP Groton - link at the top of the page - is your friend. I've also used eeuroparts.com. Cruise the FCP site for relative pricing to get a feel for parts pricing.

5: Check out the repair database here, it covers virtually everything.

The only thing I can add is that when they are right they are a blast to drive and they sip gas relative to the performance.

...Lee

[matthew1]

Welcome, Lucas.

OL covered it precisely, judging by my experiences.

Here's a big old thread with the pros/cons and weak spots in Volvos:
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/chat/p ... php?t=1871