Driving my 1993 850 for 33 years

[93ForMe]

I was just giving my 93 Volvo 850 a tune-up today and I started wondering if anybody out there has been driving an 850 as long as I have? I started driving mine the first or second week of January 1993. It is still going strong and I have absolutely no interest in getting a different car. For me the 850 is perfection. It does have its strange 93 850 quirks, but so far I've been able to roll with them. ODB2 would be nice, but there is something fun about pushing buttons and counting flashing lights to diagnose problems

[abscate]

That is awesome! drop some pictures in this thread ! I bet it is blue...

[93ForMe]

Here are a couple of pictures from the last year. It is actually black, with black interior. It is a manual, so I never had to worry about transmission repairs, although I did burn out a clutch when I was learning to drive it back when it was still under warranty

[abscate]

Stone black 019 with the M56 - very nice.

I have extra doors if ever needed. I can bring them as checked luggage, I think .

[matthew1]

Here are a couple of pictures from the last year. It is actually black, with black interior. It is a manual, so I never had to worry about transmission repairs, although I did burn out a clutch when I was learning to drive it back when it was still under warranty

beautiful

[93ForMe]

I appreciate the offer, abscate! Over the years I have stocked up on 93/94 non-turbo parts from junkyards, in the hopes that if something goes wrong, I can keep in going. For a while there were so many, almost untouched. These days they few and far between in junkyards near me.

It has been parked on the street for its entire life, so the paint is beginning to fade a bit. I am thinking about getting it repainted to celebrate its next 33 years...

It has been hit three times while parked in front of my house. There has never been a note left, but plenty of glass from the other car, and very little damage to mine. I have also been in two accidents with it while I was driving. For one of them I was stopped at a stop light for over 15 seconds before I was rear ended, and the other one was stopped at a stop sign, where I was rear ended

[BlackBart]

You must have bought it new? I recall getting a glossy postcard from the Seattle dealer in 1994, inviting us to the showing of the new '94 wagon! We went and sat in it and said, wow, could we ever afford something like this?

Now it's old.

[93ForMe]

My Dad was a bit of a car guy and he bought it new. He had an 1986 740 at the time. He was really excited about the 850, especially the front wheel drive because Boston had a lot of snow in the winter. When we picked it up, it was going to be his new car, and I was going to inherit the 740, as I was just learning to drive.

I wanted to visit some friends, I was a teenager and I was going to drive with another teenager as a passenger. My Dad thought about the 740's driver side only airbag, and the 850's driver and passenger airbags, and he said "why don't you take the 850?". I was terrified. It was brand new. I was very, very careful and brought it back without a scratch.

The next week, parked right in front of the Volvo Dealership and right under the dealership sign was an 850 that was totally obliterated from the front bumper to the windshield, just absolutely crushed. It looked like whatever happened, there was no way that there were any survivors. We went in and asked what was going on with it. They told us that they wanted people to see it. A teenager ( like myself at the time ) was driving 55 MPH and had a head on collision with truck going the other direction. The teenager walked away without any real injuries, and it was a testament to the Volvo 850's safety standards.

After that, every time I wanted to drive somewhere ( which was a lot, as I was Seventeen ) my Dad said "Why don't you take the 850". This happened until I moved away to college, and I was ready to take the 740, and my Dad said "Why don't you take the 850", which I did. He kept driving the 740 until 2006, when he bought a BMW 325i, which he drove until he passed away in 2021 at 93 years of age.

I've been driving the 850 ever since

[matthew1]

^ One of the greatest personal Volvo stories written here in the nearly 25 years of MVS. What a dad you were blessed with. I have a son who now has his license and I get all of this.

[93ForMe]

Thank you for that matthew1. I do believe that one of the reasons that I still so enjoy to drive and maintain my 850 after all these years is that it is a constant reminder of my Father's love