thinking about buying a volvo Topic is solved

maybevolvo · Post by **maybevolvo** » 26 Aug 2004, 16:58

My little brother just crashed our family beater... Im thinking about buying a 850 wagon for hauling stuff around... Im kinda on a tight budget... so Im looking at a little bit higher mileage cars... Now a few questions
1. How is the reliability after 130,150,170,200k miles? What should I expect to break in that period
2. How hard is it do the work on a volvo compared to other cars ( its a FWD so thats a bit complicated then my ) Im familiar with doing all the basic stuff on my bmw ( susp, basic engine stuff )
3. Whats a good year to buy Im looking at spending max 6k USD

Thanks for you help.
Tom

potroast · Post by **potroast** » 26 Aug 2004, 19:19

I'd look for a 94 w/sunroof or 95. Those years were after the inital development "public test" (first models) and they're before they got complicated with obd2 service resets and such.

As for reliability it's like anything else -- depends on how it was maintained. A well-maintained 850 should have zero problems seeing 250k or more miles. I have a 93 854 w/164k and a 94 855 w/88k and the93 with double the miles runs just as great as the 94 -- if that helps you in feeling better about mileage.

As for what needs to be replaced, it depends on the mileage and what the previous owner did and did not do. Timing belts every 50k miles on 93/94 850's and 70k on 95+ 850s. Tranny flush every 20k on all autos. Serpentine belt is 90k I believe.

check the suspension before you buy. Namely the ball joints, tie rod ends, cv boots, struts, etc. The 93 balljoints are seperate (very nice) but the 94+ ball joints are 1-piece, which is more costly because you have to replace the entire a-arm.

Would you be performing your own maintenance or would you need a shop? If you will do your own maintenance, these are not expensive cars. However, a shop will make it expensive.

Despite their safe drive and persona as a womans grocery-getter, a Volvo 850 is a sports car at heart, and the engine and such are gonna need attention as such. Certainly nothing major... but don't expect to abuse it like you could a Toyota Camry and have it bounce back.

I have noticed that getting a fun "agressive" drive in every now and then helps my 850's to run much better. Just kinda need to get it out of em, lol.

Post by **matthew1** » 26 Aug 2004, 21:55

I agree with most of what potroast said. I'd say the sweet spot is 96-97 from what I've read and from owning my 97. Buy an 850 if you want a safe, good-looking, powerful (the turbos are anyway) car that's easy to work on.

BTW, "854" means 850 4-door, and 855 is likewise an 850 5-door, or wagon.

If you stay away from getting your hands dirty with cars, you may want to look to Japanese brands.

I had my 850 out last nite (don't drive much, take the bus to work mostly) and it was just 'singing.' These turbo engines are simply powerful. I'm always amazed. 850s are such a great value now that they're a few years old. I want an 855 turbo to go with the sedan now.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 26 Aug 2004, 22:00

Hm well for my sprinted driving I have my M3

The volvo is gonna be out family car and being that I dont want to look at something ugly in my driveway I decided to take the iniciative and buy a car that we all could drive for sking trip and such...

I do all my maintenance myself on my cars and have access to all the equipment at a local body shop thats owned by a friend of mine. How expencive are the parts? Does the dealer have them in stock? I kinda expect paying ALOT for german parts.. at least bmw always charges an arm and a leg for them...

Tom

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 26 Aug 2004, 22:08

Another thing that came to my mind, The car will be used for :grocery shopping:

so Im not sure if Im willing to pay any extra for the Turbo How does the turbo matter when it comes to reliability? Im guessing it shortens the life of the engine ( compression wise ) by how much?

Tom

TAFinley · Post by **TAFinley** » 26 Aug 2004, 22:20

I have a '97 850 T-5. It's the best car I've ever owned. I had been taking it to the dealer for service for a while because it was originally a leased vehicle. The only problem I ever had with it was that it needed a new alternator at 1200 miles (covered on warranty).

Potroast is correct about maintenance. If you find one that has been well maintained, you shouldn't have many problems.

Mine is now 7 years old and I'm doing a good bit of maintenance for the first time. This summer, I've replaced the front brake rotors, brake pads all around, serpentine belt, timing belt, upper engine torsion bushing, and recharged the A/C. I still need to change the coolant and transmission fluid. Don't let this scare you off - this is maintenance, not problems. The car has been trouble-free since day one and doing this stuff ensures that it will continue to be so.

Also, I will tell you that I have done all this myself and none of it was very difficult because of all the info I got from this site and its links to other helpful sites.

One thing you'll find about Volvo ownership is that Volvo owners are passionate about their cars. If you want to know how to do any sort of obscure repair to your Volvo, there's probably a link on a website that will give you detailed instructions. I've known many people who own other vehicles (that are "higher-rated" than Volvos) who can't find much servicing info on the web.

C'mon. Join the club. We're here and we'll help you.

Post by **matthew1** » 26 Aug 2004, 22:43

I'd get the turbo any day. Long long gone are the days when turbos were detrimental to engines... well Volvo anyway. I can't remember reading about a turbo going bad on any 850/70, and this is in ~4 years of reading 850 owners' posts on this and other forums.

You're not going to pay a premium for a turbo (there were many made -- they're not rare at all) vs. NA 850, and they're not a maintainance concern, so why not?

And did I mention they're fast?

petershen1984 · Post by **petershen1984** » 11 Sep 2004, 08:55

I have a question - since Turbos are spinned at the exhaust stage of the stroke cycle, what does it actually feel like to have a turbo lag? Is it a delay between depressing accelerator and getting a boost?