1996 850 Should I buy?

marklar · Post by **marklar** » 08 Feb 2014, 20:36

Hey everyone,

I'm new to Volvos and also this site so I hope I'm posting in the right area. I'm currently looking at a few different 850's and I wanted to get some opinions from some vetern volvo owners. So it's four different 850's in my area that look promising and I'll give some bullet points to each.

#1. '96 850 sedan platinum edition.

110k miles
3k asking price
Leather is in bad condition
10k miles before timing belt is due
Car seems to be all stock w/Pegasus rims
Exterior is in good condition, a couple of dings
Owner got it from an auction and doesn't know the cars history

#2. '96 850r black sedan

180k miles
3k asking price
He hasn't sent interior pics
Exterior seems to be clean w/nice bbs wheels
Owner is a mechanic at a volvo dealership and the owner before him was also a mechanic and he passed away, and he's apparently the person who applied the following mods
19t turbo, 3" exhaust, no catalytic converter. And an ard ecu.
Trans was just rebuilt with rear main seal replaced and a new timing belt.

#3. '94 850 white turbo wagon

100k miles
4k asking price (dealer)
Immaculate condition and all stock

#4. '96 850 white turbo sedan

100k miles
4300 asking price
Heavily modified
Manual transmission swap
Right rear body damage
The mods honestly worry me with this one because its up to an ARd blue tune but he didn't list upgrading the connecting rods, and he obviously beat on the car pretty hard.

The prices are American dollars, and I listed them in order of my interest. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I don't know anyone personally who knows anything about Volvos and I've fallen in love with these 850's the more research I've done, I'd love to own one but I'm not in any hurry.

Post by **matthew1** » 08 Feb 2014, 20:42

Are you good with a wrench? Have a garage to park/work on her?

Without knowing much about you I'd say #3 '94 850 white turbo wagon w/ 100k miles. Especially if you have service records.

Welcome to MVS.

marklar · Post by **marklar** » 08 Feb 2014, 20:54

I don't have tools or a garage, I'm 24 and just got divorced, I have my daughter half the time so I'm trying to get into cars because I've always wanted to and now I have alot of free time, Im airforce so there's a DIY garage on base, thanks for the input, I was beliving that to be the safest choice as well. If I got 1 or 3 I'd like to eventually mod it to between 250-280 horsepower.

Post by **rspi** » 08 Feb 2014, 21:05

marklar wrote:I don't have tools or a garage...

Yikes!!!

On #1 maybe offer $1,800 after doing a AutoCheck to make sure it doesn't have an accident history.

#2: Check compression. Price seems a little high with dings.

#3: Maybe $3,000.

#4: Check compression, sounds high if it has body damage.

If you are not a DIY kind of guy, I do NOT recommend buying a Volvo 850. They are old and do need lots of TLC to keep them happy.

Post by **matthew1** » 08 Feb 2014, 22:07

If you can spend time at the DIY place on base, and there's tools there, maybe buy one of these. Tread cautiously. If I were you, I'd have two cars. One of these on this list, and a little Toyota as a backup.

marklar · Post by **marklar** » 08 Feb 2014, 22:24

I have an '05 honda crv, which I was going to hold onto until I was confident that I wouldn't get stranded by whatever I do get, then sell it.

Post by **matthew1** » 08 Feb 2014, 22:26

Bingo.

Post by **erikv11** » 08 Feb 2014, 23:11

matthew1 wrote:Bingo.

Agreed.

#2 is more fun, #3 is safer. I like wagons but I don't like 94s.

I wouldn't look at #1 or #4.

If you are near Warner Robins, send me a PM and I can suggest habitual Volvo flipper in that area who is trustworthy. He doesn't bother with faulty cars and has a good eye, you can't go wrong giving him a call.

marklar · Post by **marklar** » 09 Feb 2014, 01:41

It seems like the consensus is that the "platinum" version is not a good choice. The reason I liked it so much is because they are rare. Is them being rare not reason enough to buy one that has an unknown past and terrible leather? I thought that at 110,000 miles it would be a safe bet, and the timing belt was done at 60k which shows the previous owner cared since he did it early, but then again the bad leather shows otherwise, I'm just curious why it's not getting any love.

Post by **Matty Moo** » 09 Feb 2014, 05:20

I wouldn't pass on the Platinum. If it has bad leather that probably means it has the tan leather, your chances of finding any volvo from that era with good tan leather is slim to none. Just get a set of seats from the JY.

Timing belt is easy enough, it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.