I am considering buying my cousin's 97, or 98 Volvo 850 Turbo, she is asking for about US$ 8300.. loaded with everything... i dont know about the mileages.. i am out fo the country right now.. so haven't decided until i can test drive it in mid July.

Anyways, what i love about the car. hmmm turbo, and i think it has 240hp? .. and i know its weird, but i always kind of liked the 850. I will take it only after i test drive it and if the mileage is around 80k km.. i am guesing they didn't drive this car much because they left this car in the garage for the past two years... anyways.. any experience and things i should look for when I go test drive this beast ?


Thanx guys..

 

do u really want a volvo? and...do u really think because its a volvo turbo its quick....

im just kiddin volvo's are awesome because they are so safe.. i wouldnt want one though

 

my wife owns a 95 850. car strengths are bulletproof engine and trans. very good body structure and hardware. Was rear ended, almost no damage to bumper. incredible seats. although styling often criticized, ages well. see many cues being borrowed. if you squint you see similarities between it and current avalon. parts and service more affordable than other euro marques. weaknesses are numerous but all minor. interior trim pieces fail. electrical system causes most problems. ask owner if things like ignition switch, emission sensor, etc. have been replaced. drives so much different than anything asian. this is a car to own long term. worlds record held by a volvo, over 1.2 million miles on odometer by a long island, ny guy. Volvo is latin for "rolling steel". buy the car it will serve you well.

 

Volvo....amazing cars man. I love'em and swear by em. My parents have three...
1989 Volvo 740 GL w/ 352,000 miles
1990 Volvo 740 GL w/ 150,000 miles
1996 Volvo 850 w/ 80,000 miles

All are and have been 90% problem free. All run excellent w/ normal routine maintence.
and all get good gas mileage and are very safe cars to be driven in.

I love Volvos and don't be surprised to see me in the new S60r in the next two years!!

 

volvo just charged me 300$ to remove a pice of paper from the ventilation system in my 1999 s80. The rear side airbag cover broke and popped off and volvo wanted 250$ to fix it. volvo maintenance is expensive. i have heard the 850's were much more reliable than the s80 line though.

 

pre-Ford Volvos = awesome

had a 95 850 Turbo (parents drive it now) and it's as solid as the day i bought it. of course there are maintenence issues but nothing major has gone wrong with the car. go to www.ipdusa.com if you want to see what kinda thing you can do to it as far as mods go.

 

i'm not a ford fan at all but i really dont think it has to do with ford that their quaility suffered. my s80 is a 99' model and 99' is the year ford purchased volvo. ford had no involvement with the design/production of the s80. but if you look at the problems people had with the early s80 models (like mine) it's pretty bad. quality actually improved grealy in later s80 models...post ford. i think the reason the quality is good on the 850's is that the platform it's based on had been around for years before it became the 850 (1983 as a 760) plus is was very simply built with no advanced electronics etc. the newer models will become reliable too once they've worked out the bugs....but the addtion of new electronics like drive by wire/trip compters/etc etc...there's bound to be more issues.

 

zeroday, you're right about the pre/post-ford purchase of volvo. i was just sayin that my pre-ford 850 is a tank. the 850-series began in 1993 i think so they had a couple of years to get the bugs out.

 

Zeroday, 99 was the first year the S80 came out, so obviously there will be problems/glitches, or malfunctions with it. Just as any new model comes out, the very first year will be the worse for it. The 99's can be found anywhere 9-13 K while the 2000 and later models still cost above 15 K. My parents have the 960 model, and my sister used to have a 97 850 (base) model, but dam was it a good car. Skyline, if you do plan on buying it, pm me, and I'll tell you about some really good websites that'll give you ideas on modding your car. The only problem I see with the 850's, is that its a FWD, but it is a turbo, so thats always a plus.