Hey all. Its been a while since I visited. I used to own a 1987 740 GLE wagon. Now I'm looking to get into a Volvo again. The used car dealer down the street (who deals in high mileage cars) has a pair of 1996 850s. One is a 850 Wagon Turbo with automatic tranny and all the goodies including heated leather. The other is a 850 base sedan with the 5spd manual tranny and heated cloth seats. Both have 150,000 miles but look to be in real good shape. My old wagon had over 300,000 miles when I had to get rid of it. The frame broke where the front lower control arms mounted.
So my question is what should I look for? Is there anything I should stay away from? My experience is with the old 700 series (mom had a '87 740GLE sedan 5spd). Thanks in advance.

Chris

Check the front passenger strut mount! The 96's are notorious for these going bad.

As usual, MadeInJapan nails it.

I bought a '97 850 Base Sedan, manual, in late '96 and within a year regretted two things:

1.) I should have bought a wagon -- the utilitarian value is great, and I wouldn't give up my V70R AWD wagon today for anything but another V70R AWD. For dogs, stuff, or people, we couldn't be without the wagon now.

2.) I should have bought a turbo, either a GLT or full T5 (I think both have advantages over the other). The base engine, at 168hp, was just WAY too weak for my tastes -- though a K&N air filter and having a manual transmission did help a fair amount.

Other things:
- The base 850 has a lot of "body roll." The slightly beefier suspension in the Turbos, if not IPD's anti-sway bars, are essential for predictable and responsive handling. If you feel the same thing in either model you may purchase, IPD's add-ins are a not-too-pricey upgrade.

I never had AC or ABS problems (as of 100K miles -- my mother has it now, so we'll see), but had weird little things like a failed gas tank lid release, a defective gas tank meter, and dash bulbs burning out early (possibly because I always use the daytime running lights and usually just left the interior dimmer set at about 80%).

It was, and continues to be, a good family car, if a bit dull compared to our other Volvos. The plush cloth seats were nice -- cool in summer, warm in winter.

Good luck with the quest.

-KB
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'99 C70 Convertible || '99 V70R AWD || '90 780 Turbo (for sale)

Plenty written here about what to look for, but here are a few of the biggies:
1. Bad A/C evaporator...to fix it, $1200 (whole dash has to come out)
2. Bad ABS control unit...to fix, send to Victor Rocha for $140 and better than new.
3. Needs PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) hoses replaced. At the miles mentinoned, I would do this as a matter of course. Total cost is about $120 not counting the labor (buy parts from www.fcpgroton.com). If this system is clogged, it will blow out your rear main seal...$1000 to repair.
4. Flushed tranny? If ATF is brown or smells burnt, better do it...tons to replace a bad tranny.
5. All 850's from '94 on need a new Timing Belt every 70K miles...at 150K miles, better make sure it's done and with this second replacement, the tensioners and pulleys should also be replaced. If not, and the belt breaks, you'll need a new engine....about $4000...maybe more than the value of the car.

Guess that's about it...a bunch of little things and things that are general maitenance items...oil changes every 3K miles or 5K miles if you go synthetic. If shocks/struts are bad (will be if never changed), you can get great deals at www.shox.com (go for the Bilstein TC (touring)) and replace strut mounts, spring seats and shock mounts while you're at it along with the swaybar end links. Hope you get the car(s) checked out by a mechanic who knows these cars and they should have good service records. Good luck!
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.