Mine cracked right behind the cat - my wife was on the road and had a local shop weld it temporarily. Later I fashioned a brace with a band about 3 inches wide of some thin but strong steel. I sealed it up with the permatex or similar then before the permatex set I wrapped the band around and secured it in place with 2 high-quality old-fashioned muffler clamps.

I didn't want to replace a system that otherwise had no sign whatever of damage.

I since drove from Chicago to northern New England, and also to the Rocky Mts without incident. I'm sure it will crack in some other place, but not necessarily soon.

By the way when the crack was present and the exhaust was audibly leaking I got a code for rear oxygen sensor out of range, which went away by itself after the repair.

The 850 exhaust pipe is one piece, from the clamp behind the CAT to the rear bumper. They historically last 200K+ miles. Much better than Japanese or American. The CATs last even longer if treated properly with good gas.

I put one on a 1995 854T and almost didn't make it. The car needs to be at least 2 ft off the ground to get the new pipe on. I had to dig a 1 inch hole in the ground :) The install is not difficult, just one clamp and 2 hangers.

Klaus
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The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)

FCP Groton has a manifold repair kit that fixes the failure at the flex joint, which is the common weak point.

It's about 300 bucks, try to find a place to install it, though it could be a DIY job.

Better than 2000 for a whole new exhaust (which Volvo recommends as a repair!). The aftermarket provides though where reason fails.