Hello all,

Living in Canada, I have a great chance to purchase an 850 with 140,000 kms on it. Lots of toys, minus the sunroof. I'll live :)

I've been a longtime Corolla owner and would like to ascertain how much more it will cost to maintain the 850...is the recommended maintenance schedule expensive to follow?

I noticed I would also need premium gas. Could I get away with middle grade (octane 90) instead of Premium (92 or 94)?

Any help you could provide would be much appreciated.

24

The 850s are fun, but can be finicky. Here are common problems you'll probably encounter:
1. The Air Conditioner Evaporator on these things leak. In Canada this may not be such a big deal, and it is relatively easy to add 134 to recharge. Search this site for instx.

2. Seat heaters-sometimes the wires break off to the heating element. Easy to fix, but a pain nonetheless.

3. ShiftLock switch. A small hassle, but you sometimes have to hit the SHIFTLOCK button to get out of park.

Good luck.

You really don't need premium unless you have a turbo. Some folks don't even use premium in a turbo- the ECU just adjusts performance. The recommended maintenance schedule isn't expensive to follow- it's the items that break that could make it expensive. For that reason, a lot of us do our own work to save on repair costs. These cars are pretty easy to work on. Good luck.