Since purchasing my 1997 Volvo 850 GLT which has the turbo engine in it. I feel the ride has always been very bumpy. Many Volvo owners I talk to that has the same model, but not with the turbo engine tells me their ride is smooth. The owners look surprise telling me they never known for a Volvo to ride bumpy. My car is very bumpy, and the ride is very uncomfortable. The Volvo Dealer is telling me because I have the turbo engine the ride will be bumpy, and there's no problems overall with the car. Please someone out there with the turbo engine.....tell me you are having the same ride or what can I do to correct this.

I have a 97 T5 Sedan and do not have that harsh of a ride. If you have the sport suspension, it will be a bit more harsh, but try riding in a lighter weight car with stiff shocks and 17 inch rims, then you can say it is harsh.
I have heard of other t5 and turbo owners complain of harsh rides, but not on a glt?

My wife's 1995 855 GLT has a pretty harsh ride. I am surprised other
Volvo owners say they have smooth rides since a harsh ride is a common
complaint seen here on this board. Are you speaking with 850 GLT or
850 turbo owners? As I recall, the 850's shocks and springs on the
GLT are the same as the turbo model (but the turbo gets 16 inch lower
profile tires and has an optional sport suspension).

In general, 850s have a somewhat harsh ride. Ours kind of "crashes"
through harsh bumps (always has).

The low pressure turbo engine really has nothing to do with it -- Volvo
just seems to like stiff suspensions. Probably to improve waht they call
"dynamic safety" in that the car can be kept under control better in
an emergency.

Volvo did soften the ride a bit for the 70 Series -- my 1998 S70 T5
has a softer ride then the 855 GLT. In my opinion, that was one
of the big improvments the 70 series offered. It is not a big difference
but enough that you notice it if you were to drive an 850 and then
a 70.

Others have experimented with shocks and springs to soften the 850s ride.
I recall several posts here on that topic. You might use the search tool
to search on "harsh ride 850" or similar to find the older posts.

If your car has the sport suspension and the 16 inch wheels, it will ride rough. Check your ride hight against another 850 without the turbo and if you are about 1 inch lower, you have the sport suspension. I love mine because it rides and corners like a brick!
--
95 850, 88 245

I don't think the GLT had any sort of suspension "upgrade".

First, check how much air pressure you're running in the tires. There are two recommended settings on the label under the gas flap. Use the lower ones for a "cushy" ride. You may also want to look at the tires you're running and see if the car has replacement shocks and struts. If you're running performance tires you may want to switch to "touring" tires.

I have the factory sport suspension on my T5 which I made even stiffer with Bilstein HD shocks and struts. Now it's about as stiff as I like it! (Even to the point of being slightly annoying over washboard roads!)

-Punx

My 97 850 wagon was super harsh, My wife described it like driving a tank

you may try new shocks, but its still super stiff

Blacktiger--I drive a 97 850 GLT light pressure turbo wagon. My ride is definitely not bumpy. I'm driving on 15 inch rims with Michelin MXV4 Plus tires on it. You don't say if your 850 is a sedan or wagon. The smaller rim and bigger tire make for a softer ride, as do the correct tires. Did someone own your car before you and maybe have harder shocks installed in the back? My 97 now has worn shock absorbers which I can see from the dark streaking on them from oil getting past the seals. But they are still very firm. If you're running of 16 inch rims with a car that has had nonfactory shock absorbers installed, you could well be having a harder ride than normal. Dick