I have never owned a FWD or AWD volvo but my RWD is getting long in the tooth.

The brickboard forum for RWD owners has been extremely helpful.

1) Have any of you made the switch from Volvo RWD to FWD? How do the cars hold up?

2) Are there models and years to avoid?

3) Are parts as readily available?

4) I have heard the FWD platform is not as durable as RWD models.

5) Is the white motor any good? It has some potential problem areas on the 960. Is this the same engine?

6) The FWD models appear to have less interior room than RWD. Is this true?

7) Is the fuel economy appreciably better on the FWD models? I assume they perform much, much better.

Any of these areas you can respond to would be helpful. Let me thank you for your response in advance. Have a great fourth!

Mark

The 850 is actually about 8" shorter than the 940.... I own both. I have a 94 850 Turbo which is a blast to drive and with no problems.....much more sophisticated car than the RWD's and I'm a hard core 240, 740, 940 fan.

Chris
94 940 156K
94 850 Turbo 89K (for sale)

Yes, I've made the switch,though I still own RWD '89 740 (280k) and '90 780 (153k). Have also owned in the past 3 other 740 wagons, one an '88 turbo 5-spd I was very fond of, an '80 240DL and a '72 1800ES that I sold for the down-payment on our first house and I still miss it. The ES and the 780 both came from Texas before I gave them a home in Mass. 780 is parked in the winter, it's too nice to drive in the salt around here.

Sorry, I know you don't care about that. Almost 2 years ago we bought 2 850's, a 95 wagon with 93k and a '96 sedan with 148k. The wagon gave us some problems, like the rear main went the first time we drove it, heading to NY to my in-laws on Thanksgiving. Transmission started slipping, but I believe I postponed major problems by power-flushing and filling with synthetic ATF. Synthetic was likely overkill, but given the cost of replacing the trans I didn't mind the cost. Power seat in wagon is now acting up. Ride of both cars is very comfortable. My daughter just totaled the '96 (she's fine, that's why she was in the 850 with side airbags). We just last week bought an '01 V70 T5 5-spd with 23,500k and we love it. Drove it home from Florida Wed & Thurs, and it's extremely comfortable, the most comfortable car I've ever driven, I believe.

2) Are there models and years to avoid?

For 850, my mechanic thinks '96-'97 are best years. I believe the trans problems improved after '95? Some '95's have side airbags, standard starting in '96. '01 began the side curtain airbags, that's why we went up to '01. Our experience was better with a higher mileage '96 than with the '95. Figures it's the '96 that gets wrecked. I've seen posts in this forum recommending S60 over S80. I've seen other posts saying keep away from '99 and '00 as mentioned in another post.

3) Are parts as readily available?

Parts are easy to get, including at salvage yards.

4) I have heard the FWD platform is not as durable as RWD models.

My mechanic says he sees some very high mileage FWDs. It seems that preventive maintenance is very important with the FWD, like tranny flushes.

5) Is the white motor any good? It has some potential problem areas on the 960. Is this the same engine?

In my experience they run well, and the non-turbo's have a lot more spunk than the non-turbo B230 in the RWD. I believe 850's came with 2 different HP ratings in non-turbo.

6) The FWD models appear to have less interior room than RWD. Is this true?

I disagree with the other post, and think the fwd interior is a bit smaller. Our new V70 is a little cramped with back seat legroom, but partly because the front seats can go so far back.

7) Is the fuel economy appreciably better on the FWD models? I assume they perform much, much better.

It seems to me that fuel economy has steadily improved, to the point that our new T5 turbo gets better mileage than our 740 non-turbo by a few gallons per mile.


Anyway, hope this helps, though a bit long-winded. I've been waiting for my daughter to get out of the shower, so had penty of time...

Scott

Picked up a 94 855 (wagon:) this May with 167K on it and have had a lot of fun with it. Son and son-in-law convinced me to try FWD especially after having owned a long series of Volvo's since '67. So far the FWD is definitely a sweeter car. Was very happy to dump the last my my 240's long ago as they never added up to my later 7 and 9 series (except my '78 244 DL). These are more complex but with patience even an old dog like me is learing and having fun doing so. Bet you can learn them too as you have been at the others a long time.

dick

I have owned the following:
'63 122S, '88 745GLE, '89 245 DL, '89 244 DL, '98 S70 GLT, "03 V70 T5.
I only currently own the '89 244 DL and the '03 V70 T5.
I'll try to answer some of your questions:

1) The 244 DL is indestructible, the V70 T5 is more refined and luxurious and the materials and assembly seem to be first rate. So far everything is holding together very well in both vehicles. I do live in the very mild climate of the SF bay area.....

2) You should avoid the model years '99 and '00 due to problems with the Magneti Marelli ETM.

3) For the '03 parts are readily available, but not as cheap as for the '89. Also no repair manual is available for the newer models, so you have to depend on the good people of the brickboard a lot more than for the older models.

4) I never had a lick of trouble with the '98 S70 GLT in the 150K miles we put on it before we traded it in for the '03 V70 (we need the wagon to carry a VERY large dog around) and haven't had an trouble with T5 so far.

5) The white motors are interference motors, so care must be taken to replace the timing belt on schedule (on the V70 T5 the schedule calls for a timing belt change at around 100K miles)

6) The interior room seems to the same or more in the FWD when compared to the RWD.

7) I get better milage in the T5 (23-25 MPG average in my commute) vs 22-23 MPG with the 244. On the road I have recorded millage in the range of 29 to 33 MPG with T5. There is no comparison in the performance level between the 244 and the V70, the V70 does everything effortlessly and handles and brakes much better than the 244, even though the 244 has IPD anti roll bars, strut braces, and upgraded springs, bushings and brakes.

Hi Mark,
I retired the 760GLT turbo last year and bought an 850T.
I do not expect to get the lifespan out of the newer car but am having a lot more fun on the road. The interior is definitely smaller but much more clevely laid out (760 was a sedan, the 850 is a wagon.)
White block is an excellent engine - high pressure turbo @222hp. Fuel consumption is slightly better with the 850 moreso due to weight of the car.
Absolutely do not recommend the 93, only due to lack of aftermarket parts and a few other first year of production glitches.
Good huntng, and have a happy 4th of July, eh.
Armie

--
'94 850 154000kms '86 760GLE 272000kms 95 Silverado4x4

As the owner of a 93 850 and a 94 855 and a 88 245, yes I've had my troubles but I would say the 93 is not that much different the the 94 in parts cost or trouble. And the 245 is better then both for parts, reliability and ease of maint.

Generally speaking if a 93 is still running it has probably had its serious problems fixed or it was one of the good ones. I communte 110 miles one way to work and I really depend on having a reliable car.

At 300,000 miles my 93 is currently giving 31 MPG highway beating the 30 MPG on the manual tranny 94 and well over the 24 MPG of the 245.

The tranny did go on the 93 at 287,000 miles - however about 5k mile previous my 17 yr old was driving when the tranny line to the radiator went and he had pumped out over half the fluid before he realized what happened. So I think that had more to do with it.

So while I would agree that its not a bad ideas to avoid 93s, they aren't as bad as some say!

Went for 240 to 740 to 850. The 850's are more complex machines, more unforgiving if neglected but have been happy with ours so far. Great fun to drive. SIdeways engine is a pain to work on. The 200/700s are bulletproof but the 240 left he hitchhiking once and the 740 twice (850 none) so those who say they won't let you down are wrong. Like mentioned, avoid the 99-00 because of the ETM throttle by wire fiasco. THe 850 thru about 97 have no tranny filter and volvo didn't "recommend" changing the ATF by default (they don't address it) so a lot of them are running round with origional stuff still in. I'd check to make sure it was changed.

bl