I drove four 240s over 12 years, owning two at a time. Three 245s, one 244. Two M46s, one M47, and an AW (couldn't stand the AW). I purchased each with ~100,000 on the odometer and drove them to over 200,000 (except the '89 245 AW which got prematurely totaled, and no tears were shed).

Three years ago I started substituting 855s for the 240s, with the idea of again running them for their second 100,000 miles. I now have two, a '95 855 n.a. and a '96 855 n.a. Both have 5 speed manuals. (I don't know how many manual transmissions were imported into the US, but by owning two of them I probably have 10% of the market cornered!) The 855 wagon doesn't seem as capacious of cargo as the 245, yet it's got a lot more flexibility with the 1/3-2/3 bifold seats which drop in a flash. Gas mileage is as good as to better than what I ever got with the 240s. But these things know how to get up and go -- far more responsive than any of my n.a. 240s ever were.

I've done most of the needed repairs and maintenance on the 850s, and nearly every job takes a bit longer to do than on the 240s, but it's doable by the shadetree mechanic. The 850s are essentially rust-free vehicles -- something that only the latest 240s could ever claim.

Air conditioning is a problem, as several have mentioned. My '95's a.c. works just fine and there's no record of every replacing its evaporator. The '96's evaporator was toast when I bought it, and I'll get around to having it replaced sometime, but, then again, none of my 240s ever had a.c. worth writing home about either.

One or two folks have commented upon how nice a road car the 850 is. Since buying these 850s my wife and I have spent a lot of time visiting my elderly parents and also our son while in college -- trips of respectively 250 and 500 miles each way. The 850 is so darn comfortable, we're surprisingly fresh when we arrive.

A very good online repair resource, in addition to this Forum, is Bay 13 (splendid illustrations). For print, Haynes isn't bad (better than the 240 version), but sadly there's no Bentley's. I've heard of some folks doing a web-based annual subscription service to some resource whose name I can't remember; I don't know much about it.

Records are extremely important. The white block engine is building up quite a good reputation of reliability -- equal to the red block for the first 200,000 miles, anyway -- if it's been cared for. I wouldn't purchase another 850 without a repair history. But if everything needed had been done on time (or earlier), I'd have no hesitation buying the car. Some respondents have said "avoid the '93, avoid the '96, get the '97, go for the V70/S70, etc." The model changed after the '93 (or was it the '94?) and improvements were made, but I've never seen any good documentation to show that, of the '95, '96, or '97 there's a preferable year or a year to avoid. Of those three model years, I'd go for the one which has the most complete records (all other things -- price, proximity, aesthetics, etc. -- being equal).

Comparing 240s with 850s is a real apples/oranges comparison. They represent two different eras of design. The 850 is far more sophisticated, comfortable, safer, and seems to have better 'nickel and dime' reliability (for instance, I've yet to need to replace a fuel pump relay, crank position sensor, air mass meter -- things I'd have long ago replaced in a 240). The 240's niche was the fact that it was the safest car of its time, you could repair it yourself, and you could depend upon it getting you from here to there even if not in ideal tune. The 850 is, to me, the safest car if *its* time, I can do most, but not all, of the repairs but I don't need to do as many, and, with the 5 speed anyway, it sure is a heck of a lot of fun to drive.

Rob