1994 855M 210,000 miles. Original owner. Car has never been garaged. Not washed nearly enough. Lives in NH, the salt belt. No rust anywhere, yet! 10/10. Well, maybe 9.75/10 as I did have the roof strips peel and it took a couple of hours to clean them and put nice black tape over them. Big deal.

Mechanically- 9.5/10

Glove box latch busted. Took 1 hr. to fix and about 5 bucks for the wire latch I hack sawed thru.

Starter died just a handful of days ago. It turned out to be the braided copper connector to the armature which failed. I could have repaired it but my dealer charged me 226 bucks for a new one and it took a couple of hours for me to replace it, so I figured it to be good investment for the next couple hundred thousand miles. Next one I could do in less than an hour!

Shocks- I replaced these at about 192k miles with Bilsteins. Old ones were still not that bad. Easy job. Did rear shock mounts as these were bad. 25 bucks each. Did the ball joints as well. Easy, too, but a bit expensive for the parts, I thought. About 145 a side. Tie rod ends are still ok and original!

Exhaust is original and still in great shape. Brakes seem to last me about 75-90k in rear and 85-100k in front. Easy to do yourself and no more expensive than any other car of its type. I do currently have a sticky rear piston, but will fix it when it's a bit warmer out and I feel like it. (about 112 bucks for a rebuilt from the dealer. 1 hr. labor, tops.)

Dash lights seem to burn out at about 90k intervals. Suck to replace. 1/10

I am suspecting my injectors are tiring as they click pretty loud. But the engine is still smooth. Still gets about 27 mpg on highway 23-24 around town. I won't touch the injectors until they begin to leak.

Clutch is still original!!! Keep waiting for the first sign of slippage. Keeping my fingers crossed. Tranny is a bit looser than when new, but no grinds in any syncro, and still smoot to shift.

Upper engine mount failed at around 175k miles. Replaced with IPD. Cheap and easy.

I have needed only 2 wheel alignments in 200k miles. This car has held it's alignment better than any car I have ever had. And our roads suck here in NH. Frost heaves year 'round it seems.

Water pump will get changed for the first time pro-actively when I do my 3d timing belt in the very near future. It shows no sign of weakness but I don't want to risk losing a pump, wiping out the T-belt and cylinder head in the process.

Interior- velour seats still very comfortable and have held up very well. I just noticed a little crack in my dash. Star shaped. I am disappointed. I was hoping this plastic would never crack. But 7 years outside in the sun is tough duty for anything.

All in all, I have pounded on many cars in the past, and this is by far the most reliable, well built ride I have ever had. I do not begrudge a single item I need to replace as I simply view it as an investment in the next 200,000 miles.

BTW- my A/C still works. Maybe cause I don't use it a ton up this way. In fact, I have never even had a re-charge.

So, what would YOU rate this car? I give it pretty close to perfect marks, considering I am tough on everything I own and drive hard.

Past and current cars for comparison:

SAAB Viggen- mid life crisis indulgence to replace the 855M as daily driver and client mobile. So far so good. 28k miles. 855 is now "the farm truck"! and back up car.

'95 945 wife's current ride. Bought with 132k, very clean, hope to get lots of miles out of it yet.

'89 745 (wife's)sold at 160k good experience overall, but beat and ratty

'80 245 sold at 200k (rust bucket)

'90 Ford Taurus SHO bought new, sold at after 4 years, 120k mi. full of rattles, needing clutch, and covered in rust, for 2500 bucks. Possibly the best seats I have ever had (pneumatic lumbar support!)

'87 Alfa Spider

Numerous Detroit crud bomb company cars in the 80's, all with problems at less than 100k miles.

Many BMW 2002's during my college years and into my 20's. Mostly rat bombs but still loved them.

and my favorite, still alive and kicking..1965 21 window Deluxe Microbus with Safari Windows!

Boy, you couldn't tell I needed a mental break from work here! Sorry this was so long.

claude