Do your homework and see if you can talk to the previous owner (1 preferable) and ascertain whether regular maintenance was carried out and what type of driving he/she did. A higher mileage (where many long trips were done) is preferable to a lower mileage around town vehicle. Consider a later model version of the 850 (such as the '98 S70) where a lot of the 'problems' of the earlier 850s were ironed out by the volvo engineers. Don't buy the first year of a new model and avoid the early 850s. Also see if you can get the dealer to throw in a third party warranty which would cover such items as the ABS controller, evaporator etc.

Good luck and take your time to research the purchase well.

Cheers, Phil
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'98 N/A S70 136,000 Klm