Any Volvo owners? need advice about 95' 850 only 3K...

[bubbadu]

I went down to the dealership my dad works at today and saw a 95 Volvo 850. After talking to his manager, I could get the car for about 3000-3500 dollars. According to edmunds, the car is worth about 6500 with the given miles and options. Does anyone on AT drive a volvo or know a lot about them? This seems like a pretty killer deal to me. Thanks

Update : 4/12 ... the deal is allready to go, but the dealership won't take my car in trade. So it looks like i'll have to wait till i sell my jetta to get the car. I might just take out a really small loan to pay off the difference, then just sell my car later. I am geting a Rossman-ish deal on this car though

-Bubbadu

 

[OS]

how many miles?

 

[bubbadu]

135K... which does seem a little high for a 95... the car is loaded though with every feature you could possibly ask for.

-Bubbadu

 

[Platypus]

I drive a 760 turbo/intercooler but it's a 90 so I doubt I can offer much advice. They are great cars, but expensive to fix.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: bubbadu
135K... which does seem a little high for a 95... the car is loaded though with every feature you could possibly ask for.

-Bubbadu

Don't buy a car with that many miles unless you're prepared to sink in lots of money on repairs in the near future.


ed, everyone seems to have a problem about that FWD thing for whatever reason. I just like the old design RWD volvos more than FWD volvos.

 

[AvesPKS]

Here's one on Ebay.

 

[xirtam]

$3k for a 95 volvo with 135K miles is still a pretty dang good deal. My dad swears by them -- yes, by them, not at them.

Our volvos were always extremely reliable. We had a '79 volvo when I was still living in my parents' house... it outlived three of our newer vehicles. Those things keep going and going and going. Very solidly built. And unless they've changed anything, they've got really good cornering.

I think my sister had an 850. Got in a wreck with it awhile ago... I think the car made it out alive but we wound up getting rid of it anyway. Not sure. She named the thing.

I'm not sure what all "fully loaded" includes, but if it's more than the basic options, I'd jump on this deal. I might have your dad check up on the history of the vehicle itself... make sure it doesn't have a salvaged title, check to see if it's been serviced 50 times in the last year, etc., etc., but if I had $3k and was going to buy a used car, I'd definitely get a volvo if I could.

 

[bubbadu]

by "loaded" i mean power windows/locks, leather, power moonroof, remote starter, heated seats... pretty much every feature you could get in a car it has. Right now i have the biggest POS jetta and if i could get like 1300 out of trade from the dealer for it, i would have to pay under 2 grand and the car would be all mine ... volvos suppposedly run forever, and i really liked this one when i drove it like an hour ago

-Bubbadu

 

[xirtam]

You drive a jetta... gay...

Go get that volvo.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: bubbadu
by "loaded" i mean power windows/locks, leather, power moonroof, remote starter, heated seats... pretty much every feature you could get in a car it has. Right now i have the biggest POS jetta and if i could get like 1300 out of trade from the dealer for it, i would have to pay under 2 grand and the car would be all mine ... volvos suppposedly run forever, and i really liked this one when i drove it like an hour ago

-Bubbadu

Well, if you're set on the car run a carfax and have a mechanic or someone you know check it out.

See if the car has a timing belt or chain and when needs to be replaced. CV boots need to be checked. There's more but I can't remember the rest.

You should keep a couple hundred in the bank because stuff is going break from time to time, it's inevitable on high mileage cars.

 

[UNCjigga]

We have a 95 850 Turbo with 135k miles...great car with oodles of power, but we've had quite a few problems, mostly electrical. The dash lights would go out often, and at one time the power seats wouldn't work. Expensive repairs are the norm for these cars too...I used to take it to a special Volvo mechanic to save money cuz dealer repairs were just too damned expensive for me.

Other problems I've encountered:

Had a coolant valve screw up so my car overheated, replaced the valve and everything was fine.
I've had the A/C quit on me...got it repaired. Needed to repair the A/C fan as well later on.
The power steering was messed up, had to get that fixed (forgot what it was but it wasn't rack and pinion..)
Economy/Sport/Winter transmission mode button was getting messed up...had to get that fixed...
I also needed to have shocks/springs replaced and I recommend you check the suspension and steering on your car before buying.

But with all that out of the way, I haven't had ONE problem with the engine or transmission (mode selection was electrical problem due to liquid falling on the switch...its under the crappy Volvo cupholders!) But I think a lot of my problems don't occur as often with the '96 and '97 models, and if I were you I'd try to get an S70 instead. There's a reason why resale value on S70s are much higher...they're much better built!

 

[Lonyo]

My Dad runs up 90k in 3 years with his cars, company cars so they're well serviced.
Check the service history.
Volvo's are like brick sh!thouses, crash and they always win, and they keep going and going and going. I'd get a Volvo.

 

[xirtam]

It's true. Volvos do tend to have electrical issues. Forgot about that. Still good cars.

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: xirtam
$3k for a 95 volvo with 135K miles is still a pretty dang good deal. My dad swears by them -- yes, by them, not at them.

Our volvos were always extremely reliable. We had a '79 volvo when I was still living in my parents' house... it outlived three of our newer vehicles. Those things keep going and going and going. Very solidly built. And unless they've changed anything, they've got really good cornering.

I think my sister had an 850. Got in a wreck with it awhile ago... I think the car made it out alive but we wound up getting rid of it anyway. Not sure. She named the thing.

I'm not sure what all "fully loaded" includes, but if it's more than the basic options, I'd jump on this deal. I might have your dad check up on the history of the vehicle itself... make sure it doesn't have a salvaged title, check to see if it's been serviced 50 times in the last year, etc., etc., but if I had $3k and was going to buy a used car, I'd definitely get a volvo if I could.

Your sister has a 850 (GLT, the fully loaded version, except for the turbo engine) now, too. It's even a 1995 if I remember correctly, and had somewhere around 110k when she got it.

She had to replace the automatic transmission on it, which cost around $2000, and she said when she was going up a hill in some mountainous area it wouldn't go above 55. Not sure if that's a problem with the car or a function of power/weight.

Volvo engines are tremendously reliable, and getting a rebuilt automatic transmission when the car's passed the 100k mark isn't unreasonable at all. I'd say get it checked out by a mechanic and buy it. They're nice and solid.

 

Don't buy a FWD car with that many miles unless you're prepared to sink in lots of money on repairs in the near future.

Really, care to back that assumption up with some facts ?

 

[Lonyo]

Ah, of course, Americans and their auto's.
Get a man's stick

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Roger

Don't buy a FWD car with that many miles unless you're prepared to sink in lots of money on repairs in the near future.

Really, care to back that assumption up with some facts ?

I had an '89 accord. Once the mileage started getting above 125K or so, stuff started breaking. The water pump, power steering line, CV joints, master brake cylinder all went and had to be replaced. When the car was below 100K, there were basically zero problems. I don't see what the problem with my statement is, high mileage cars just break more often than new ones.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: Roger

Don't buy a FWD car with that many miles unless you're prepared to sink in lots of money on repairs in the near future.

Really, care to back that assumption up with some facts ?

I had an '89 accord. Once the mileage started getting above 125K or so, stuff started breaking. The water pump, power steering line, CV joints, master brake cylinder all went and had to be replaced. When the car was below 100K, there were basically zero problems. I don't see what the problem with my statement is, high mileage cars just break more often than new ones.

My sentra has 165k miles on it. I bought it about 24k miles ago and it's been really good to me. Yes ANY car with more miles is more likely to have a problem than the same car with less miles, but there are many people with little civics/accords/corollas with over 200k that's never needed much more than a new battery and brakes.

Anyway back to first post get that car. VERY hot.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

My sentra has 165k miles on it. I bought it about 24k miles ago and it's been really good to me. Yes ANY car with more miles is more likely to have a problem than the same car with less miles, but there are many people with little civics/accords/corollas with over 200k that's never needed much more than a new battery and brakes.

Anyway back to first post get that car. VERY hot.

You weren't the first owner though, so how do you know it didn't need repairs before?

 

[KingNothing]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: Roger

Don't buy a FWD car with that many miles unless you're prepared to sink in lots of money on repairs in the near future.

Really, care to back that assumption up with some facts ?

I had an '89 accord. Once the mileage started getting above 125K or so, stuff started breaking. The water pump, power steering line, CV joints, master brake cylinder all went and had to be replaced. When the car was below 100K, there were basically zero problems. I don't see what the problem with my statement is, high mileage cars just break more often than new ones.

Your right, but needing repairs on those items (minus the CV joints) isn't related to the car being FWD. Some repairs will have a higher labor cost because stuff is harder to get to, but overall FWD cars are not any more a maintenance demon than a RWD car.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: KingNothing

Your right, but needing repairs on those items (minus the CV joints) isn't related to the car being FWD. Some repairs will have a higher labor cost because stuff is harder to get to, but overall FWD cars are not any more a maintenance demon than a RWD car.

Is that what this is about? Fair enough.

I say FWD because the old style RWD volvos had a lot of engine bay space, easier to work on and cheaper to get parts/repairs for.

 

I had an '89 accord. Once the mileage started getting above 125K or so, stuff started breaking. The water pump, power steering line, CV joints, master brake cylinder all went and had to be replaced. When the car was below 100K, there were basically zero problems. I don't see what the problem with my statement is, high mileage cars just break more often than new ones.

Don't buy a FWD car with that many miles unless you're prepared to sink in lots of money on repairs in the near future.

Gee, I didn't know that RWD vehicles didn't break down with high mileage, second, you are basing your assumption on one vehicle that you have owned ?

I have, in my lifetime owned many vehicles that went to the 250,000 mile mark as well as servicing many of my customers vehicles with high mileage, your statement is incorrect because it was to broad and was based on only one of your personal experiances.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Roger

I had an '89 accord. Once the mileage started getting above 125K or so, stuff started breaking. The water pump, power steering line, CV joints, master brake cylinder all went and had to be replaced. When the car was below 100K, there were basically zero problems. I don't see what the problem with my statement is, high mileage cars just break more often than new ones.

Don't buy a FWD car with that many miles unless you're prepared to sink in lots of money on repairs in the near future.

Gee, I didn't know that RWD vehicles didn't break down with high mileage, second, you are basing your assumption on one vehicle that you have owned ?

I have, in my lifetime owned many vehicles that went to the 250,000 mile mark as well as servicing many of my customers vehicles with high mileage, your staement is incorrect because it was to broad.

See what I wrote above. I'm pretty convinced similar repairs for a volvo 850 is gonna cost more than a 240/740.

Man, talk about a nitpick.

 

Nitpick ?

You are posting assumptions, not facts, I abhor people who give "So called advice" when it is not based on facts, the labor to repair either FWD or RWD is the same.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Roger
Nitpick ?

You are posting assumptions, not facts, I abhor people who give "So called advice" when it is not based on facts, the labor to repair either FWD or RWD is the same.

You might want to have someone look at that stick up your ass.

But ok, sure since you're so hell bent on being right, drop the FWD part from my statement then. Happy?

I'm still pretty sure parts are cheaper and easier to find for RWD volvos over FWD ones. Labor I don't really care to argue but I don't think I'm wrong.