Hello,
There was a 1996 non-turbo I mentioned with under 120,000 miles. I was just wondering what you guys thought of the non-turbo vs the turbo 850. Is the turbo one that much faster, and if so, is the non-turbo still a quick, good performing car? I don't need to really have a fast car, but I would like some good power.

-Thanks

 

I personally have not driven the non turbo since I bought a turbo. Once I drove the turbo there was no way I was buying one that did not have a turbo. My daughter was recently shopping for an 850 wagon. We looked at severl turbo models, and then shey found one that was a non turbo in much better condition than the turbos we had looked at. Her husband and she drove it, and said no way they would by the non turbo. It was too slow for them after driving turbo models.

 

TURBO!

JPN

 

If you want power then the turbo is the way to go. I bought an 850 for my son and specifically wanted a NA as he will be a new driver and the less power the better for him. Otherwise I would say TURBO.

 

Turbo for sure. Why get a non-turbo car when there's a turbo option?

 

I test drove aturbo 850 (believe it wasan R in fact, but I can't recall, was years ago) before I bought my standard S70... the turbo certainly had better acceleration.

On the other hand, I didn't buy the turbo, and I have never regretted getting my car, and I like the idea that there is no turbo to worry about.Also, and this next is just a generalization, but- models with high perf engines are generally chosen by people who don't drive them gently, shall we say. That doesn't matter if you're buying a new car, but it matters to me on a car with 100k+.

All that said, some people just have that "need for speed", and if you have it, you'll prefer the turbo, it definitely moves out more smartly.

 

Thanks for all the replys. I actually am going to pick a 1995 850 Turbo Sedan up this coming week. It has 132,000 miles, it's had 2 owners, and supposedly, the first owner had it for most of its life, and she was a grandmother. This doesnt mean it wasn't abused, but it can be a good thing. The only thing is it has a couple small scratches, and a puck/small dent on the front fender panel. I will most likely get that fixed because it shouldn't cost much.

-thanks

 

Ok I used to own a 1995 850 N/A. It is slow compared to my 1999 Volvo a70 awd which is turboed.

If you want a good performing Volvo get a turbo model. You wont be disapointed at all.

 

Not sure I agree with what S70_Driver said about people running the turbos harder. In general you can't really push the turbo that hard in normal driving, cause it's just too fast. Whereas you have to really push the accelerator on the N/A just to get it going. Plus people who buy turbo's, in general, like cars and will have tendency to take care of them.

Sounds like you found a good one Keith. Post some pictures once you get it.

 

Yeah, and the little old grandmother only drove her TURBO 850 to church on Sunday.

 

Haha, thanks for all the replies again.
I did a CARFAX check on the car and found out that it has had 4 owners, but three of them just had it for a little. Anyway, the report was clear and showed it was always service at a Volvo dealership. I live in northern Maine, and we already have about 8 inches of snow, and the roads are packed with salt. Is it a bad idea to have the car undersprayed when I get it? I would say it would be bad to trap salt in, but when you do it at a good place, they will wash the car after putting it on a lift. Should I do this, or just wait until next year?

Also, the car has a small oil drip (like most the 850s for sale), and the owner is sure it is the oil pan or just the oil pan gasket. Is this something I can wait until next year to fix? I will check the oil level often in the time until then.

-Thanks

 

I've never had any of my Volvos rust and never had one undercoated. But I don't live in Maine either. Not that Ohio is that much better. As for the oil leak, make sure it's not just the turbo return hose. It's a very common leak on these cars and it can appear to be the oil pan seal because of how it drips. What color is it?

 

What I am referring to there is that performance cars are generally accelerated and braked harder, as well as driven faster by their drivers. All of these factors put higher stresses on mechanical and structural components. People may not believe me, but I base this on, besides personal observation, the insurance statistics that show that both sports cars and high output engine cars have significantly higher accident rates than other categories. These higher accident rates aren't due to the car, because such cars are actuallybetter able to avoid accidents with their chassis, suspensionand braking performance, so the difference is in the drivers' behavior. This too is the standard interpretation of this well-knowndata.

 

Makesure to follow scheduled maintenance, especially on the timing belt & related components. Also, oil & filter are due at every 3,000 miles for a turboed engine. Drive easy for the fist 10 minutes or so, or until the coolant temp gauge comes to 3 O'clock position, and after hard driving, idle the engine for 1-2 minutes before shutdown to cool down the turbo.


JPN

 

This is great information indeed ....I have a 850 N/A right now and am thinking about going to a turbo model because of the lack of power in the N/A. I drove my buddies turbo six months after I bought my car and ended up crying my self to sleep lol. Atleast the parts are interchangeable.

 

Yeah, "turbo" is what makes the volvo engine. (IMO).