I am a sudent and have the option of buying a 940 wagon with 150k for 1500$ or I could scrape together a bit more and get a 850 turbo wagon with 100k miles. Both 94s. In terms of reliability, which one would be a better choice? I've heard horror stories about replacing gaskets in 850s. I guess my question is, which one will I be paying for more over the next 30k? Or woul d there be a difference?

 

I have no first hand practical knowledge of the 850, but am aware of some of their foibles.

However, the 940 is basically a reskinned 740. I can vouch for *those*. They are pretty damned good.

Consider this.

The 850 turbo wagon will be more expensive to fix.

The five cylinder isn't as good an engine as the 4-banger B230F in the 940. The B230F is pretty much indestructable.

I cannot speak for the 850, but if you throw a timing belt in the 940, it will not destroy your engine.

Turbos are *very* expensive to fix. If the 940 is non-turbo, that alone would pretty much decide it for me. I would not buy a turbo unless I was absolutely sure that it has been meticulously maintained. Those situations are rare. As a student, you should probably go with a non-turbo.

Now, about that 940. 150k is not a lot of miles for that engine. However, I'd want to know that it was taken care of. $1,500 is not a lot for that car. If I were you I'd be prepared to put a few more bucks into it. Then, you'll probably have a car that you'll be proud of.

If it were me, there's no contest here. The 940 brick wins out just about any time due to the engine.

 

Compared to other cars I've looked at im my price range, its in incredible shape. The one thing that could potentially be serous is it sometimes downshiftswhile in overdrive. But with the money saved with the low pricetag, that hopefully can be fixed. Thanks for the info so far! Any more is quite welcome.

 

Concerning that downshift business, it could be a loose wire or an intermittent switch on the OD lockout button. I'm no expert on this, but my old M46+OD 240 used to pop out of OD all the time. I could jiggle the stick--this was a manual xmission--and the OD would disengage. I never fixed it since it rarely had a problem.

You might want to look at the FAQs on the Swedish Bricks site:
http://www.swedishbricks.net/
Click on "Contents" then on the "Maintenance FAQ" on the 700/900.
The folks there are very knowledgeable and you might be able to see what the trouble might be.

 

Me and my brother are both students. I personally dirve a 94850 turbo sedanandmy brother drives a 91 940turbo wagon. Personally I love wagons but I couldn'tfind one in my price range at the time.I would recomend either car.Most turbo volvos are just as reliable as n/a volvos.Before you purchase just do a thorough inspection of both cars. You don't really have to worry about the turbos, just make sure that they don't leak oil. My little brothers 940 did leak a little oil. I did a little investigating and it turnsout it was justan O ring. I replaced thatand now it doesn't leak at all. If you want better gas mileage definetly go with an 850.Stock for stock the 850 has much more power than the 940. I personally like the interior of the 850 better. The handling on an 850 is better from the factory also. If I had the choice I would get the 850 Wagon. Maybe I'm a little biased but I have driven my brothers car and its a great car but I love my850.

 

Oh yeah 940 has 173,xxx and 850 has 172,xxx. Both run just as good as the day we bought them.

 

I'd take the 740/940 hands down over the 850 or any other car... The 940 is the best Volvo ever with the normally aspirated motor or the turbo. I just bought a '91 940SE with 278K and there was precious little to do on it: a couple of mouldings, a corner light, some small interior pieces. Itshows average care in my opinion even so it is a great car with all its systems still working great. The price? $400! I havesaved many sorry Volvos and without a fail there are better that you think or than they appeared. The 850, and I have tried a couple of those are, well, much inferior vehicles with a Toyota like drivability and difficult maintenance. Also, parts for the 940 line are easy and plentiful from the junkyards so there is very little need to spend big bucks for most things. And I never spend more than $2000 for a Volvo since the new 1989 740TGA I bought,

Too many Volvos to list

 

"Concerning that downshift business, it could be a loose wire or an intermittent switch on the OD"
Thats exactly what the problem is. I'll probably just leave it just like you did. Was goign to buy the 850, beautiful car, but someone bought it out from under me. So I bought the 940! Hooah! It was a better choice for me anyway. It was a lot less and looks easy enough to fix myself. In a way it seemed like it was in better condition even though it has 50k more miles.

 

And make sure that the downshifts you are worried about are not happening when going slightly uphill, then of course, that's what is supposed to happen, my 740 wagon does it sometimes... Anyway, sometimes you may end up downshifting when you don't want it, that's what the overdrive button is for...

 

I had a 93 850GLT and it was a reliability nightmare, traded in at 110K and AT was ready to die.
Ride was harsh and replacement of engine torque mount was 3x in 50K. Best part was the exhaust
note and black on saddle color scheme, they got them right. The 2.3 in any version will last min. 500k
will 3-5K oil changes. But can the RWD 940 handle snow like the 850?... no way.

 

Put some studded tires and it handle anything...

 

Picked up the car a few days ago. Drove about 400 miles. Awesome highway cruiser.
Quick question to anyone who might know... When the car is in drive and I take my foot off the gas, the car will slowly gain speed upto 15mph or so. Is this normal? I've only dealt withmuch larger american cars before which won't go anywhere unless they are given a lot of gas.

 

I've previosly owned two 850's and they do have their problems, but they seem to be consistent. The transmissions do fail and the micro switch on top of the tranny is a factory recall, get it replaced. Also, in the power seats, the cable for reclining breaks, replace this Volvo 850 parts as well when or if it breaks. I've experienced the roof liner material coming off of the sunroof slider, I fixed it with $3 of 3M spray adhesive. I've driven both these cars HARD and they've taken the abuse. Sorry to hear that others are unhappy with the car. Its not Honda reliability, but you'll also live when you get hit by all the SUVs out there.

The 940 distills all of Volvo's 20+ years of experience building midsize four-cylinder cars (staring with the 140) into a handsome, reliable, modern package. When I bought mine recently with 195k miles on it, I spent about $2500 to bring everything up to my exacting mechanical standards. It was worth it, because I expect to get it over 300,000 miles. I'm even thinking of trading my 1995 Volvo 850 Turbo wagon on a 1993 940 sedan, I like the 940 so much better. Good luck!!!

 

Concerning the overdrive downshift. I had a 740 intercooled turbo wagon with this same issue. The overdrive works off a solenoid that sits on top of the transmission. The solenoid can be completely removed, There is a factory part that is a flat plate that covers the holes where the solenoid was. You won't have overdrive any longer but you won't have any issues either. I did this on my 740 and it fixed the issue easily. Correct me if I am wrong but the overdrive switch is sort of a reverse overdrive. It locks out the transmission from shifting into 4th gear to enable better towing on the highway for going up hills and so on. I would never have needed that feature so installing the plate was a no brainer for me. Sadly my 740 got wiped out in an intersection by a dumb *** on her phone. Needless to say her car suffered far more than mine. Karmas a bitch. Now I have a 940 turbo wagon.