Hey, everybody. As a fan of volvos I'm excited to finally have something to post after lurking and looking through the forums for years. I currently own a 95 850 NA. It's my first car and I've had it since I was 19 or 20 (26 now) and I'm in the market for new car. I love the car, but despite being super reliable (and only having 110k miles on it) a lot of the miscellaneous issues cropped up. Delaminated paint, peeling dash, falling headliner, ac switch not working on the highest setting, some cracked plastic here and there. Nothing unfixable/replaceable, but some work to get it back to normal and probably the cost of the car to repaint it.

I did come across an 850 turbo for 1350 about an hour away from me. So far, from talking with the owner on the phone, he's had it since 2001. It was his wife's car, but they're retired with 3 cars and she doesn't drive too often. Has ~124k on the odometer, but it broke recently. I think he said he might have put 3k on it since it crapped out. He doesn't know when the timing belt was last replaced. And the past 5 or so years it's been driven once a month. It also needs new struts which look like 2 to 300. Tires are in good shape. Paint chipped around the spoiler. But I was considering painting it anyway.

Does this sound like a good deal? I don't mind putting some work into it. I'd actually welcome the opportunity to learn some new skills and actually wrench on a car. I haven't done too much on mine myself, besides the basic maintenance because I never had money (or time, really) in college and now have a full time job and some disposable income.

Edit - Also, from what he told me, his passanger side cover is starting to peel as well. (Damn you environmentally friendly glue!) Is my best bet in fixing that trying to pull a dash from a junkyard if I can find it? It doesn't look like the cover is for sale by volvo anymore and I couldn't find anything aftermarket.

 

I'd totally drive that. They are almost indestructible if properly cared for.

 

I'm with FBP... The 95s have the bonus of the OBD1 system where you can read your own fault codes. Issues on the turbos are pretty much the same as the NAs - get your timing belt done, test if the PCV is clogged - look for leaks around the cam seals and oil filler cap as a start. Struts and brakes are easy on the 850.

If you can't get a maintenance history, then you'd want to freshen up all the fluids including the tranny, do the wires/cap/rotor/plugs (turbos are happy with OEM or copper core plugs - no need for iridiums etc).