To all,
My son's father-in-law visited yesterday. My son holds him in high regard as a car mechanic. I asked him his opinion of my 1995 850GLT. He looked the car over and asked if if I knew that the engine was a SAAB engine - not Volvo. I mentioned that one of the reasons I bought my 850 GLT was because of the Volvo reputation for durability and long lasting life. He noticed a Volvo 240 DL parked in my neighbor's driveway and pointed to it and commented that "Those models have the reputation for lasting and mine (the 850 models) do not..."
I like my 850 GLT. It runs fine. The only thing I do not like is it having a nylon timing belt. I do not like nylon timing belts.
I would like to know your opinions on the above. How do you as Volvo fans, compare the 850 models with the 240 models ?

 

First: no offense to your father in law, but that is most definitely NOT a Saab engine that is in the car.

That being said, if someone said something like that to me, i'd take ANYTHING they said about cars with a grain of salt, because they obviously do not know what they are talking about.

I think comparing the 240 to the 850 is comparing apples to oranges - one is a rear wheel drive, one is front wheel drive. Yes, the 240 lasts forever, but there are plenty of folks who have an 850 with over half a million miles on them that still run and drive great.

 

240 last forever, partly because it is designed simpler comparing to nowadays cars. It is easy to maintain and fix - which makes it "last".

 

If you want a car that will run forever and require very little maintenance & repairs, the Volvo cars with the B230 engines are the way to go. They are NOT fun to drive, have no get up and go, get ok gas milage, but can last forever if minimum maintenace is completed regularly.

The 850 is a totally different car. Made just a sturdy as the 240's and 740's, and can last forever as well. Just takes more maintenace due to the FWD, weight in the front. I have meet people with over 500k on their cars and they look & drove like they had 50k. More bells & whistles means more repairs and maintenance. The average age of the 240's were something like 17 years. Not sure what the 850's are but there are still an awful lot of them on the road.

 

/\ +1 the 240s and 740s are good, definitely simpler, but id rather have an 850 any day over a 240 or 740. maybe a little bit more to maintain but its worth it. the 850's arent jaguars they dont need a mechanic in the trunk lol

 

Thank you IBIFIED and all who responded.
He is not my father-in-law. What a chilling thought. He is my son's father-in-law. Although, he seems to know quite a bit about older Chevys, I was suspicious of his statements concerning the Volvo 850 and 240. He never owned or worked on one. I did think that his statements deserved to be discussed on this forum.
I truly doubted his statement concerning the engine being a SAAB engine -- but honestly, I did not know. Second, I wanted to hear from other forum members how they perceived the differences and durability between the models 240 and 850. I am grateful to everyone who responded.
I bought my 1995 Volvo 850 GLT in July 2009 for $1,500.00. I encountered some annoying problems, but not major ones. This forum contains a treasure trove of information on how to fix every problem.

 

Another thing to consider: with a lot of cars....how reliable it is is pretty closely related to how well it is cared for.

 

I actually just picked up an '88 240DL wagon last week and have had my 850 wagon for a little over a year. The 850 has 182k and the 240 is unknown (odometer stopped at 140k). The 850 is definately smoother and has a little more get up and go but, the 240 seems like it's screwed together better.

 

Personally I think the 850 and the early V/S70's are the best Volvo's ever made. I owned two 760's before getting my first 850 and there is simply no comparison in the feel of driving the car. I believe the 240 to be more reliable if the car is not maintained properly, but if maintained the way the car should be, I think the 850 will last just as long.

My son in law is a mechanic and he is just coming up to speed on working on my Volvo's, but he's getting there. They are different than Chevy's that's for sure. I'm sure you son's Father in law could learn to work on them, and probably would gain respect for how they are built.

 

Personally, I have owned hondas, acuras, toyotas, mopars, nissans, chevys, saabs, bmws, and volvos. Of all of those cars, my 850 has probably been the easiest to work on. Sure they do a lot of things a little different than other manufacturers, but once you get past the quirks, they're VERY well designed for being easy to work on.

 

Its the fact they do things differently that makes them relatively easy to work on.

 

I agree, Regime. Most of the time after i do some work and figure out how it is supposed to come apart and go back together, i find myself asking "why dont ALL manufacturers do it this way?"

 

Except for changing the evaporator. Volvo blew it on that one.

 

im guessing he doesnt like Saab's too? LOL

 

Thank you all for your responses ! They are all informative and I am happy that I put this question on a thread.
I am happy with my 850 GLT. It is a rugged solidly built car. The outward appearance is elegant. It is a sharp looking car -- to me I see it as a classic design! My car had a few issues when I bought it. Nothing I considered too serious but definitely needed attention. I knew that when I bought it. I had not worked on a Volvo since my 1964 model 122 back in 1970. I had to seek out a knowledgeable mechanic.
What I discovered was unsettling. My car simply needed a pair of Stabilizer bar links for the front end. A Volvo dealer mechanic told me so. On the other hand, a mechanic-owner of a car repair shop that specializes in Volvos informed me that I needed a front end job. The cost he estimated at $4,600.00. Indeed, he pointed to a Volvo 850 in his lot and informed me that he was charging that car's owner that sum for that repair.
My car was repaired for less than $ 100.00 - but not by him. The reason I tell this is that from that day forward I believed that too many Volvo model 850s have gone to the junkyard because of outrageously inflated repair estimates.
When this occurs it has an impact on the Model 850 reputation.

 

Could your son's father in law possibly have been getting his engine's confused?

The B27/B28 from the 260's & 760 were used in a modified form by Pugeot, Renault & Volvo - hence why it was called the PRV engine. Was a nice engine in my experience, but realiability (at least on my 265) was terrible. Oh, and it drank more than someone at Oktoberfest!

Cheers

 

Hello Willowdog,
You are probably correct. He probably mistook the engine in the 850 for the engine you mentioned but I will not bring that subject up with him. He does know a lot about cars but he does not easily accept a differing opinion (at least from me) as willingly as he gives opinions.
I approach problem solving from a different perspective. I research what others have done in these forums to fix a problem before I, or my mechanic perform a repair. For this reason I consider this forum an invaluable resource. This forum has saved me from committing blunders and helped me maintained my car better than I would have.