The 850 in question is a 95 turbo sedan with 230,000 miles. Runs fine, leaks a little oil at the turbo drain line, but that is it, Newer tires, timing belt good, recent tune up,AC works, new lower control arms and struts, brakes fine, etc. Basically needs nothing. Wife wants to take it to South Dakota and back this spring (basically a 4000 mile round trip) I'm ok with it, but also wonder.......Just trolling for an opinion I guess.

Glenn

 

anything could happen, but anything can happen in ANY car.

It's better to take one that at least you can trust regardless of miles.

 

why not? if its in good shape and been well maintained then you should be fine if you trust the car drive it anything can happen to any car. my parents 850 with 220k+ gets driven to denver from washington and back periodically been good so far, id trust my 850 turbo to make the drive do it.

 

I have taken mine on lots of long trips - though the longest was 2K round trip. The 850 is a relatively easy car to repair, and very common in junkyards, and even if something broke that must come from a dealer, there are lots of those spread out too.

However, I always travel with the car's title. If something major let go in the engine, I'd have it hauled to the nearest junkyard, sell it for whatever they'd give (minus the wheels - I'd have to pull those) and rent something to carry me the rest of the way.

In my case, it just wouldn't be worth it to deal with getting an immobile, broken, been wrecked twice, 250K+ mile car back home. It's kind of a nice freedom to be able to wash my hands of it. I have more than gotten my money's worth out of it already.

 

I would take either one of mine on a trip like that.
Yellow has 170K
The white one has 330K
The purple wagon has about 200K as well.

 

Every time.
As you said, "needs nothing".
Ed

 

Car's only as good as its owner, you've taken the steps to maintain it sensibly.

Enjoy the trip, get in boost, watch for cops.

 

This is kinda funny. I would take my 740 GLE 1,000 miles either direction without hesitation. Never questioned it with over 400,000 miles on it. The way I see it, once a car is warmed up, with 10 minutes, the car doesn't know if it has traveled 20 miles or 400 miles. So, you get the car on the highway and drive 300 per pop and stop for gas, food, etc., it really doesn't know that you did just drive across town.

When I purchased this wagon, I baught it "unseen" with a known transmission problem. The deal was that it was 1,500 miles away and part of my agreement with the seller was that he had to drive it to the airport to meet me. My twisted thinking was this; if he could drive it to the airport which was 35 miles from him, I would be able to drive it 1,500 miles home. Which I did, no problems.

The funny thing was, when the guy showed me the car, the battery was near dead and when he shifted it in drive, it took about 90 seconds for the car to try to go into first. LOL, I was thinking, WTH!!! He assured me that it drove fine once it made it into 3rd gear but heck, I had to stop the car a lot between Boston and Little Rock AR. What he didn't know was the the WINTER button bypassed 1st and 2nd, so I reached down, pushed the button and way I went, to get tranny fluid to change it.

Man, don't think twice about it. The car doesn't know how many miles it has nor how far it is being driven.

 

I have owned 4 different 740's...each had over 200K. I never hesitated to take them on long trips. They ran like tanks! I have owned volvo's, ford, chevy, honda, nissan, toyota, olds, pontiac....and the volvo's and hondas were the most relaible out of the lot. And they were also the ones with the highest milage!
I had a 96 olds with 101K lose both head gaskets 3 months after I bought it! Had a toyota lose its trans 4 months after I bought it.
My volvo's...with the exception of 1 or 2 MAF's going bad they were very reliable.
Now I have my 1st 850. It was neglected a bit by previous owners, yet still runs. Even when these cars do have an issue...they STILL want to keep going.

 

I had a 1994 850 glt wagon. I bought it with a broken odometer at 143000 miles. I am a bank courier and drive over 100 miles a day. In 2010, I took my car from Akron, ohio to Clearwater, Florida. It ran flawlessly down and back. I had to add oil because my flame trap and pcv system was bad. I checked oil at every fuel stop. other than blowing a little smoke out the tailpipe, my car did very well. I sold it 2 months later, and its still floating around town. I estimate my car to have been well over 200,000 miles when i made that trip.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=3&theater

 

I would fix the turbo oil line leak (I mean why not?) first.

Also one of the main things I'm paranoid about on long trips are coolant hoses; real drag if one blows in the middle of no-where!! My rule is if they're over 120K miles or ten years, then they're due.. best to replace them (all) before they blow out on the missus 200 miles from nearest shop..