Hi guys, I know many of you have them, and I found one for sale near me. Its a 96 Red 850 R, the body is in amazing condition and so is the interior. Has new struts, stabalizers, brakes, 145,000 miles ( auto ). It looks great and its $4800.. a litte high but im not totally commited, just a little intertested. My Question is, how are the turbos? Is there a lot of major work? I know Volvo made some bad turbos in the early 2000s and many are garbage/ reguire a lot of work. Ive never had a turbo before so I have no clue.. so im curoius. Also if the turbo goes.. can it drive like a non-turbo? Thanks!!

 

I feel it is over priced, I personally, would not go any higher than 3000. They require a lot of maintenance, if you can do it yourself, it makes ownership affordable. Look around on this sight and others, and see what other people are fixing on their 850s. Just remember you are dealing with a 14 year old car, things are going to fail.

 

thanks! and yeah I know, even if everything works its still 14 years old :P

 

That seems about the right price range for an 850R with that many miles....Depending the service history. I got mine for 4K with 170k miles with all the service records, clean carfax, and stage 0 75% complete. I'd try to talk him down to 4k-4.5K

Like silkhope said, it is a 14 year old car. Things are going to fail (vac lines, elbows, PNP switch ect, PCV...). If you're here in the USA, the R's never came with in a 5speed. You can do a 5M swap for relatively inexpensive if you really want a 5M. I suggest every one do the swap. It brings a whole new life to the car.

If it's really nice on the inside and out with a clean carfax and a good inspection, I'd go for it.

 

The turbo's are great. Our S70 was the 1st turbo we've owned and I don't know how I have lived so long without them. As for the turbo vs the na, there is not much difference in maintenance. the turbo doesn't add a lot more to be concerned about.

The turbo power makes them a lot more fun to drive and you don't have to put your foot in them all the time. I'm getting 25 mpg with my T-5R and that is good. I also consider the turbo a safety feature. You can get out of the way faster.

 

Im sure they are fun to drive but im worried about maitnence and reliability. The guy said the turbo is good. Major service was done at Volvo dealer. He said there is a minor oil leak in the turbo oil bath, which he is going to fix by getting a new gasket and o-ring installed this week. He said the transmission shifts well and such. ( asked b/c i know Volvo trans can suck) and there were no trans. issues or replacements. He had the trans serviced and replaced timing belt as well. Hes owned it since 1999 and changed the oil every 3,000 miles. So in all it seems good. Any common issues on them?



the price i would prob go to about $3500. It doesnt have those big, nice darken color rims so i would HAVE to get those ofcourse so i would use that as reason to lower the price and of course the age and such.

 

Like I said, I doubt you'll get it for less then 4k. But it never hurts to try to low ball the seller.
From what you've said, it sounds like it's in great shape.
Mine's got 180k on the clock and the only major thing that went out was the transmission at about 175k. I did a manual swap and now the car is back up to running strong.

 

I don't think the turbo's are really any more maintenance than the non except for the fact that you need to NOT skip oil changes and not abuse the turbo when cold and allow it to cool down properly. $3,500 would be a great price but $4,200 wouldn't be bad imo. Ask about the wheels. Personally, 16" wheels will be a lot more comfortable. Be advised, the R has a harsher sports car ride, everything is tighter.

 

You sure have heard or recieved a lot of bad press on these cars. The transmissions dont suck and the turbos are not bad. I dont know where that info is coming from but it should be questioned. You will love the car and if you take care of it (like you should with any car) it will give you years of fun. Most of us on this forum have over 100k on our cars. That should tell you something.

btw, I paid $600 for my 95 T-5R.

 

[quote=rspi;234649]The turbo's are great. Our S70 was the 1st turbo we've owned and I don't know how I have lived so long without them. As for the turbo vs the na, there is not much difference in maintenance. the turbo doesn't add a lot more to be concerned about.

The turbo power makes them a lot more fun to drive and you don't have to put your foot in them all the time. I'm getting 25 mpg with my T-5R and that is good. I also consider the turbo a safety feature. You can get out of the way faster.[/quote]

+1 to that. Merging onto a main road is the best part of this car!

 

+++++1

You got some really bad information. I have had seven turbo Volvos, my son has two, my in laws had one and each of my daughters has had or has one, and not one problem ever with any of the Turbos or Transmissions.

If that red R is in great shape it is worth every bit of $4500 with the mileage it has on it. You can keep shopping like people here have done to get one on the cheap, but you will put money into it. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

What color interior does it have? The red ones came with both tan and charcoal. I don't care for the tan myself.

 

awesome. I think im going to look at it for sure. Now back to the turbo, what happens if the turbo breaks? Is it drivable or will the car not work?

 

turbos dont really "break" so much as they gradually start to leak oil from worn seals, etc. If something catastrophic DID happen to your turbo, then no, the car probably wouldnt run....at least not well. it will switch the car into "limp" mode which wont let you run the motor over 3000rpm and it'll run like raspy a$$hole. If you want to see what it would feel like, then disconnect the intercooler hose at the top and see how it runs.

 

ok great , thanks everyone. so in sum, its not a mechanical mess , normally? and the transmission isnt something that always needs to be replaced on the R? like i know the older xc90s at about 100k they need new transmissions that cost about 6k.. nothing like that for the R? thats really my only convern is something like that b/c inve never owned a turbo and ive seen some turbo cars go in hand with issues like that.. but seeing how you guys love and have you r Rs it looks pretty good

 

ggreat to hear! and its red with black. looks hot!

 

OK so i looked at the R today.. it was NICE. Excellent is better describing the car... the mechanics were near perfect. Only issue that come across me were, really, its age. The dashboard had some creaks, that i didn't care for and some leather cracks.. mine is no where near as nice but my 850 is my "old" car anyway. So really, im not sure if i want to spend the money on an "old" car. But my god, you R drivers, i TOTALLY understand why you love the car.. it drives flawlessly and looks very sharp! I'm def going to think about this one.

 

Cracked dash sucks and cracked seat as well? when you say cracked seats, can you see the cousion in them or does the leater just have lines & creases in them? I don't like it when the leater gets hard.

Most dash & seats crack because someone was using armor all on them and they were not garaged a lot.

 

um the cracks were normal.. i think. mine has some/many. the cracks on this one were very minimal. but the dash made like a rattle a little bit. mine does too. like when you hit hard pot-holes you hear like a rattle.. so i was disappointed that it had that. but otherwise it was perfect and i doubt the guy will go down too much from $4500 b/c he put a lot of good work into and thus making the engine perfect. Im going to think about it tho and possibly make an offer

 

Dude it's going to have some creaks it's 13 years old! I think you should jump all over it. I have looked at no less than 3 of these things in this price range and they were not as nice as you say this one is. I lookedat a white one that I REALLY liked the color scheme of it. Pearl white/Charcoal/Black interior. None of the cheesy wood accents (sorry guy's but it really does date these car's). But when I looked at it I was REALLY disappointed and it was a smokers car as well (it reaked of smoke). If it was me and I had the money I would be all over it...Where is the car located at again!!

Seriously though sounds like this dude took care of it so dont waste anytime...it will be gone before you know it.

 

NADA Guides say that clean trade in is $3,000 and retail is $4,950. I would try to get it for $4,000 since it seems to have had some work done on it lately. Used cars, especially european ones are not selling real good right now. I talked to a guy with a high milage T-5R a couple of weeks ago that was willing to take $1,000 for it. It was not in the condition that this car is in but a private owner sale is a little tougher to do than a dealer. I know a small Volvo dealer that has a nice black R that he would sell for $4,000 to $4,500. Try to get it for $4,000, especially if you DON'T NEED ANOTHER CAR.