appreaciate the info Henry10 you guys are great ive got a bunch of good info in here to reference when buying and after i buy my volvo.

unfortunately i called again about the 850 for sale today and the owner said they didnt wana uncover it for a test drive bc there was freezing rain here today and snow. i can rerspect that, so we said we'd meet tomorrow or monday...2 hrs later i get a call from the owner saying someone from their neighborhood bought it.

so im a little bummed now but im back searchin CL. ill keep u guys posted...

 

Rolling Tank, I have a 96 850 and it runs as good today as it did then. Of course there are the usual problems that all cars will have eventually but I have taken it from California to Georgia and now in Michigan and I wouldnt trust another car as much. I had a accident guy hit me in an suv at full speed while I was stopped and all it did was dent the bumper and break a head light. Great car that will take care of you if you take care of it.

 

stay away from volvo ,go buy a good car . 850 junk . i got more money in my 740 and 850 then what the car cost .

 

made like a tin can .not safe not dependable

 

Sorry about your luck, hookus. if you hate them so much why do you continually come here? And quoting yourself? really? Are you even old enough to drive?

 

Depending on the budget of course -- if you can point to a car that you can pay $ 1200 - $ 1,500, be able to use as daily driver (as most people here do), be a lot less tin-can that the ricers, that does not need a tailwind to get it up to 50 mph on the highway, that you would not be ashamed to drive to your date -- if you can find one, I would be all ears. Oh wait, and walk out alive if you ever crash it...

 

hookuspookus,
I respectfully disagree with you, but I also suspect that your opinion is based on your experience with your Volvo. It may be that how you buy a used car that contributed your your unfortunate experience. I bought a used 1995 Volvo GLT that could have very easily turned out to be a turkey. Indeed a previous owner had turned back the mileage by 70K miles. Instead of a car with 150K miles I had one with over 220K ! My philosophy when buying a used car is to assume that it needs repairs - no matter how good it looks or runs, and no matter what sugar coated story was told to me when I purchased it. Once a car has over 150K and is over 10 years old, stuff just MUST be replaced. Machines do not last forever. I assume I will spend another $ 500.00 for repair work. I take the car a to my mechanic and instruct him to go over EVERY inch of the car and list all that need replacement now and a list of suggested replacements for anything that might go wrong in one year. Aside from this, I instruct him to replace EVERY fluid in the car: brake fluid, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, etc. ( I change the oil and filter myself). I am 62 now and cannot perform all of the repairs I used to when I was younger. This year I will probably change the alternator. There is nothing wrong with it now, but why push my luck considering how old it is? I do not want to be driving it when it fails. Look at it this way, I bought a car that probably cost over $27K new for only $1500. I got a bargain! But I fully expect to pay more and spend extra time to bring the car up my standards of drive-ability.

 

it seems everyone forgot about volvo falsifing there ad and the NTSB found them guilty of putting wood roll cage in car to demonstrate its safty

 

its the wife ,blinded like everyone else on volvo's safety . do you remember when the NTSB busted them putting a wooden roll bar in the car to enhance its crash rating ? i come here to warn people about the DANGER factor . senior member just means paid subscriber right ? i work on my cars do you ? didn't think so ! feel free to write back

 

my cars where new not used ,

 

i'm married and you ? crash ? are you going by the false crash test volvo submited in there ad ? and don't think your stupid remark insulted me

 

quote like i said hope you have alot of burnable cash unquote

 

seems like ur pretty pissed at volvo

got a list of parts uve replaced?

 

 

Nope, it relates to your number of posts. I believe you can be a paid subscriber on VS.

Yes I do, and most of my teaching came from this site and MVS. I'm a shade tree mechanic and learning as I go, but absolutely love working on my 855. I know that Volvo parts are more expensive than American parts, but I feel that quality parts going into a quality car will cost a bit more and it's well worth it in my mind.

I've heard that the quality of Volvo has dropped since the days of the 850 series, which is quite unfortunate - but I am unable to confirm that. I have just over 200K on mine, and I haven't had many of the major problems noted on the site. I've dropped 2 grand in the last year for parts & tools, but I see all of it as maintenance work, not repairs due to poor design - except that darn SAS .

Also, I've been unable to stick with the factory mantenance schedule for the last few years, but it's still going strong. I keep in mind that we are talking about cars that are 15 years old, and not many cars that age survive. If you think about it, most cars are traded-in before they reach 6 or 7 years old, so they don't have to last much longer then that.

Side Note: I once heard a story of a car manufactor going to a junk yard to inspect their cars, noting how old the car was and what parts were still in a usable state. This process was performed to reduce the cost of parts by seeing what parts could be built with less longevity - why have a 50 dollar part last for 20 years when it'll end up in the scrap heap within 10 years?

 

You cant let one bad experience give you a tainted perception on a car. I love the 850s mine has 202k and going strong my parents 850 has 210k and going strong our old 240 had 300k and still ran when we got rid of it my Buddys 740 has 215k and going strong tell me that's not durability

 

I work on my cars as well. I have a Master's Degree in Vehicle Structural Engineering...And I have been working on cars for around 30 years. I'm willing to bet that I have a LOT better understanding of how an automobile works than you do.

I too would like to see this falsified crash test you keep talking about. Sounds like a lot of "hookuspookus" to me.

 

I think I remember what you are talking about. A long time ago Volvo got in trouble for a TV ad they did where they drove a tractor over the car and it wasn't damaged. Turns out later that they reinforced the roof so it wasn't crushed by the weight of the tractor, and Volvo was fined for exaggeration. It was definitely a poor choice on the marketing departments behalf but certainly not a reason not to buy Volvo.

Volvo's reputation for extreme safety has been earned over decades of producing safe and reliable vehicles, and I think a lot of people (myself included) are alive today because of Volvo's excellent safety features.

 

oh....THAT commercial? I guess i didnt see that, as SMART people would realize that was an attemot at overexaggeration. Kinda like the nissan commercial in the early 90s where the 300ZX outruns a fighter jet.

DAMN being intelligent sucks sometimes.

 

I think both guinness and hookuspookus need to understand something very clearly; you are reading the comments and thoughts of people that are passionate about their Volvos. That passion will cause quite a lot of bias towards our cars and bias against others. What we believe is ‘maintenance’ or ‘quirks’ as opposed to ‘crap’ or ‘expensive’ is our opinion. You’ll find this kind of passion about most any car (Anyone love the Yugo?) or most anything else, for that matter. I have the same passion for my Miata, but I never had a tingle over my 1976 Delta 88.

Guinness, clearly there’s plenty of us that hope you find the same passion that we have for our cars – and also hope you find one in reasonable condition that doesn’t sour your taste like hookuspookus has been soured. I feel bad that hookus looks down on the car, but it’s his opinion and he is free to share his experiences with us.