Hello, I'm 27 years old. Long story short I'm thinking of buying a 1995 Volvo 850 base model car for $1,300. My only concern is it has 309,000 miles on the car. I live in NC so rust isn't a problem that I could tell on it. I've been searching and trying to research how dependable these cars are, basically to figure out if that many miles is a ticking time bomb that may not make it home after purchase or if these cars last for a long time. I drove it and it seems fine. Nothing seemed messed up or out of place, no weird noise or clanging of metal I could hear etc. Seemed to good of shape for that many miles. What's y'all Volvo guys opinion on buying a 850 with so many miles? Yes? No? Also any advice about car rather yes or no is appreciated. Thank y'all! 😁

 

Biggest things are: Can you repair the car yourself in the event of an issue? Will it be your primary vehicle that you depend on daily? At 300k+ miles, the dependability of the car relies greatly on the maintenance, or lack thereof, performed by the previous owner(s).

Also, that 850 could have even more miles than that. Does the odometer work? Those internal plastic gears are known to break and no longer work.

I bought a 96 850 a few years back with 130k ish miles for $500. But that was before used car prices skyrocketed.

In general, they are dependable cars as long as they are treated properly. Old volvos are known to go hundreds of thousands of miles. They used to hand out badges at each 100k mark.

 

Ask seller when the timing belt and water pump were replaced, along with the last transmission drain and fill. If it's at 300k miles, it seems someone did take care of it.

 

Good advice from Tonyfr.

Make sure the timing belt is a recent install.