Interested in all opinions!

1994 850 turbo wagon 176K miles
- Best running car I have ever owned
- Had an original female owner until about 130K miles
- Car 'feels' like it has not been driven hard in its life
- My daily driver
- I average under 4,000 a year (I live close to work)
- But needs some TLC and probably $2,000 (estimate) to bring it up to Stage 1

Would you bother putting any money into this car or spend that $2,000 on a car with less miles and bring that car up to Stage 1?

Thanks!

 

It really comes down to how much you love the car.

My wife drives a 96 with almost 300K on it and I am about to drop some $$$ on it to fix a few things that have come up lately.
Needs: Vent system done, Cam seals and t-belt, Lower control arm, Brakes all the way around and a few other things including a used dash which I already have.
I also put a new radiator in it a few months ago as well.

But the car looks like it has about 100K on it and runs like it has that many miles as well. It has had 3k oil changes since new.

 

I don't think you can buy another car and get it to stage 0 for $ 2000. Including a ricer. Especially since you will not be driving it a lot, if like Tech said, if you like the car, sure it is worth spending the money on this rather than another one.

The big elephant in the room is WHO is doing the work. $ 2000 at the shop might not be very much. If you can DIY, it should really need less than that.

 

I dropped 2 grand into my 200K 855 last year and did it myself. That works out to about 200 bucks a month in maintenance costs. Seems like an inexpensive way to drive to me. I plan on doing some more work this summer, too.

If you decide not to keep it, what will you get? I'm of the opinion that I'll keep my car because I know it's history and it's cheaper to maintain it than getting another car with an unknown history.

Of course, if you can afford monthly payments on a new car, it's a harder decision to make, but I'm not crazy about new cars losing their value when you drive it off the lot.

 

I have a smiliar attitude: if you can sink 2 grand into it and have it be in great mechanical and cosmetic shape, why not do it? 2 grand for a car with all the features you get with the 850 is a LOT better than anything else you are gonna be able to get into for that money. Go price a new volvo.

 

My personal opinion is that even if you need drop $5000 in to it, Its still better that having a car payment and higher insurance. Im only paying $273 every 6 months for Full coverage.
Ive had my 854 for almost 16 years and just crossed 397,000 miles and im willing to dump the cash not only cause I love the car, but I refuse to pay $300 a month plus $180 a month for insurance for something thing that is most likely not going to last me, or i wont be as happy with.

 

If you like the car, keep it and do your best to keep it up. If you are tired of the car, dump it and get something else. However, if you get something use, you may not know what it needs unless you hire a independant car inspector to check it out for you.

My nephew just purchased a '02 Malibu that they thought was in great shape, less than 2 weeks after they got it they discovered it has some issues with coolant in the exhause. That means it either has a leaking head gasket, cracked block or something going on. They also found out that the cel was disconnected.

Unless your car is ready for the grave, keep it if you like it. Other than that, get something near new.

 

I find myself in the same boat with a twist. My wife is tired of the white car and wants and S60 R. I just put a good bit of work into it, but the dash rattles like crazy, it has several leaks and it makes a noise when turning left. So she says, I have never heard it.

My son in law wants the white car if we get something else, so at least it will stay in the family, and he is the mechanic that does anything to it that I can't do myself.

Not sure what I'm going to do, but if I find a great deal on an S60 that I like I will probably buy it. My other son in law is looking for the same thing, an S60 R, but he wants black or silver and those are two colors I don't want. I want red or white, but I just looked at that teal green color with the orange interior. Anybody ever seen one of these? It only about 90 miles from here and it's on e-bay and the bidding ends tonight.