looking at my first volvo. 2 cars .

the 98 v70 needs new motor. current one is toast and has 180K + miles..still looks good . guy wants 450

other car is 96 850 and only has 90K on it and works complete, cost $2500

money wise they come to close to same final cost but the cheapie could be major headache just for me to find motor.

advice needed on what is the better car in general before I buy one

 

Id buy the 850 personally, if they come out to the same amount of money. That being said, if you're mechanically inclined and have experience working on major car repairs, and you could invest some time , you COULD save money going the 'repair it yourself" route.

Still though, time isnt free, so I'd probably opt for the 850, because, while youd have (im assuming) a relatively new engine in the V70, you still have a car that has 180k of wear on other parts of the car, vs half that with the 850, and the difference between a 13 yr old car and a 15 yr old car isnt really enough that the age of parts is going to matter.

 

is it better to have non turbo? I dont care about the turbo. care about reliable car

whats the difference in v70 and 850 ?

 

Between the 96 850 and 98 v70? not a whole lot, honestly. Same motor, transmission, etc. There's a little bit of cosmetic difference between the two: clear corner lenses, different dash, slight improvements in safety, different wheels, etc, but they are built on the same platform.

Generally speaking the turbo engines are built a little better - oil jets to cool the pistons, etc. Either way you go, you can get a ridiculous amount of mileage on these things. If you look around this site, there are plenty of folks who have 250,000+ miles on their cars and they still run fine.

 

...until you drive one.

 

Starting to think these are extra expensive mOney pits.

Might have to hold off and find an acura or something less expensive and hard to repair.

I am fairly mechanically inclined but heck.

 

lol. Why assume that? As long as you maintain it, just like any car, they'll last forever. Let me know how long that acura lasts you before it rusts in half.

 

Gilber is dead on. Take it from someone who has owned both an integra and a 3.5RL integra - the volvo is MUCH easier to work on. Also, parts are a lot less expensive.

Even better, I've had FAR fewer mechanical issues with my 17 year old volvo than I had with my 2 year old integra or my 5 year old 3.5 RL

 

A turbo is a safety feature. I would opt for the 850, it has way less miles/wear. I don't think I will ever purchase another NON turbo car. This is coming from a man that is trying to purchase a '95 WAGON WITH 200k on the clock.

 

Find one with a turbo for $2500. They are not that hard to find. Either 850 or 98 V/S70 is basically the same car. Some people say the 98 is the best year every made by Volvo. But I would not buy one with 180K that needs a motor unless I was already had a motor and was set up to do the work myself.

 

Well I have decided to pass on the v70 cause if I cant drive it I have no idea what may be wrong besides the motor.

going to pick up the 850 with 90K on it for $2400.

by the end of the day it will be in my driveway..got a hour drive to go get it.

no one closer had one except a v70 with 150,000+ on it and $1100 more

 

you wont be dissapointed.

 

I thought the v70 was really nice inside and I liked how it sounded like quality when you closed the doors. that did it for me. and it was a well used up car. I may try to get the guy to sell me the rims off it for the 850..

having once sold and bought cars at a dealer I have been in and out of too many cheap feeling cars.

 

The 850 is a well built car. You will get many years out of it. But once you own one with a turbo, you will never buy one without.

 

Just to balance things out a little bit, because you guys are making it sound like the non-turbos are unreliable junk.

Not so.

My 94 non-turbo with 167k miles has given me some slight headaches, but it has never left me on the road. It is a solid daily driver. Most of the problems, would have been ignored by generic drivers but I fixed them because I love this car.

All in all, the non-turbo's are just as reliable as the turbos.

 

lol. wtf? No one ever said anything about NAs being "unreliable junk". All people are saying is cars with a turbo are more fun than cars without a turbo. reliability between the two cars are a horse a piece. But if you want more fun, more possibilities with playing with the car, the NA will fall VERRRYYY short.

 

well the 850 was not what it was advertised so I didnt get it. the v70 was night and day difference.

I need to find a motor for the v70 asap

 

I have owned three N/A's, two before my turbo and I had no idea how much more performance there was until I hit that throttle for the first time. My previous two N/A 850's were WONDERFUL hence the reason I still own one. The N/A and the Turbo are equal in every way except performance.

 

Man, I'm sorry to hear that the 850 was in poor condition. I have seen people trash a good car. I actually went 300 miles to look/purchase a S70 T-5 and when I seen the car I was pissed. That taught me how to read pictures. I can spot the true condition of a car pretty easy if I have a few decent pics. I wanted to sue the people that let me travel that far to look at that hunk of junk car they trashed out.

I tell people all the time, 200- miles on a Volvo does not scare me one bit. I think I can get a lot of miles out of one if the motor has not already been destroyed.

 

Back in 95 I was buying my first 850 and it was an 94 NA. When I was driving to the Volvo dealership to get it I passed a Lexus dealer that had a 94 Turbo model on the lot that some old lady had just traded in on a new Lexus. Only had 9800 miles on it and they had not even had a chance to clean it yet. I didn't test drive it or anything because I knew better. It was also $6K more than the one at the Volvo Dealership.

Well when I got to the Volvo dealeship the car was not there, but they brought it out of the bodyshop. I swear it had wet paint on it when the brought it to me. My wife was ticked off to say the least. So we just walked away, but figured what the heck lets stop and drive the one at the Lexus dealer on the way home just to see what it was like. We ended up putting 206K on that car and I wish I had replaced the engine when it went out.

All three of my kids learned to drive in that car and they all own Turbo Volvos now. My son has two of them