240 to an 850

The 850's, other than the '93 year have been holding up pretty well. They're not as much of an indestructible tank as a 240 but they're more refined and more comfortable, get better fuel economy, definitly more difficult and expensive to work on but not too bad compared to other cars of similar age.

We replaced our 1989 240 wagon with a 1996 850 wagon. The 850 is sturdy and has lots of cool features the 240 didn't. It's more comfortable and much better on snow. On the downside, the 850 is very complicated, prone to random (and expensive) failures, and nearly impossible to diagnose.

From reading this group, it seems natural to expect to replace your 850 automatic transmission every 50K miles and fix leaks in the air conditioning every spring.

I'd rather have a new 240 than a new 850.

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-RL

The best years for the 850 are supposed to be '96 & '97. The main problematic areas are: a) A/C condensor b) ABS controller

Another thing that the original poster will have to contend with in switching to an 850 is that the car is not RWD, so handling is quite different, turning circles are wider etc. The 850 also has an interference engine - so routine maintenance must be followed more carefully.

Beverly

Not me. The 240 was great, but the 850s have been much better and more reliable. Yes, our 93 had the AT go at 145,000 miles, but other than that may '93 and '95 850 were rock solid. I had a 240 with an AT that went at 100,000 miles. I had another 240 with a soft cam which had to be replaced. I have a garage full of old 240 fuel pumps. They were a problem. I always carried a spare in the car. Also, you weren't in a

I had a 240 (8 years) then a 740 (15 years) and now have an 850 (12 months). The 850 is a whole different vehicle. Different acceleration, handling, more fun! Don't think you'll be disappointed. Running costs and reliability seem about the same but there's a heck of a lot more electric stuff to go wrong with an 850 but they seem to have a reputation for reliability. Time will tell. - Roy

I think the fact that it's 2005 and people are still trying to decide if a car made around a decade or so back is still reliable ought to say something.

A "time will tell" attitude about a vehicle that's 10 years old isn't something you'd see for a lot of cars.

Good point, I guess a lot of us are just spoiled, having seen so many 20+ year old 240's still holding together. The 850's do seem to continue the trait, they're more complex but still very well made cars.