Help! 1995 Volvo 850 with 95K?

I've owned my 95 854T since new, and it now has 85,000 mi on it.

Notable repairs have included:

- disks replaced twice (normal -- they're a "consumable part")

- evaporator replaced

- CV boots replaced (I consider this normal for an 11 year old car

- battery replaced twice

- other normal service (timing belt, brake pads, etc.)

Notably, the exhaust system is original and so far, no problems.

It has been serviced by Volvo dealers since new whenever the mileage has required it. (Dealers want you to come in every 6 months max, but in my case that has only been every ~ 3800 mi.) Service is more expensive than, say, my wife's Honda. But if it's done right, I am willing to pay for it.

The car has stranded me once -- when the battery died in rush hour traffic on the way to an important meeting. I blame the dealer -- they had checked "battery inspected" on every service, but the battery terminal clamp was corroded clean through! The previous service was 2 WEEKS PREVIOUSLY! If you're from the Vancouver area, that was North Shore Volvo.

In my experience, there's a big difference among dealers. The one I go to now fixes everything RIGHT the first time. I have never had to take the car back when something wasn't done. The previous dealer was terrible, and the car had to go back for remedial work within a week of nearly every service. The service personnel came from another Volvo dealer for which Volvo Canada eventually pulled the dealer's franchise based on letters from me and many other unhappy Volvo owners.

On my most recent service, the dealer gave me a near-new V50 as a loaner. It was an interesting drive -- tight, quiet, nimble, comfortable -- I was quite impressed given that it's a smaller car than the 850. But when I picked up my car after the service was complete, I was amazed at how tight the 11-year old 850 felt after putting ~ 100 mi. on a new car. The 850 feels like it has lots of life left in it.

Rick

They are out there. For one thing, anytime I sell one of my personal cars that is exactly what the buyer gets.

True enough, such vehicles are the exception, but with a high end car like a Volvo you should be able to find one's where the original owner went to the dealer every six months like clockwork. Somewhere around 1 in 10 used Volvos can be found which are indeed perfectly maintained.

With garden variety cars this is less common, but with higher end brands they are not all that hard to find if you take your time.

John

Uh, I do my own work as well, and I write it all down. It takes less than 2 minutes to make the entry in the log book.

John

I have all my service done at the dealer. I used to do it myself, but found out it is cheaper to have the dealer do it. For example, my '01 V70XC gets an oil change every 7,500 miles. In 180,000 miles, that is

I took a long test drive in a V50 T5 a while back, Nice, and would have seriously considered it if it weren't for the issue unavailable service manuals and fault code docs.. (Owners can't buy this stuff any more)

I'll may go for an Audi next, or if Mitsubishi brings in their Evolution wagon, I may consider it as well. The worst problem with my 850 now is that it burns a quart of oil in around 3000 miles..

-- Email reply: please remove one letter from each side of "@" Spammers are Scammers. Exterminate them.

When you're maintaining upwards of 12 Volvos and a Saab along with a horrendous pile of non car related projects, that 2 minutes to write something down starts to add up, not worth it IMO, by the time I sell a car I've way more than got my money out of it, I've only sold a couple but they were old and cheap enough nobody even asked for service info.

"Daniel Anderson" wrote in news:4C8gf.137937$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

Daniel, I just lost my '94 850T in a freeway "sandwich"; rear-ended at 50 MPH, while stopped - forced into car in front. Bumps and bruises, but wife and I both opened our car doors and got out. All electrics still work work and the car runs (after blowing out the muffler due to a crushed tail pipe). The car had 102K on it, Ran sweet always, but was properly maintained (real important!) Anyway, now with estimated repairs pegged at over $11,000 and extensive unibody damage, its a write off, and I'm real sad.

My advice? Buy the car, it might save your life.

Larry