My first Volvo, 93 850GLT

wow...nice"'catch" for the $

The one thing that is typical with these is the automatic transmission/FWD unit fails and you need to get a rebuilt one.

I drove my '93 Volvo 850 sedan 185,000 miles over mountain roads, Interstate highways, and city driving. It averaged over 25 MPG and got

29 MPG highway. I had four problems: 1) the radio antenna had a poor connection when new and had to be replaced, 2) the gas struts that hold the trunk lid open got weak at 80,000 miles and had to be replaced, 3) the throttle linkage would stick if not cleaned until a Volvo tech found an adjustment* that was out of tolerance and 4) at 145,000 miles the automatic transmission had to be replaced. The automatic transmission is a weak point of the '93 850, but 145,000 miles is not too bad.

After 9 years and 185,000 miles we sold the '93 850 for $5,000.

*See my website for the story.

Well, I got depressed when I read about your 25 MPG. I have 850 station wagon for 8 years and never ever could get more than 24-25 GPM when driving 110 km/hour. Driving faster drops this 24 to 22. City driving (Europe) achieves at the best 17 GPM. City driving in winter and it drops to 15. The car is 175 HP automatic. Everybody here tell me it's normal. How is this possible?

We get 25 - 26 mpg on the highway, and 17 mpg in the city. Our city drives are short drives in traffic that are always 3 miles or less. I've noticed that making these longer drives seems to improve the efficiency to 18 - 20 mpg.

That is what the Volvo mechanics tell us as well.

We have had everything on the car except the evaporative emission control system checked. Everything checked out okay.

bev

Hello Emmit, Tony, Bev, Steve et al.,

I own a 1996 855 Turbo (manf date 2/96). On a recent road trip to Charleston, SC from Florida we averaged just over 28mpg highway. In city driving we average anywhere from 17mpg to 20mpg. My car has 118,500 miles on the odo.

Just had its first major problem - the dreaded A/C Condensor failure. Cha-ching! $1250 later (less a 15% off parts & labor Coupon from Volvo corporate - thank you very much) we're back in business. My A/C blower motor was also

Also had the recent Seat Heater campaign (recall) done which involved replacing the harnesses and thermostats located beneath the front seats. Thank you Volvo.

Otherwise, also just replaced the two front struts with Boge Turbo Gas and the newly redesigned (by Volvo) upper strut mounts. They were prone to cracking with age which caused a "clunk, clunk" when travelling over bumps or rough roads.

We love our Volvo despite the recent $2000+ repairs. Bought it from the original owner back in 2001 with 98k miles for $10k.

Cheers, "Parataxic Distortion"

Thanks, I'm really enjoying this car. I live in Tulsa OK and just drove it to Iowa and back; about 1000 miles total. Everything worked fine. Better ride than my Accord. Felt safe. My only nagging worry was the tranny. I've been hearing all kinds of warnings about them going out at about 150k miles. I am going to research and see if the transmission had ever been serviced or replaced and then I guess hold my breath and save up.

Hey P.D.,

About the coupon from Volvo, how'd you get it and is it still good?

Also, the Seat heater campaign; do you know if it applies to '93s? where might I get info?

Thanks, Emmit

I have a 93 2l 20v 850 saloon and so far it's always returned over 30 mpg; generally 32ish but up to 34. This is 90% driving Scottish country roads (i.e. generally stuck behind something and unable to use cruise control, and having to pull off overtaking maneuvers as quickly as possible) with the final 10% being town/city driving.

I expect the "emissions control" gear that seems to be fitted to US cars doesn't help fuel economy much?

AJ

Probably not. BTW, by gallons do you mean US gallons or Imperial gallons?

1 US gallon = 3.84 litres 1 Imperial gallon = 4.76 liters

If it is imperial gallons, then you get about 6.7 miles/liter, while under similar conditions with a US 850, I get about 6.5 miles/liter.

Bev

I *SUSPECT* the Scots use imperial gallons, not US gallons which yield something in the 20 to 20+ MPG range.

Chuck Fiedler Nothing but Volvos since 1974

30 MPIg = 24 MPUSg 34 MPIg = 27 MPUSg

This is what I get with my '93 854 and '95 855.

Great website! Very informative. I'm looking at the 850 wagon or V70 as a replacment for my aging 93 Saab 9000CSET (still going strong but I need more room).

Natural Light Black and White Photography

boots,struts)

Emmit,

I believe you need to contact Volvo NA in California. Go their website and also "register" with them as an owner of a '93 850. I also joined the High Mileage Club...perhaps that is how I got on their coupon and recall mailing list. That is what I did. Let me know how you make out and if you have any other questions.

Cheers, ParataxicDistortion (PD)

Of course! Sorry. Being an Engineer you would have thought I might have remembered - this is why I point-blank REFUSE to work in the oil industry; these Yanks *insist* on using all sorts dodgy units just to make life difficult for us here in the civilised world! :-)

And me Canadian by birth, too...

Cheers, AJ

I am a retired physicist and worked with engineers all my working life. They use a calculator for everything, even 2 + 2. At least when they used slide rules they could add, they just couldn't multiply or divide without their slide rule, even 2x2. But they could figure out the decimal point in their head, they had to. I had a several profs that made every test problem come out even so you could estimate the answer in your head and you were always right. If you used a slide rule, you risked making an error.

is that imperial pancake syrup or petrol? you get much better milage on petrol.

I drive a 94 (5 Speed Manual) 850 Turbo Sedan with just over 230,000kms on it

I just recently did what, up until now, I though was impossible for this car which in the city averages somewhere between 11 and 12 Litres / 100Kms.

I drove 730kms. It was 99% highway at about 125 - 130 Kms/Hour, some slightly higher streteches but not much below 125kms/hour) 730km's. I consumed (based on a full tank to full tank again fill up) 61 Litres. This works out to about 11.96 kms / Litre or about 28.6 miles/gallon. This is a record for me..and I'm happy about it ! :)

Just sharing....

Richard Toronto, Canada