How important are age, mileage, service history when buying?

>Whats wrong with 94? :o
>
>Provided it's the later style headlamp shape and has the newer
>style switchgear it's fine :D

This depth of detail has surpassed my knowledge. Any chance of a clarification for the clueless? I was looking at a Feb 94 model this lunchtime and have to say the difference between that and the 96 I looked at yesterday didn't leap out at me.

>thought about getting a TDI? they're a fair bit quicker than
>the 2.0 10v (not sure about 20v), and actually vaugely
>economical (unlike the petrol models it seems)..

Yes, I haver thought about it and haven't yet ruled it out. When I drove one (in 98) I was *shocked* by the perforance. According the figrues I've seen it is slightly slower then the 2.5 20v. There are 4 things that mean I'm unlikely to get one at the moment:
1. First examples are 96 and therefore at the upper end of my budget.
2. Less of them around
3. Those I have seen are quite high milage
4. Uncertainty regarding the longevity of the Audi TDI engine (I don't expect it to be bad (especially if the cam belt has been done), but could it match up the the Volvo petrol?

I would be handy on longer trips with the family though.

>is the tax any different?
>
>insurance/petrol would be cheaper in a 2.0 - there do seem to
>be a lot of them for sale.

Feul consumption doesn't seem to differ much for any of the petrol normally aspirated engines. I checked some insurance quotes online and there wasn't a penny (cent even - I'm in Germany) difference between the different petrol engines only the TDI and then the T5 would cost me more to insure.

[DieselDoNicely]

There was a 850 mechanical facelift done in 95. The post 94s are meant to handle better and have less niggles. Arent the 2.0l's meant to be gutless?

DDN

>There was a 850 mechanical facelift done in 95. The post 94s
>are meant to handle better and have less niggles. Arent the
>2.0l's meant to be gutless?
>
>DDN

Ah, very handy to know. Thanks. Maybe I should be concentrating on 95-96 models.

Regarding the 2.0l I have never had the chance to drive one, but word at the dealers I briefly worked at was that the 2.0l 10v was 'wheezy' especially on the motorway. the 2.0l engne is not on my shortlist.

Hi

I have just sold my second Cooper S and bought a C70 Coupe. It has taken me a couple of weeks to get used to the change but I love the Volvo (I loved the cooper for different reasons) but the volvo has something special. I did loads of test drives in C70s and there was a huge difference in the cars I drove some with high miles drove well and others with low ones didn't. It comes down to how well they are looked after cared for and serviced. I ended up buying a 4 year old one with 34,000 miles full volvo history and 1 year volvo warrantee. it is a real gem!!! Shop around and look out for abused ones. I saw others with 70,000 that looked tired and were the same price....good luck

[deanrosc]

>There was a 850 mechanical facelift done in 95. The post 94s
>are meant to handle better and have less niggles. Arent the
>2.0l's meant to be gutless?
>
>DDN

mine'll do 70mph on the motorway. what more do you want.:-)

With £6000 to spend, you should get a fabulous 850. But, having driven the newer V70 myself, why don't you look to one of these? There are a lot of improvements over the older 850. The 97-2000 models even look the same externally. I agree with other posters (even though I drive a T5) that the other engines are well worth looking at. How do the prices compare over in Germany? £6000 over here will get you a lot of car.

Richard Whennell
855 T5 1995
VOC member

[bobcat]

>>before you change the fluid read up about the pro's and cons
>of it >as some people have had problems after fresh fluid
>
>
>I was gonna do an ATF flush and replace at the weekend! What
>are the pros and cons? My fuid is brown and I'm imagining it's
>the original (119k).
>
>
>

Some people say that if you have not had a fluid change for over 100k etc, then you run the risk of dislodging crud that has built up around the seals. I personally choose not to follow this and changed my fluid at 130K and the box then shifted fine.

I then had the rica upgrade done about a week later and it started to shift firmly which i believe is the box protecting itself against excessive slip that would occur it you shift smooth (long shift time) with high torque.

I just did another change a week ago at 147K as my fluid was brown, ive now fitted a cooler which should prolong its life. Im gonna change my fluid every other oil change (12k) as i can get 5l of dex 3 for £15, so its not that expensive to do. and i have made up all the equipment i need to do it quickly which includes a hose to connect to the cooler return line, big 25l clear container which 2l markings on it, and a long flexible funnel to fill up with.

and depending on how dirty my fluid is, i may flush using the top hose for ease.

just some worrying facts about the transmission, atf should run at 175f~80c to have a life of around 100k and over (remember that volvo dont have service intervals for the trans or a filter), the coolant in the rad can be at around 90c as this is the temp the coolant runs at. On turbo models you have an oil cooler that also exchanges heat to the coolant. and considering that the association of trans rebuilders say 90% of failures are down to heat you can see that the 850's are on a slippery slop.

I know what you mean. The Volvo do have something special about them. But than so does my Mini - but in a very different way. Once I have both I know that the Volvo will always be used for longer trips - comfort is amazing, and the Mini will always be used for around town and open A or B roads (totally 'chuckable' and fun) . The only exception being whe the family are 'in tow' then the Volvo will do very nicely for enjoyable driving without throwing the passengers around too much.

Having test driven a coulpe of 850s and v70s in the last few days I was astonished at the differences - even between supposedly identical models with the same engine. So far out of 5 cars driven there is only 1 under consideration 8o(