Buying 850 GLT

Firstly Hi all,

I am going this friday (25.02) to look at a 1993 2.5 20V 850 GLT Auto estate and was wondering if anyone knew of any nasties i should be looking out for. Also if you could share your opinions regarding this car and as to a fair price to pay for one in fairly good (although that's the sellers opinion!!) condition.

[imac]

Hi TJ,

The 2.5 20v Auto isn't in huge demand, and with it being a '93 model it'll be slightly less so too. The price would depend entirely upon condition, what colour it is, spec, mileage etc, but I'd say roughly anywhere between £1,200 and £2,200. Possibly more or less depending on the variables above.

I've been told the autobox on the early 850's is weaker than on the later cars - someone will confirm this I'm sure. Check the colour of the ATF oil and how smoothly the box shifts.

Watch out for any oil leaks, the common one is the rear oil seal between the g/box and the engine. Costs about £400 to fix.

If the car has A/C, make sure it works well (hard I know in this weather), as that can be costly to fix.

Rust shouldn't be an issue, never seen an 850 with more than a small patch of surface rust. Usual checks for oil in coolant etc.

If you could post a more specific specification of the car that could be a big help, maybe a link to the advert if it's online..?

The timing belt should have been changed at 50k mile intervals so make sure this has been done. If not make sure it is doen as soon as you get the car.

Personally though I'd say don't do it. Go for a T5. They don't cost that much more to buy or run (insurance can be a problem for some people - for me it was only £40 more per year than a 2 litre 20 valve).

Regards

Andy

[imac]

Yeah I was going to say look at the T5, but didn't want to be accused of bias as it's not the performance forum... :D

I'm a young 'un, and the insurance for the T5 was only marginally more than the 2.5 20v, I think it was about £50-60 difference.

Hi thanks for responding so quickly.

Additional information as follows:

Colour is black and comes with A/C, Cruise Control, Heated Seats, Half Leather Interior Volvo 6 Spoke Alloys. The Mechanic who's selling it has just rebuilt the top end (Skimmed Head, New Lifters, New Cam Belt) and its had a new Exhaust. He bought it for his missus who didnt want it when she found out it had leather trim. Its had 1 owner previous to him buying it.

Mileage is high but cant remember exactly.

Thats all.

Again Thanks,

TJ

[warthog]

Hi TJ,

I'll second what's already been said. The timing belt on the early 850's was narrower than later models so has a shorter life expectancy. If the auto box oil smells burnt or is significantly discouloured I would be quite hesitant as a replacement box is going to cost almost as much as you will pay for the car. I'm not sure about the very early auto boxes. Mine spectacularly went out for lunch within a couple of months of purchase - total bill £1400 from a good independant. Despite what dealers will tell you, the auto box oil should be changed at least every 100k miles, more often if it has a hard life (round town, towing, performance)

Similarly if the AC heat exchanger goes the job (with Volvo) is in the region of £1000. Having done the job myself, if you know which end of a spanner is which then it's not a great problem to do it yourself, but put aside a whole day - you'll need it.

Although I've not seen much mention of it here, I believe that there was a problem early on with cracking of the C pillar on estates at the bottom where the seat surround fits. I know some dealers routinely inspected this area at service time even though it wasn't on the service schedule.

IMO if you can find one, a T5 would be a better bet. Not that the 2.5 is slow but the T5 is just set up better.

Hope this is of help

[imac]

Check the A/C and cruise works!

Like others have said, I'd strongly advise you to test drive a T5 too before you decide which car to purchase. They can be had fairly cheaply now, too!

How much is he asking? (if you don't mind my asking)

He's asking a grand for it. Thing is we wanted a bigger car as the wife is pregnant with our second child and we have 2 dogs, this one just turned up by chance, the car that is, so we thought we'd have a butchers as the wife's always fancied a Volvo.

[imac]

>He's asking a grand for it. Thing is we wanted a bigger car
>as the wife is pregnant with our second child and we have 2
>dogs, this one just turned up by chance, the car that is, so
>we thought we'd have a butchers as the wife's always fancied a
>Volvo.

I'd say that was a very good price for an estate!

We recently sold a 1990 Volvo 740 2.3 with 165k on the clock for £600, so a grand for a 1993 850 2.5 20v estate seems good.

Very safe too, which is probably a concern with a pregnant wife :)

We had a 94 855 GLT 2.5 20V auto from 1996-9 and no mechanical problems whatsoever - until at around 120K miles it started banging in and out of gear, at which point I knew we would soon be looking at a (typically) £1,500 gearbox rebuild. We outed it then anyway in favour of something more economical - we never got more than 19 round town and 25 on a run - and my other half finally got fed up with the endless rattles, squeaks and grunts from both ends (and that was the car). We paid £14K for it and sold it for £6K, 3 years and 70K miles later. I never missed it so much as after it had gone - and I never really trusted or liked it while we had it.