1994 Volvo 850 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The 850 wagon replaced the venerable 240 wagon and was Volvos first foray into FWD, a first for Volvo. Also gone was the typical red block motor and in its place was the now renown Porsche designed 5 Cyclinder DOHC. Now the power was there along with the refined looks of the Volvo 850 Sportwagon. This was not your parents Volvo. This Volvo moved very much upstream from the 240 and embraced buyers that did not consider a Volvo. Apr 04, 2013

I love my car... Call her a "Soccer Mom Car" if you will... But, for a 5 cylinder turbo with over 200k... She has got some gonads. Just saying. None the less, she is a freaking tank. No rust. Best turning radius ever. Maintenance wise? In the 3+ years I have owned her, I have put less than $1500 into her... Remind you again, she has over 200k. She may be a box, but I think she is a cutie. :)Apr 16, 2011

This is a great every day driver, we replaced shifting mechanism, brakes, it has almost new tires. The rear seal must be repaired. We don't need the car and don't want to pay the $800 to repair the seal. Make a reasonable offer. Volvo will no longer be selling station wagons in the US, this car will be a collector car. I lowered the appearance rating for the left tail lamp that is cloudy, it can be polished up. Mar 11, 2011

Back to a volvo again, haha. I got an 850 this time, bit nicer and alot smoother to drive than my old 240 (still a good car tho). So nice to drive, i could drive all day and it wouldn't feel like it. It's got a leather seats, there good, a bit cracked but no rips or tears, all in one piece. I got some nice 16 inch rims on it. Cant wait til i get my stereo and sub in it, i'm getting bord with the radio! :)Oct 22, 2010

Awesome car :D , En blickfångare med en lack som är hyfsat unik och utmärker sig mycket på gatorna . Bodykit , hyffsade fälgar o däck 225*45 *17, Styling lyktor runt om , vindavvisare , takvinge och mycket mer där till :D, sen måste man tydligen ha 40 word på den här reviewen så hur jag ska få ihop det är ju den absolut största frågan men ni kan väl slänga in några kommentarer på bilen :D sånt är ju alltid treeevligt :D Peace out !Sep 02, 2010

I have a 1994 Volvo 850 Estate. no GLT badge but is fully, fully loaded including a moon roof with slider, now with over 335,500klm on the clock and the car is still a great drive. Yes there is a cost to driving an older car, but there is also a trade off that just can't be had with a new car. To start with, you have already paid for the car. You own it and you can do as you like with and to it as you see, or feel, is fit. With that being said, I will give you some insight, hindsight and impressions of my car. Appearance - Is great from any angle. The car has a raked profile and with the proper tint can look impressive. If you're able too replace the side fender "Volvo" tags with signal lights (and easy thing for the DIYer and would take about a half hour, as the connectors are already in the fender so there are no spliciing of wires. Just remove the fender badges carefully with a razor blade to slowly cut through the foam on the back of the badge. Pop the badge out and remove the rest of the foam fromthe fender. Reach into the fender, towards the door of which ever side you aree on, and feel for the plug. Connect it to your new light and carefully snap the new light in place. I really like this as it makes it/you visible when you are pulling out of a parking spot, to the left, back into traffic. Oncoming traffic can see the flashing and will know where you're going. I hate it when someone looks like they might be trying to merge back into traffic, but the car that is behind them is out too far and you aren't able to see the rear signal. the side marker fixes this. Performance - Is great for a car of this size but there is a bit of body lean and push when you really lean into a corner hard, but the pull out of the corner is fantastic. Particularly in Sport Mode as the car can kick down a couple of gears and really get out of its own way and leave a lot of folks behind. And all without a turbo. A turbo just puts the "spankon" on most similar cars and is way too much fun. Build Quality - Is great in this car and, again - don't beat the crap out of your car, as long as you maintain it, it will give you the 200kklm that your looking for. The timing belt and the steering rack are things that I found to be a lillte pricey but owning a car, any car really, like this is worth the the cost because you get so much more out out it over time. Why do you think people keep these cars for forever and a day and a half before they give them up? and why do you think people snap them up when they hit the used lots? Because they are just great cars. Cost of ownership - Is and can be high. With this being said, I used to own both a 1985 and a1995 Grand AM, and both cars were able to nickel and dime me to death with never ending issues which seemed to come about every second pay. Both were standards. The '85 was used and the '95 was new with warranty (didn't really help but to keep the cost of the repairs reasonable as it was always in the shop). The Volvo timing belt is a pricey bit of kit but needs to be done (between 70K - 90K) because if it breaks, this being an INTERFERENCE engine, there will be a replacement engine in your near future. Valves will be bent and piston heads will be damaged from the valves slamming into them and placing four dents into each piston top. Used and installed will cost upwards of 4K and a new factory block and head is well above 7K.. Uninstalled, block and head only. Zero accessories. Those must be transfered from the old block. The aftermarket is definatly your friend for replacement of the OEM parts as this is where Volvo will get their parts to begin with as rebadging or full on use of these parts is common and there are a number of them on the net to save you cash. Just be careful of shipping costs and do your best to find free shipping whereever possible. And finally The Fun Factor - Is great. Even without a turbo. I have gotten a few "over the posted" tickets, all of the not my fault :-) really. No, really. It's just very easy to find yourself well north of the posted limit as the car can be deceptivly smooth at high speed and after a few cars "commonago" with some "zippittydooda" do you look down to find that the (how fast your going circle is saying 130...140...150...) that you realize, "sonofaboooop", and slap some binders on to brig youself back from what could easely be low warp with no trouble at all. Until the "Disco light" appear to drop a heart beat or two. Breaks are great with this car and I find that when there is the need the actually "pound down" on the "whoa pedal" with the need to come to a full stop "right now", the car doesn't reall nose dive, so much as, sets forward and down. The car feels like the breaking is distributed in a way that allow for the car to keep the rear almost as low as the front during this manouver so that when the car has come to a full stop, it seems to move back and up and not like it's dumping the rear end back on the ground, there by giving a feeling that the rear end isn't trying to lift off of the ground and then slam you back in the seat. Final Word - Is this. It's cost me a lot to keep this car up andI'm fine with that. Whether you are leasing with a buy out at the end or buying the car out right and when you make the final payment the car is yours, there are going to be additional cost to any car. It hurts more when a new car has to go in for repairs, particularly after the warranty is up, because if your making payment of the average $250 - $350 (Mo.PYMNT+INS), the cost can really hurt when a needed repair is over $500 (past warranty) and you have to wait a day or two or three.Jun 12, 2010

I like boxy, and this is car defines boxy. It's not the quality of old Volvos, but it is a lot nicer to drive than the old farm tractors, and a lot more fun as well. The turbo charged engine is strong but slightly boring. The automatic transmission works smooth. It has all the creature comforts one can ask for, and it will swallow a lot of goods in the back. The design is strict and functional making it look pretty good even today. Parts are not the cheapes,t but availability is good and it is a fairly simple car to repair. Jan 25, 2009

turbo engine, 16" alloy wheels, auto transmission, windows, locks, and a/c. Premium 8 speaker sound system, am/fm tape and 6 cd changer. wood trim, leather seats, crystal clear white headlights, 24 mpg city 28 mpg highway, (Volvo) among the safest cars. everything is in really great 5-star condition inside and out and it's amazingly fun to drive while keeping it spacious for friends to ride with you. not to mention that not every other car is NOT FOR SALE... SORRY.Dec 06, 2008

It's a cruiser. Goes great on the highway at a constant speed, very very comfortable and quiet. The soft suspension is nice on the highway or when you are driving someone else around, but when you want to take a corner quickly, you feel like you're going to fall out of the window. It has a LOT of body roll. Since it's automatic and front wheel drive, it isn't much fun to drive, and it isn't very quick off the mark. Having said that, once it's moving it is fairly quick. It has a inline-5 cylinder engine with 20 valves (4 per cylinder) which puts out 125kw at the crank, which compared to most peoples' first cars is pretty high. It does weigh near on 1600kg though. As far as build quality, it's excellent. Unlike most new cars these days that feel like everything is going to break when you touch it, everthing is robust and feels solid. If you have one of these, run it on BP ultimate. Put a bottle of injector cleaner in your tank for the first time you do, you will *definitely* notice a difference in power (or fuel economy if you don't use the extra power). A k&n panel air filter also improves the grunt a lot. Also check that the thermostat in the airbox is working - if you take the stock air filter out, underneath it is a valve which directs the intake stream either from the front of the car, or from above the exhaust manifold. These get stuck fairly often and always receive air from above the exhaust manifold, which will reduce performance. You can either force it to stay on the cold side (if you live in a reasonably warm climactic area) or have it replaced if you live in a cold area. This is also one of the safest models volvo produced, as most cars are designed to protect the occupants mainly from frontal impact, this model has the chassis designed to provide maximum safety against side impact. The system is known as SIPS (Side Impact Protection System) and deflects side impact energy down the chassis along to the centre console area and all around the body. Apparently you can drive one of these off a cliff annd survive. All in all, it's a great, reliable machine which is worth a hell of a lot more than I paid for it. These were worth between $60, 000 - $80, 000 to start with; these days you can pick them up for between $3, 000 and $10, 000 (Value in Australia, Australian dollars).Dec 04, 2008