I have a 95 855 glt na. IMHO, and through sheer lucknot any kind of knowledge I bought a '95. I'd vote for the 95 if you are mechanicly inclined. The 95 and earlier allow you to access OBD codes through on board equipment, which mean you don't have to pay a mechanic to tell you that you need an O2 sensor. I bought mine with 68k on it, and have fixed many, many minor things, all of which I learned about through this board and volvospeed.com. In the last 3 months I have had to replace the front O2 sensor because of fault codes and had a low beam bulb burn out. On a preventative basis, I flushed the auto tranny, flushed the power steering fluid, installed drilled rotors and new bads, flushed brake fluid, flushed cooling system, replaced thermostat, installed cd changer, replaced timing belt and serpentine belt, rotated and balanced tires, replaced the lower and upper engine mounts, 5 spark plugs, and 2 oil changes. I have one bulb out in the instrument cluster that illuminated part of the left side of the speedometer, I'm saving that for a rainy weekend. Yes I've done alot of maintenance, but it runs great, gets 26 mpg driving to work and home, and I feel safe and confident in it that it won't leave me somewhere. Including purchase price I've spent about $9700 and I think it's a good value. Yep, I'd do it again. Chuck.

With respect to Volvo wagons, I would get the newest one you can afford. Starting in mid-'97, Volvo gave the 850 line a mild refreshening and renamed the line the 70. Differences include a smoother ride, updated interior and revised front end. Some '98s had electrical gremlins which would have been fixed by now. There really aren't too many other wagons out there. Subaru has a good reputation.

Volvo 850's are a mechanics cash flow dream come true !

Trust me- I have owned my 850 since brand new in 1995.

The only saving grace in my case is that I do most all the repairs myself.

Your on your own- but if it were me, I'd go Honda/Toyota/Subaru !

Heather-

The 97's were the best years for the 850 and the last. Thereafter came along the S70 and those had a lot of electrical gremlins. 94 and 96 850's have ABS controle module failures and all 850's are prone to rear main seal leaks as well. It is also not so uncommon to experinece bad heater fans, seat heater failures, motor mount failure, weather strip around windshield peels off and door panel peeling. Automatic versions have a PNP switch that commonly fails as well. IMHO the RWD wagons 240/740/940 were much better from a relaibility standpoint. Some of the old 6 cylinder models were bad. You can still at times find V90's (940's replacement) in good shape with not so many miles on them. They're also a lot bigger than the 850. A used 240/740 will be hard to come by these days with low mileage.