Hello! I'm a BMW guy new to Volvos but looking at two wagons for my new life as a Dad.

1. 1994 850 Turbo - 270,000 kms always dealer maintained and very clean (hwy miles)

2. 1988 740 Turbo - 222,000 kms and very well maintained and clean

Both are black on black leather and automatic transmission.

Any basic advice here? The '94 will cost me about $2k more. I like performance but I have my '74 bimmer for a fun car still...

Thanks a lot - looking forward to being part of another great auto community!

Trevor

You sound Canadian. If you have lots of snow, save for a V70 awd. Of course and 855T5 would be a lot more fun.

Klaus
--
98 V70Rawd(101Kmi), 95 854T(85K mi), 75 164E(173K mi)

Thanks people - test driving this weekend. :)

We just sold our '88 745 GLE (235,000 miles) because it was starting to have problems with corrosion WITHIN its wiring. Otherwise it was a sturdy and reliable brick for the 8 years and 120,000 miles that we drove it.

i suggest that you go with the 850, knowing that it has some odd parts (like 4 lug wheels) particular to that year only. Otherwise I think that you would be served well by moving up a few years in the RWD arena.
--
'96 855R, 95 855, '95 854, 90 744TI 377,000 miles on 7 bricks

I have had both ,my 760 nickeled and dimed me ,but when I sold it at 240,000
miles tranny and engine still worked fine ( a little leaky) ,but ran fine .

My 850's are more fun to drive ,less petty stuff goes wrong ,but count on
tranny ,A/C and emission issues .

Don't test drive a turbo .
You won't go back to a non turbo .
Good Luck

I'd go with the 850 w/o hesitation, a LOT more fun to drive!
--
Ken

I personally like the 850 better, but there might be someone who likes a 740.

The 740 has less miles per year, but is considerably older.