I'm a new member so allow me to vent....

If you're considering a '95 model, make sure that it's had a tranny replacement and that a hepa filter for the A/C evaporator has been in place since the car was new. I've read plenty of reports about the '93/'94 years as having inferior transmissions. Well, I don't think they (Volvo) changed much when the '95's rolled off the line, because of all the feedback on this site. BEWARE!

Recently purchased a '95 850 Turbo Wagon with 65,000 miles. Had the car checked by a trusted indy mechanic and the only "found" problem was an A/C hose that had a leak. The system was recharged, hose replaced and the A/C held. This all happened in Sept. 2001. Well, as the weather turned cold.......the transmission started to act-up. It wouldn't shift out of 1st until after a very slow trip around-the-block. During the day - after constant driving - everything was okay. But very soon, I got the dreaded "arrow-up" and my mechanic said that the tranny needed to be replaced. The error code was a "322", which indicates "incorrect gear ratio timing." This model had very good maintenance records and the tranny fluid was changed every 25k miles. Decided that a tranny replacement will have to wait because the $2,500+ just wasn't at hand.

Soon after the "arrow-up" - it happened around Christmas - I took the car on a 28 hour road trip, against the advice of my mechanic. The car didn't miss a beat and performed flawlessly. I even went skiing and really pushed the tranny on a winding, snow covered road to the summit at 13,000 feet. No problems at all.

As much as electronics have their place in today's cars, I don't trust all they do or say. ALL my mechanics say the tranny will eventually have to go, because of the 322 code, but many owners on this site have experienced the same "cold" symptoms that I have. Many have blamed the PNP switch which gives another code for this problem, but I've never had the code for a bad PNP. Is it conceivable that the PNP causes another problem but never faults itself? My mechanic is closely following my case as he's recently had several customers with the same issues.

If they are under warranty great, but I find it appalling that VOLVO has had such a bad record with transmissions on the 850. Don't get me wrong, I've owned a 740T and 940T and loved them both. Never had anything major happen to either, so it's difficult for me to bad mouth anything VOLVO. For the first time, when asked if I recommend Volvo as a good car, I said no.

Wait, there's more.....

Had a warm spell in SO. California in Feb. and sparked-up the A/C, but nothing resembling cold air came from the vents. Back to the mechanic it went. No leaks present in the engine compartment, so the evaporator was suspect. Soon I was holding an estimate for $1,100 to have the entire dashboard pulled to get to the buried evap. Why should the replacement of such a small part be so labor intensive? What engineer approved that design! (FYI...this car had a HEPA filter installed when it turned 1 year old.)

I know that all car companies have problems, but WE VOLVO purists need to demand more. This company is now FORD owned, so I don't think it'll get any better. Why is it that most car companies offer 6yr/100,000 mile warranties on their power trains. Volvo appears to have the worst warranty period which didn't worry me back in the 740 and 940 days, but shouldn't today's VOLVOs be better than that?

Please send me feedback on anything I've written. Tell me if you've had similar problems on an 850 or newer model. I'm trying to find out where this company is going.

Thanks,

Dan