I have a 96 Turbo Wagon. While I definitely can't say that the car has been trouble free, it has been a decent car with good performance. The turbo suspension does ride hard so if you're driving in heavily potholed streets it might not be the best car for you. But on the interstate at 75+ mph it things smooth out a bit - definitly an autoban crusier.

My car has 189,000 miles and I think I've replaced everything (of course with that many miles I would expsct any car to have replaced all the "consumables" at least once). but the usual stuff at least once (e.g. fuel pump, some stuff with the A/C, radiator, all the belts twice, CV joint covers and/or front axles/bearings and I've had some mysterious and hard to diagnose 'check engine' light codes. I think others have listed the big issues with 850's (ABS controller, oil leak, etc.). The leather on my seats is starting to wear through in a couple of spots (if anyone knows a good place to get replacment seat covers that don't affect the airbag, I'm all ears). But I haven't had to open the engine or replace the turbocharger yet.

That said, it has not been as reliable as my Hondas --a 92 Accord (victim of accident in 1996), a 1983 Civic sedan (let this one go when the state of California offered $1000 to take the car off the road), and our current 2003 Odyssey). The Volvo definitely has more stuff go wrong more often. But then even if I have to pay to replace stuff every few months, I still pay alot less than a set of new car payments. I hope to run the car two years+ while we pay off the Odyssey.

Overall the car has run really well. Seems like the couple times I've seen the engine stumble even a little bit was followed by being stuck on the side of the road within a few hundred miles later (usually a fuel system problem).

Hope this helps,
Eric