We bought our 1997 850 glt used in 1999 and it has been great to drive and mostly reliable. There have been a few big ticket fixes (ABS mother board; in-tank fuel pump; radiator; etc.) but not too bad considering it's a 10 year old car with 130,000 miles. Reading the Brickboard for years, it seems most here like to recommend 1997 850s or 1999 S70s among the older FWD. If I was in the market, my first choice would be a 1993 to 1995 940 turbo with low miles (good luck finding); secondly V70 turbo wagon (a lot of 1999 or so seem to be going for a small fraction of original price, for a lot of vehicle).


Other advise I have seen: buy the newest you can afford, and of course confirm service history. I have every service record from day one on two of the three Volvo's I own even though I am the second owner. Interestingly, the 1992 240 I bought is the one I paid the least for and it was without any service history, however it is the only one that has not stranded me!
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1993 240 Classic; 1992 240; 1997 850 GLT; Mitsubishi 4 cyl.