Some time has passed and I still have not found a car. I have looked at a few, but no real winners yet. Which brings me to another question. I have what seems like a very nice '97 850 Turbo wagon in my sights (118K miles, clean Carfax, etc.), but have reservations about the turbo. Namely, since I am looking for economic family wagon for my wife who thought her '93 940 (non-turbo) wagon had more than enough power, I am wondering if turbo will really be against the goal of "economic". Will my fuel bill increase with a turbo wagon vs N/A 940 wagon? First of all, my N/A S70 has never had anything higher than 87 octane in it (unless I mistakenly pushed the wrong button at a gas station) and that is the way I like it. Will turbo engine require 89 and/or higher octane? Will the gas mileage be lower than N/A car? If, as I suspect, the answer to both question is YES, then my fuel bill will increase substantially. I want to avoid that, so the answers to these questions are important to me. We got about 23-25 mpg with the 940 drinking 87 octane (regular) gas. What can I expect the gas mileage to be with the '97 850GLT turbo wagon with 87 octane (if possible), 89 octane, high-test? Typically price difference in gas around where I live between regular and super is about $0.20/gal or about 6%. So, if the turbo 850 gets 10% less MPG on 6% more expensive gas I have a 16% fuel bill increase. This combined with added maintenance and repair (I assume, but maybe I am wrong) and complete lack of need for extra power makes me less likely to consider turbo cars. Can anyone out there provide any arguments here?
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Vladimir. '98 S70 base, 5-speed manual