As the originator of this thread, I thought I'd chime in again. I think that people like Flying Dutchman who have had bad experiences do have much to offer in terms of advice, esp. to those like myself that don't know much about fixing cars. I use this board mostly to gain more knowledge, and also to avoid paying exorbitant amounts to the mechanics that fix my car. Flying Dutchman has probably helped me with some of my questions, in fact. Like I said, I do appreciate it, and the "negative posts" I read before I bought my car made me a more informed buyer.

I was just getting annoyed lately reading some of the repetitive negative posts, and I was thinking it would be a shame if a potential new buyer was scared away from buying an otherwise good 850 because of something that someone on this board said about their unusually bad Volvo experience.