Am I crazy??

[dan2286]

I have been lookin for a cheap and somewhat reliable car for a little while now. I am looking for a 5 speed and something that I see as reliable. So far I have looked at some Hondas but have been disappointed either by the price or stuff being wrong with it.

I came across this 94 Volvo 850 non turbo for 1500 bucks. It is a pretty nice looking car, but it has around 300,000 miles on it. From what the guy is saying, it runs great but has some stupid things wrong with it like an abs sensor being bad, cracked windshield, a bad key fob, and maybe a couple of other little things.

For some reason, I think this car might be worth getting. The way I see it is that if it has made it up to 300000 miles and is not a piece of crap right now, I dont see why I should not be able to get at least 10-20k miles out of it without any major problems, which is about how long I will need it for till I can afford to get a better car. I know these cars can be expensive to work on, but I am sure I would be able to find parts for cheaper online if I ever needed any.

I am going to go look at it tomorrow, and if it seems like a good running car, I think I will get it. I never thought I would ever consider getting a Volvo, but I am just getting a good vibe from this one.

I will let you all know if I decide to get it. I think as long as it does not seem like it will have any catastrophic failures anytime soon, I will buy it. I know its a gamble, but something is telling me it might work out. Its just to hard to find a good running Honda or Nissan around here that is not riced out in some way(which I really hate), or that needs tons of little things to make it nice again.

Wish me luck!! 😀

 

[midwestls]

Two thumbs up on Volvo. Very reliable and one of the safest cars on the road. Nice style and very comfortable/pleasing to drive. However, now the bad, price of parts and cost of repair. x4 of about anything else (excluding European cars). If it runs and drives good right now, most likely it'll run for a long time to come but just remember the $$$$. Honda's and Toyota's are everywhere, very cheap part prices these days and not so hard on your pocket book if they break. I guess it all come's down to you.

 

[yourownself]

from a mechanic's standpoint, i hate volvos with every fiber of my being. everything about them is weird. i would rather rewire a brand new mercedes than perform a basic repair on a volvo.
for the money that you're working with, and you said you're looking for a 5 speed car, i would look for an early to mid 90's 240sx, or perhaps a jeep. parts are readily available, any joe screwball can work on them, and they're amazingly reliable, so long as they haven't been beaten all to hell.

 

[dan2286]

I bought it. It just runs so good and I could not pass up the deal. I actually tried to give him 1500 and he said just 1300 will be fine. He says if I ever have any problems or need any parts to call him and he will help me out. This one actually seem pretty easy to work on for what it is. He was extremely honest about everything on the car, and did not try to make stuff seem better than it really was. I figure for how long I will need it for, it should be really reliable. I dont see it having any problem with it lasting 20k more miles.

 

[dan2286]

Here is the ad for the car.

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/1091146054.html

 

[midwestls]

This posting has been deleted by its author. LOL, there was the ad for it. :lol: :lol:

 

[dan2286]

This posting has been deleted by its author. LOL, there was the ad for it. :lol: :lol:

I dont know, it still works for me. I will get some pics of it.

 

[dan2286]

Here you go.

 

[yourownself]

i wish you the best of luck. it looks like yours is old enough that it might be pretty simple. as long as it doesn't need anything major, you should be able to get another 20k out of that thing.

congrats on your buy!

 

[dan2286]

i wish you the best of luck. it looks like yours is old enough that it might be pretty simple. as long as it doesn't need anything major, you should be able to get another 20k out of that thing.

congrats on your buy!

I am sure it will last. The previous owner seems to love these cars and knows them very well. He says that this one did not get the problems that other years have had.