1993 Volvo 850 GLT review from North America

Basically everything! I don't know what the previous owner did with this car, but we purchased it at 140,000 miles when it was only about five years old. At first, we had an electrical problem when the car would start up and run and then it wouldn't start up. Or, it would start up and idle rough. A few minor problems came next. Later, the exhaust and catalytic converter went and had to be completely replaced. Next, came the transmission. The most recent problem was the timing belt breaking. This caused part of the engine to be severely damaged and had to be rebuilt. Now, the car makes, literally, about 20 different squeaks, rattles, phantom sounds, and other noises that are not appealing. The average cost to fix each item that went wrong was about 900 to 1000 dollars. There are most likely a few other major fixes that I have thankfully forgotten.

However, the car has great performance and is excellent when it's running. It's also very comfortable and nice looking. I generally love Volvo and would expect nothing of this from them. I think it's a bad year. (1993 being the first year that they came out with the 5 Cyl. 850)