Used Car of the Day: 1997 Volvo 850 GLT Turbo Wagon

by Tim Healey

Published: January 23rd, 2024

used car of the day 1997 volvo 850 glt turbo wagon

We're staying in the Nineties today with this 1997 Volvo 850 GLT Turbo wagon.

At just a grand, the price is right. The car has been well maintained with oil changes every 4,000 miles but has been parked due to a slipping transmission -- the seller says it will need to be towed or trailered.

The radiator and ECU are new. I don't see a mileage in the ad.

Once again we have an ad in which details are light, but you can click through here if you're so inclined.

[Image: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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10 of 16 comments

MaintenanceCosts on Jan 23, 2024

Really want to see interior pictures. This is worth a new transmission if the interior is nice. If not, probably not.

1 Reply
- 28-Cars-Later on Jan 23, 2024
  
  That other one you found is worth your time, I doubt this one is given how 850s were treated in the US.
  
  Like
MaintenanceCosts on Jan 23, 2024

PS. Here's a more interesting old beater Volvo from the same forum: https://www.swedespeed.com/threads/1996-850-turbo-wagon-5mt-246k-miles-midnight-blue-charcoal.672236/

1 Reply
- 28-Cars-Later on Jan 23, 2024
  
  Normally I'd shoot holes through that ask but its actually an Euro grey market car [apparently] legally imported and looks clean AF for age/miles. That's before the cost he incurred to have a manual transaxle swap and the fact its the turbo and not the N/A we're more likely to see in the US (also sports the 16in 960 series wheels which I've never even seen on an 800 series). I'm not going to Denver or spending any more money, but this is the sort of thing worth messing with.
  
  2
28-Cars-Later on Jan 23, 2024

Finally, a beater for beater money.
New transaxle fluid should correct the slipping for anyone interested, this is the 4-speed not the AW55-5-speed-of doom.

4 Reply
- See 3 previous
- RHD on Jan 24, 2024
  
  I guess the seller doesn't have a friend who could change the tranny fluid for him. Or it could be that "starting to slip" really means "is giving up the ghost". A manual transmission is really the way to go with these, because the cost of replacing the automatic sends most of them to the wrecking yard.
  I have those wheels on my '99 V70. They are a nice upgrade from the steelies with plastic hubcaps.
  
  3
- MRF 95 T-Bird on Jan 24, 2024
  
  A bottle of Lucas transmission additive or as the Car Talk guys used to say “one of the many fine additives” can usually do the trick to mitigate the slipping.
  
  1
- 28-Cars-Later on Jan 24, 2024
  
  @RHD
  I know for fact the AW55 mounts the trans pan sideways and thus isn't as a simple as "drop the pan and refill" and I'm going to safely assume the 4-spd AW50-42LE is the same. There is a procedure I've seen documented on YT which probably applies here but when I took my own C70 to have it done I watched the near 70yo master tech drop the cross member and slowly unbolt the pan for a true "pan drop" operation. Not sure if it was paranoid level caution or they knew about the alternative procedure and didn't trust it.
  On wheels I have the 15in Nova wheels on my 244 now but in the back of my mind was thinking it would be better to go to 16s as "a standard" to match the C70. The 16in 960 wheels are kind of pricey on eBay so unless I come across a decent set some other way I'll probably just keep what I have.
  
  @MRF
  Knowing what I know about the similar AW55, I don't think I'd go the Lucas route even on a $400 example as shown above. There are a couple of issues with the AW55 but they mostly stem from the fact there is no filter by design. Maybe the AW50 had a filter and it was deleted on the AW55? Not sure, but dumping Lucas in isn't going to solve the overall issue of nasty fluid which needs removed and replaced. I would recommend Lucas on the automatic AW70/71 transmissions after at least two pan drops with recommended fluid (I think Dex3) which do not correct any slipping.
  
  1
- Carson D on Jan 25, 2024
  
  And the A/C just needs a charge.
  
  1
Jim Holden on Jan 23, 2024

I had a ‘96 Turbo Wagon around around 02-04. Was a fun car and really fast. Comfortable seats, but lots of issues at a time when I didn’t have a lot of maintenance money. Cooling fan quit working, causing the car to overheat (I had left the car running while I was in the house, but no long term damage.) blower motor quit working during one of the coldest winters. This of course affected the defroster as well. Had to drive 2 hours in Ohio January with no heat and no defrost. Oxygen sensors. Weird issue with the back seat seatbelt - the inertia wheel wouldn’t release. Real pain in the butt when hauling 2 car seats. Recently saw an old friend of my sons. She started talking about how cool it was that the car had a rear facing seat in the back. That was over 20 years ago when they were 6 years old and she remembered it. Lol. Fun car, but kinda high maintenance. Replaced it with a ‘96 Land Cruiser, which I regretfully also sold. Shoulda, coulda.

4 Reply