850 T5 or SE

Hi all,

Would a '95 850 T5 be as reliable as a '95 SE ?

cheers

 

no.
Sorry!
Hi all,

Would a '95 850 T5 be as reliable as a '95 SE ?

cheers

 

No reason why not as long as you don't use all the extra power all the time. The T5 is designed to develop high power and high torque so if driven reasonably it will be just as reliable as an SE (perhaps even more so!). Example.

T5 produces 220 hp and is engineered to do so reliably.
SE produces around 160bhp and is engineered accordingly.
If you drive the T5 at 8/11ths of its max it is well within its design envelope whereas the SE to develop the same power is running at 100% of its design envelope.... which do you think will be more reliable? There is more to go wrong on the T5 (turbo, wastegate etc for example) but a well maintained T5 should not be any worse than an SE. Another point is that it is easier to drive a less powerful car flat out all the time than it is a higher powered car (unless you like collecting points on your license!). The T5 engine is internally very different to the SE and is very very much stronger (with oil cooling of the pistons, sodium cooled exhausts, a strengthened crank and rods).

With a T5 all you need to look out for is suspension wear (that big torque peak wrecks the front suspension faster), tyre wear (as before) and fuel consumption. Follow the guides in the newsgroup about the maintenance and you should be fine.....

I have done 35k miles in my '99 S70 T5 and its been great (so far, touch wood!) apart from a throttle control module (not an issue on pre 99 models) and the upper rear engine mount (a problem on all of them). Aside from that its had front pads, rear pads and 8 tyres (one set on the rear but they were already shot when I bought it and its just had its 3rd set on the front...so effectively I get about 15-18k per set of fronts). I also replaced the front struts with Bilsteins but only becasue I wanted to not because they were leaking or had failed. And the car now has 125k miles and still drives nicely with no oil consumption.
Hi all,

Would a '95 850 T5 be as reliable as a '95 SE ?

cheers