Volvo 850 T-5R: Spotted
The fast estate is making a comeback; no further excuse needed to go T5 hunting!
Estate done the 20th century way
Anyway, having been won over by James's V60 after a few journeys, the hunt was on for a V70 or 850 from the classifieds to feature. And what a specimen we have!
Typically a fast 850 will feature as Shed because, well, they're quite old now and not particularly desirable to many. This car is different though. It's a T-5R rather than a regular T-5, a limited edition car that paved the way for the 850R. And it's yellow.
There's a sports exhaust to help this out too
Furthermore, the appeal of a T-5R is now further heightened by their incredible rarity. Never exactly numerous, Howmanyleft has a paltry 19 manuals left registered in the UK. Alright, so it's hardly ever going to be a collectors' item but an 850 T-5R will remain cool to a select few (hopefully a lot of them on here) for a good while yet.
Would you pay £5K for one though? The spec of this one is perfect as a yellow manual, the service history is comprehensive and there's a warranty with it too. But then it still remains a 20 year-old Volvo estate with 169,000 recorded miles. Let's hope someone can justify it and continue to enjoy a fantastically cool slice of fast estate history.
VOLVO 850 T-5R
Engine: 2,319cc turbocharged, five-cyl
Transmission: 5-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 244@5,600rpm
Torque (lb ft): 300@2,000rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1995
Recorded mileage: 169,000
Price new: N/A
Yours for: £4,995
See the original advert here.
I've got an old mag somewhere that road tests one of these with a comment about putting a grandfather clock in the back & heading out to test time dilation
Behave! Performance yellow, surely. 
Excellent cars, I had a black estate with the manual gearbox, for around a year, I wish I had never sold it and I WILL own another one someday.
Points of note:
They eat front tyres and traction off of the line is poor, and exceptionally bad in the wet
They seem to eat their front ARB drop links too, these are a cheap and easy item to replace though
The struts that hold the boot lid open on the estate are a weak point - fifty quid to buy and an hourd work to replace
PCV system can clog, if the dipstick smokes badly that's a tell tail sign, inlet manifold off job and the parts are £120 or so, ignoring this can be a bad move - increased crank case pressure can damage a main oil seal and cause a slow, constant weep of oil, gearbox out to fix if thats the case!
O rings in the turbos oil lines can fail, nevet heard of it causing the turbo to br starved of oil though, easy job to do, half an hour tops and they are dirt cheap to buy
Auto boxes, Volvo said they were "sealed for life" transmissions, they aren't!! Good clean fluid is a must, always budget for this if buying an auto if you aren't 100% certain it hasn't been done recently
Bomb proof cars, don't let the above list worry you.... They are fast, stealthy and uber spacious, I loved mine.
Unbelievable acceleration once you managed traction with a full payload in the rear.
They were so reliable that Volvo gave the force a 200,000 mile warranty on the engines.
How many manufacturers would do that now?????
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