1995 Volvo

The car is a 1995 Volvo 850 T5-R on an N reg, manual gearbox. It’s got 7 seats (5 + 2 fold down rear facing child seats). MOT until 12th of November 2014, tax until the end of April.

Believe the car is registered as a Cat D as PO pointed out the V5 states it was substantially repaired at some point, though I’ve not found any evidence of this during my time with the car.

I bought the car in September 2011 from a chap who worked as chief engineer for an F1 team - he was using it to commute half way up the country (500 miles) twice a week and did incredible mileage, he sold it and bought a VW TDi (which as much as I love the car, does make sense). I cycle to work and ride motorbikes when the weather isn’t abysmal so use the car infrequently (once or twice a week) so I’ve done very little mileage. I’ve wanted one of these (for some reason) since I was a child, which is why I bought it when the opportunity arose.

Currently it's got around 166k miles on the clock. The car isn't completely original any more, I've tried to make sensible changes and generally tidy up the car without changing the character too much.

Car is available to view in Southampton and I’m happy to take you out in it and allow test drives - if you want to do the latter I’ll need to see proof of insurance and the asking price.

About the car:

The exterior and interior are in good condition - the interior is the standard half leather with alcantara bolsters. Genuine Volvo floor mats (though not the car originals). All the interior electrics work apart from the drivers heated seat where the connector has corroded (common problem) and needs replacing. The heater is awesome though so I haven’t done it yet.

I’ve occasionally moved big stuff in the boot, but load area has always been covered with a hard boot liner to protect it.

* The cambelt was changed at ~147k.

Since I bought it I've done the following:

* New Volvo spark plugs.

* New HT leads + rotor arm and distributor cap.

* Second hand replacement IAC (idle) valve.

* Replaced the sunroof.

* Applied a tailgate repair kit to solve some rattles (some still remain, but not in the tailgate)!

* Misc clips for tailgate trim.

* New locking wheel nuts.

* New Bosch lamda sensor.

* Refurbished a set of Titans (original wheels) with new Toyo T1-R 215/45/17s ~2k miles ago. Have 5 other wheels sitting in the garage (available separately).

* Swapped out the original suspension and rear nivomats for some basic aftermarket shocks and springs. Also have a full set of Koni Sport shocks waiting to go on the car as the first set of aftermarket shocks are a bit harsh. Still have all the original suspension (both available separately).

* I had the ECU (zif) socketed for use with a Rica 310 chip which gives a little more boost. Have the original chip too.

* The majority of the work below was carried out at the same time when I swapped out the clutch.

* Changed the clutch for a used 850R unit.

* Uprated IPD turbo control valve from Americaland (better boost control and prevents overboosting).

* New gearbox oil.

* Engine oil change (twice in my ownership, have logs of date and mileage).

* New sump oil pickup gaskets.

* Replaced the rear main seal.

* Brass gear linkage.

* New boot struts.

* Replaced the part of the PCV piping with silicone pipe.

* Replaced a lot of the vaccum lines with silicone pipe.

* Replaced the boost piping with Samco OE replacement items, unfortunately they’re yellow (gift)

* Put in new front control arms and drop links.

* New rear trailing arm bushes.

* New generic rear pads.

* One CV boot

* Changed the front discs out for the later larger 302mm disks with EBC redstuff pads.

* Genuine Volvo floor mats.

* New remote batteries in both remotes (I’ll throw in extra batteries too).

* It's also got a Yatour media changer which connects via the cd changer socket to the stock stereo and takes USB, SD and line in and has been extended with a bluetooth module so you can stream A2DP (eg, a phone) so the stereo while it looks completely standard.

* I also built a fault code reader (car is pre-OBD2), so that’s included.

-- Yet to be fixed:

* There is a small patch of bubbling paint on the tailgate.

* The rear wiper doesn't work nor do the front headlight wipers (which have been unplugged due to a fault with one of the motors). None of these are currently MOT failures.

* Ride height is a little low so the new tyres rub on the arches approaching full lock and when occasionally when cornering enthusiastically, intended to be fixed with the Koni suspension.

* Minor oil leak from rear of engine (noted on MOT).

* Cruise control has stopped working.

* Air Conditioning did work but has subsequently stopped (compressor cycles).

* Passenger door creaks when openned due to a failed weld on the door strap, this is a another common problem, fix discussed here: http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=58287&highlight=door+check+strap