RE: Volvo 850 R: Spotted
Discussion
I think I'd rather spend considerably less to achieve slightly better Swedish performance:
https://www.gumtree.com/p/saab/saab-9-3-aero-2.8t-...
Enough left over for the tax, insurance, fuel, servicing and a trip to IKEA for a flat-pack 'Billy' bookcase and a smorgasbord of meatballs and pickled Herring
https://www.gumtree.com/p/saab/saab-9-3-aero-2.8t-...
Enough left over for the tax, insurance, fuel, servicing and a trip to IKEA for a flat-pack 'Billy' bookcase and a smorgasbord of meatballs and pickled Herring
BMW made some cool fast estates;
E34 M5
E36 328i
Also
Alpina E36 b3 3.2
Alpina E36 b8 4.6 v8
AC Schnitzer s3 3.2
Ran an e36 328i touring with AC Schnitzer parts from new plus a bunch of mods including m50 inlet and remapped to 230bhp. Was an all round great car, howled and handled fantastically.
Got a soft spot for old Volvos and I’ve always wanted an 850 (one of the few ‘modern’ cars that could tempt me out of my 1969/70 Volvo Amazon).
The example in the add made me raise my eyebrows in that “hmmmmm” way you do when you see a massively overpriced car. Yes, its low mileage. And, yes, it’s in lovely condition and prices are indeed rising for decent 850 turbo models. But I’d rather spend 5 or 6 grand on a tidy version that has been driven and looked after. 200,000 plus miles are nothing to these cars, so the low mileage argument doesn’t really hold water with me.
To echo other posters, I have heard that the T5 is a better ‘real world’ car as the ride is not as harsh as the R spec models… but I’d probably still go for an 850r just, well, because.
Size wise: my missus drives a phase one V70 2.5 10 valve which is basically an 850 in a prettier dress (only got 144 bhp but it's still fairly rapid for a big old bus). Never ceases to amaze me that whilst they were regarded as a BIG car back in the day, her V70 looks positively svelte when compared to some of the bloated carbuncles which plague today's roads.
Gotta do the PCV system (which means the inlet manifold has to come off along with a fair few other parts) on her car this weekend which is supposed to be a swine of a job, so I might not ‘love’ Volvos as much come Monday morning!
The example in the add made me raise my eyebrows in that “hmmmmm” way you do when you see a massively overpriced car. Yes, its low mileage. And, yes, it’s in lovely condition and prices are indeed rising for decent 850 turbo models. But I’d rather spend 5 or 6 grand on a tidy version that has been driven and looked after. 200,000 plus miles are nothing to these cars, so the low mileage argument doesn’t really hold water with me.
To echo other posters, I have heard that the T5 is a better ‘real world’ car as the ride is not as harsh as the R spec models… but I’d probably still go for an 850r just, well, because.
Size wise: my missus drives a phase one V70 2.5 10 valve which is basically an 850 in a prettier dress (only got 144 bhp but it's still fairly rapid for a big old bus). Never ceases to amaze me that whilst they were regarded as a BIG car back in the day, her V70 looks positively svelte when compared to some of the bloated carbuncles which plague today's roads.
Gotta do the PCV system (which means the inlet manifold has to come off along with a fair few other parts) on her car this weekend which is supposed to be a swine of a job, so I might not ‘love’ Volvos as much come Monday morning!
Been quite a bit of chat on this subject over on the Volvo pages... more so given the price of R models has steadily increased of late, which is fair enough given the demand for 90's performance stuff but then the dealers waded in with a few mentalist figures, probably hoping to cash in on the boom in the market but seriously... who's paying these sort of figures? There was also a red 850R for £15k... complete with rusty discs, knackered top mounts and it just didn't look particularly well in the images. As for the low miles, I think 'd take those with a pinch of salt given they're imports and well... buyer beware.
I've had a few of these over the years and to be honest, I'd have another but as much as I love these things they are quite old, quite harsh and quite unrefined by today's standards which is why I sold mine and moved on... fabulous things, full of character and as mechanically challenging as a tea spoon but for me, they just weren't daily drivers anymore and I would agree that a standard T5 is a far better car to use day in, day out and equally fast... of not faster as they're much more compliant over our crappy roads.
Thinking back, I've had:
1998 S70R auto saloon
1994 850 T5 estate manual (ex Police)
1996 850R estate auto
1995 850 T5-R estate manual
1998 V70R estate manual in gay gold
1996 850 T5 estate manual
1998 V70 T5 estate auto
All were utterly brilliant, not one ever went wrong in any respect aside for the expected wear and tear items... they really are over engineered and pretty nuke proof and surprisingly fast, even in standard guise. Most of mine had done nigh on 200k and were still perfectly usable and the 1996 850R ended up being bought by Top Gear for their Nile trip and the V70 T5 estate which I still have was bought to do Rust2Rome three years ago and is still going strong and is what I used daily for work / bikes / general abuse.
Probably regret selling the yellow 850 T5-R estate but it needed a lot of work and a full respray to be perfect and I just wasn't prepared to do that as it would then become something I wouldn't want to use daily... and given they are quite old, basic and noisy I sold it and bought a 2005 V70R estate instead which, whilst a fantastic machine just doesn't have the raw character of the older T5 models. annoying, it's now a bit of a trailer queen and rarely gets used (hence the V70 T5 remains) so part of me would happily change it for an older 850 R model of some sort... but I just wouldn't value any of them at £20k, that's just mental... though given most of mine were sub £1500 I'm probably just bitter that I got out just as the market increased!
Chap on here has a stunning red 850R, I would say it's one of the best and I believe it was for sale but not at these sort of figures...
Anybody in the market for a phase 2 V70R!
I've had a few of these over the years and to be honest, I'd have another but as much as I love these things they are quite old, quite harsh and quite unrefined by today's standards which is why I sold mine and moved on... fabulous things, full of character and as mechanically challenging as a tea spoon but for me, they just weren't daily drivers anymore and I would agree that a standard T5 is a far better car to use day in, day out and equally fast... of not faster as they're much more compliant over our crappy roads.
Thinking back, I've had:
1998 S70R auto saloon
1994 850 T5 estate manual (ex Police)
1996 850R estate auto
1995 850 T5-R estate manual
1998 V70R estate manual in gay gold
1996 850 T5 estate manual
1998 V70 T5 estate auto
All were utterly brilliant, not one ever went wrong in any respect aside for the expected wear and tear items... they really are over engineered and pretty nuke proof and surprisingly fast, even in standard guise. Most of mine had done nigh on 200k and were still perfectly usable and the 1996 850R ended up being bought by Top Gear for their Nile trip and the V70 T5 estate which I still have was bought to do Rust2Rome three years ago and is still going strong and is what I used daily for work / bikes / general abuse.
Probably regret selling the yellow 850 T5-R estate but it needed a lot of work and a full respray to be perfect and I just wasn't prepared to do that as it would then become something I wouldn't want to use daily... and given they are quite old, basic and noisy I sold it and bought a 2005 V70R estate instead which, whilst a fantastic machine just doesn't have the raw character of the older T5 models. annoying, it's now a bit of a trailer queen and rarely gets used (hence the V70 T5 remains) so part of me would happily change it for an older 850 R model of some sort... but I just wouldn't value any of them at £20k, that's just mental... though given most of mine were sub £1500 I'm probably just bitter that I got out just as the market increased!
Chap on here has a stunning red 850R, I would say it's one of the best and I believe it was for sale but not at these sort of figures...
Anybody in the market for a phase 2 V70R!
From a golden era of the mid 90's cars I swooned at but could never afford at the time, and not now by the looks of this thing.
I would put the 306 GTI6 in there, as well as the Alfa 155.
But this price business is bonkers. This is not a car that is collectable for big budget spenders, this is the sort of car that is loved because of its useability. Volvo do not have the heritage of say Alfa or ford where there are many collectables in the range due to motorsport.
Which makes this a shame, because here is a car that a family could use for many years to come, but £20k, what else can you buy for 20K?
Should be £10k max.
I would put the 306 GTI6 in there, as well as the Alfa 155.
But this price business is bonkers. This is not a car that is collectable for big budget spenders, this is the sort of car that is loved because of its useability. Volvo do not have the heritage of say Alfa or ford where there are many collectables in the range due to motorsport.
Which makes this a shame, because here is a car that a family could use for many years to come, but £20k, what else can you buy for 20K?
Should be £10k max.
I like them, but not at that price. What gets me is the fact that 2-3 years ago, you couldn't shift them for 4-5k. Why now do people think you can get 20k for one? I'd pay 6-7k for a really nice one, no more. I doubt you'd get an agreed value of 20k for insurance purposes. If that got written off, you'd get 1k max pay out.
We had one (a normal T5) and loved it but it was all the virtues of a normal Volvo estate with some boosty turbo power, they had a lot of image back then, really was a car of the moment, BTCC and funky adverts with mad stuntmen etc.
However, they were flawed, traction was pretty poor and the front wheels had a hard time deciding which way they wanted to go.
20 grand, that is a very narrow market, even the fast for cheap folk have moved on from their Rica mapped ones, it is worth good money but not 20 grand, people with large sums to drop on cars dont generally have a thing for old Volvos.
However, they were flawed, traction was pretty poor and the front wheels had a hard time deciding which way they wanted to go.
20 grand, that is a very narrow market, even the fast for cheap folk have moved on from their Rica mapped ones, it is worth good money but not 20 grand, people with large sums to drop on cars dont generally have a thing for old Volvos.
The same seller has a red one with more miles for £15k:
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
I think these are cool, but even the 'cheaper' one is quite optimistic, someone would have to really adore these to drop that kind of money on one.
Fast estates are cool, and to my eyes more often look better than their saloon counterparts - this is a good case in point.
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
I think these are cool, but even the 'cheaper' one is quite optimistic, someone would have to really adore these to drop that kind of money on one.
Fast estates are cool, and to my eyes more often look better than their saloon counterparts - this is a good case in point.
Raramuri said:
I remember looking at these for Shed money (new rules) around 6-7 years ago, thinking they would be a laugh at disposable prices. 20k is insanity - anyone stupid enough to part with that much for one deserves this crazy price bubble to pop on them!
Only a few years back, they had one on Top Gear for £1500. It's a good car, but not at M3 pricing.The price is madness !
I have had several of the 5 pot volvos with and without turbos .
Ideal on the main roads but can be a handful on the twisty bits even with all the suspension upgrades .
The T5s with a proper ECU upgrade can give good mpg on a run but will drop to single digits if the full performance is used .
I have had several of the 5 pot volvos with and without turbos .
Ideal on the main roads but can be a handful on the twisty bits even with all the suspension upgrades .
The T5s with a proper ECU upgrade can give good mpg on a run but will drop to single digits if the full performance is used .
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