RE: Volvo 850 R: Spotted

[randomeddy]

J4CKO said:

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.

I remember that advert. It was embarrassing because you could clearly see the rollers holding the car on the track.

[Exige77]

I had a new one back in the day. Maybe 95 or 96 ? Dark grey.

Kids loved it as it had heated rear seats !!

It was a fun family car at the time and had plenty of go.

It went through front P-zeros at an alarming rate and it blew a couple of turbos under warranty.

[cosworth330]

biggbn said:

Don't think t5 or R volvos ever had that image. Loved all my quick volvos and saabs. Should have kept my 850t5r saloon, gul, manual, leather, worth a few quid now

I bought a Gul manual saloon 18 months ago. Only really use it for car shows and the odd retro car meet. Never really seen another for sale since I bought it.

[cosworth330]

Exige77 said:

I had a new one back in the day. Maybe 95 or 96 ? Dark grey.

Kids loved it as it had heated rear seats !!

It was a fun family car at the time and had plenty of go.

It went through front P-zeros at an alarming rate and it blew a couple of turbos under warranty.

I had a grey 850R estate when it was about 3 years old. Good fun, thirsty and yes front tyres didn’t last long at all. Auto box wasn’t great. Never had any problems with it. Mine had the horrible tan interior!

[biggbn]

I always found t5 volvos pretty good on the juice if you drove them normally, then I'm not a fast driver!!

[Leins]

I tried to buy one at the end of 2017, a 1996 850R auto estate, and looked the same green as this. It was up at €4K on 150k miles, but by the time I rang to say I’d be round to see it the advert was already four hours old and the car was gone already.

Shame, as I wanted it for just tooling around in and possibly a trip down to Le Mans the following summer

[Sidecar Man]

For an extra couple of grand I'd rather have one of these. 350hp 4wd

[Olivera]

CoolHands said:

None will ever get more than £6k imo. I’d only pay about 500quid cos they are pretty horrible

+1, had a phase 1 V70R, as a cheap stter it's okay, but thoroughly poop in many areas

[biggbn]

I'd quite like a newer shape mid noughties v70r or even t5, supremely comfortable seats, very practical and quick enough for me, still handsome also!!

[Exige77]

cosworth330 said:

Exige77 said:

I had a new one back in the day. Maybe 95 or 96 ? Dark grey.

Kids loved it as it had heated rear seats !!

It was a fun family car at the time and had plenty of go.

It went through front P-zeros at an alarming rate and it blew a couple of turbos under warranty.

I had a grey 850R estate when it was about 3 years old. Good fun, thirsty and yes front tyres didn’t last long at all. Auto box wasn’t great. Never had any problems with it. Mine had the horrible tan interior!

Mine was also an estate but a manual.

Black interior.

I think only the manuals came with the full fat R engine with the autos having a slightly detuned engine from the previous 850 T5-R.

[cosworth330]

I have two of the earlier T-5Rs, both manuals. Quite good fun but not what I’d call a drivers car. Can be made quite quick in a straight line but can’t compare them to newer stuff. I just like the boxy shape.

[Stedman]

Exige77 said:

It went through front P-zeros at an alarming rate and it blew a couple of turbos under warranty.

I'm surprised by the turbo comment.

Almost as surprised as people were when my decat'd R opened up down the road