Volvo marks 35 years of 'pioneering' 850

And what better way to doff the cap than becoming the proud new owner of a vanishingly rare Olive Green T5-R?

By PH Staff / Tuesday, 14 July 2026 / Loading comments

This year, Volvo marks 35 years of the 850, the sharp-suited saloon (and later estate) that introduced not just a new look and platform, but also the sort of innovative features that helped cement the manufacturer’s reputation as a pioneer of road safety. More excitingly, it showed the world what a wagon would look like in Touring car costume (fantastically good), and then gatecrashed the road-going performance market with the mould-breaking T-5R.

In short, Project Galaxy, which had kicked off a decade earlier with the aim of overhauling Volvo’s mid-sized lineup, well earned its highfalutin name. The 850 didn’t seek to throw away the boxy, practicality-first image of the preceding 200 Series - a model range in production for two decades, which overlapped for a number of years as the 240 - but Jan Wilsgaard’s new design (the last of his storied career) successfully remade the concept for the forward-thinking ‘90s.

This also suited the forward-thinking nature of what was underneath: the P80 architecture shifted Volvo from its antiquated front-engine, rear-drive P platform to a new front-drive modular solution that exclusively featured transversely mounted inline five-cylinder engines. It gilded this better-performing lily with the newfangled Side Impact Protection System - the brainchild of three-point seatbelt inventor, Nils Bohlin - and later, the world’s first side airbag.

But it’s easiest now to recall the Volvo’s love affair with forced induction, a seemingly very Swedish infatuation at the time, that delivered a turbocharged T5 in 1994. The 850 really hit its stride a year later with the T5-R, which increased output from the 2.3-litre five pot to 240hp courtesy of a Bosch Motronic ECU. Intended as a special edition, the model added the sort of splitter, spoiler, skirts and sills proven to make grown men go weak at the knees. It was so successful that Volvo followed it up with the 850 R in 1996, which would get 250hp in time, though perhaps not the kudos of the original.

And that’s what we have here, in rare and very lovely Olive Green, limbering up for auction this Sunday. Like many if not most T5-Rs, this one has accrued its fair share of miles since 1995 - 145,682, to be exact - but it has also spent a good deal of time in dry storage. Now, following a hefty round of recommissioning courtesy of a Volvo specialist, the car is back to something like its in-period best and ready for its sixth owner in three decades.

Moreover, it presents now as arguably you'd hope a nice T5-R would: old enough to feel special, honest enough to use. Despite its bodywork addenda, there was always a Q-car vibe to the 850’s toppled wardrobe aesthetic, and with the five-speed manual ‘box present and correct, you’ll find sufficient performance on tap to fit the billing. Plus, of course, you’ll be able to fit an actual wardrobe in the back whenever you need to. Not the actual tagline when it was sold new, perhaps, but the attraction remains exactly the same, no matter how much time has passed since.

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