Wanted: Volvo 850 T5-R

Just on the off chance that someone might know where a decent one would be available for sale?

You'll get invited to the tyre-dealers' Christmas do. A mate had one. New front tyres every month.
Mind you, if you're driving in London...

It's to get out of London with to be honest- I need to get down to see my folks a lot all of a sudden, and it means I now could do with a car.

I'm familiar with the appetite for tyres, but these cars were racing when I first started going to watch rounds of the BTCC, and I've wanted one ever since.

Want a BTCC one?

After our conversation earlier I've put the feelers out for you.

I used to love these. A friends dad had one.
Good luck.

Cheers Ant and Jol, and I think whilst a roll caged, bag-tanked BTCC racer would be great maybe it would not be that practical for UK driving...

I've been advised that if I want a manual (which I do) then the 850R is a better bet due to an improved turbo and crucially an LSD.

These things are now dirt cheap on Autotrader as they eat petrol and cost a lot to insure and tax. They are sweet though.

I may well be wrong on this- but these are all (well) pre-2003, when the emissions based tax came in, so I think that it should be the standard road tax/VED.

Insurance wise because I have no no-claims bonus the 250 BHP 2.3 Litre turbocharged Volvo is around £50 a year more than a 64 BHP 1.2 litre Clio, which I admit makes no sense, but there you are.

Petrol- yep, it's going to drink a lot, but the car itself is (hopefully) going to be so cheap that it will offset that.

I have a fully loaded merc 420 for 400 quid if you want, burnout central:

they are heavy, expensive and pointless, when u can get a MK3 golf for the same money if not less, and its as fast, more reliable, and better on petrol, why do u want a volvo?

He's just been made golf club captain.

they are heavy, expensive and pointless, when u can get a MK3 golf for the same money if not less, and its as fast, more reliable, and better on petrol, why do u want a volvo?

Not sure I agree with your points, apart from the petrol one.

But, as I said above, I saw the Volvo's in the BTCC and told myself then that I would have one someday.

Plus I can get quite a few bikes in the back without taking them to bits, or a wardrobe, should I want to move one at high speed.

Plus, as Platini has pointed out, my golf club duties have made this inevitable.

Yeah the tax is non variable. £185 a year at the moment same as my car.

they are heavy, expensive and pointless, when u can get a MK3 golf for the same money if not less, and its as fast, more reliable, and better on petrol, why do u want a volvo?

You could get a bike with gears and big comfortable tires for the same money you spent on a fixed ;)

You could get a bike with gears and big comfortable tires for the same money you spent on a fixed ;)

Good luck with the wardrobe.

I restored one of them a few years back when I was restoring classic cars, some guy just decided he didn't want to buy a new one so he had his one restored instead, ended up being a beautiful car, better than it was when new and a lot cooler than a new one!! Great cars!! Go for it

Made an offer today on a white, manual estate 850R- £1,000.

It'll need around £1,000 spending on it as there is a fairly long list of (thankfully small) things that need to be done.

Ironically it will still be cheaper than many peoples bikes.

Made an offer today on a white, manual estate 850R- £1,000.

It'll need around £1,000 spending on it as there is a fairly long list of (thankfully small) things that need to be done.

Ironically it will still be cheaper than many peoples bikes.

Clearly to buy, but not to run...

That's very true, although I am (possibly kidding myself) that the low purchase price goes some way to offsetting this.

It is interesting when one compares, for example, a pair of Zipp 808's and a fully adjustable set of Koni coil overs however.

When all is said and done I am not going to spend the amount of money on it that a friend of mine has, but then I don't expect to get 471bhp/454 foot pound of torque out of mine...

the ultimate q car
understated volvo but with a nuclear powerstation under the bonnet
great cars have looked at them myself in the past
check out autotrader they always have quite a few
try pistonheads.com also they have a decent amount of t5's and r5's for sale#

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/list.asp?s=457

Made an offer today on a white, manual estate 850R- £1,000.

It'll need around £1,000 spending on it as there is a fairly long list of (thankfully small) things that need to be done.

Ironically it will still be cheaper than many peoples bikes.

I'd be careful about buying a car that appears to need 1000 gbp worth of maintenance done on it unless you are sure that it is all that need to be done on it. It's just that frequently you start repairing something to find out that it needs alot more work done. Any old car like this could be a head ache in the maintenance department mind you.

I might not have explained to well- it's just passed it's MOT, drives well etc.

However- an MOT checks that it is safe, stops ok etc, not what power it develops.

The £1,000 figure is for some preventative stuff, i.e. new cambelt, tensioner belt and aux belt, engine oil change, gearbox oil change, new PCV tubing, blah blah blah and a few "nice to have's".

It won't all be required at once.

This is all to the end of bringing it back from current (90 bhp) to where it should be (280ish bhp).

For example at the moment the wastegate is stuck open, so it is not boosting at all.
This requires one 10mm and one 12mm socket, and about 30 minutes work, and then most of the power should be back.

This is rather a long way away:

check this Volvo I saw in France a few months ago: http://intelligence.arkitip.com/2008/09/16/awesome-volvo/

591HP... gets you to the next red light 0.4seconds quicker than your neighbor. Tidy.