Disturbing Thoughts

[The Arch Bishop 0]

With the Pug poised to go to a new home, I keep getting disturbing lure towards Volvo 850 T5's. Now I realise that they're huge barges, but 225 bhp in an estate sounds like perverse fun to me.

 

Has anyone had any experience with them in terms of parts pricing, reliability etc?

[Baz 421]

Had/got a few, they're the bollocks, do it, you won't regret.

[harryskid 193]

I have thoughts of what i'd like to do to Volvos when i get stuck behind them!

[Baz 421]

They look huge, and they are, but they don't actually feel like it when driving and certainly don't handle like it either!

Edited November 26, 2010 by Baz

[Atari Boy 11]

I have a V50 T5, as barges go, it quite good fun.

[lemmingzappa 75 1 Cars]

When Baz took me out in his I was suprised at how ridiculously well they handle considering their size ! Sound lovely too

Edited November 26, 2010 by lemmingzappa

[MrG 3]

I have an 850R saloon and its really good. Handles well and doesn't look bad either. Very comfortable to.

Cheap as chips at the moment and you can tune them to produce good outputs.

 

Servicing is no worse than any other car, and both the ones I've had have been very reliable. They're not that big either, well no bigger than a 5 series BMW at least.

 

The T5's, T5R's and the R's should not be placed into the same bracket as the caravan towing or old people brigade.

 

just get a decent one you'll no regret it I'm sure

[Masekwm 2]

After trying a Legnum estates are the way forward. 300bhp in an estate is just stupid tbh.

[blessed6383 0]

have to say i must agree with the about for a big motor they go and handle well, and even the smaller V40 T4 are good fun for the money the earlier ones put out a bit more bhp iirc but not noticable really.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Remember they used to race these in touring car championships!!! They look very nice and a real sleeper!

 

Ali

[jord294 92]

 

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Yer, thats the one! Looks mental.

[Baz 421]

Better;

 

 

 

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Love it! Out of interest did they run super tuned 2.3/4/5? turbo units? RWD I assume?

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

Love it! Out of interest did they run super tuned 2.3/4/5? turbo units? RWD I assume?

Nope. 2.0 non turbo and front wheel drive as they all had to be. They were run by TWR.

 

Looking at the pics above, it seems they have handling issues as only 2 wheels work! Even so, if you are going to do it inthe BTCC, then do it properly!

(I was there on this corner at Donington when this happened and he didn't roll)

 

Back onto T5's, historically they were meant to have some issues with cracking manifolds or turbos that were very expensive. I seemed to recall that the police cars suffered with it.............

..... found some info http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.a...;mid=0&i=60

[MrG 3]

they used to but many were replaced under warranty many years back. Today most are fine although its worth checking.

The last problem I had was a damaged rim due to a pot hole, but looking back on the cars issues, the std 215/40/17 rubber used gives little flex so sooner or later it was going to happen.

 

The LHD Italian market 850 T5R's and R's are 2.0 litre turbo cars where as all the rest are the std 2.3's. Manual R's had the equivalent of an LSD and in the R format delivered around 250bhp through those front wheels, where as the autos had no LSD equiv and put down 240bhp.

 

The T5R is a limited run of cars to celebrate the BTCC returns and victories where as the R's were not. BUT the R is a rarer car due to only something like 197 being made before the production of the 850 ceased! So the limited edition car is not as rare as the run out models.

 

Great cars, and in T5R and R set up really give many others something to worry about.

[Baz 421]

Yep, BTCC regs like most Touring Cars said upto 2litre, so they used a 2.0 20v NA 5pot with just under 300bhp.

 

 

 

Which was essentially a very modified version of a standard engine, which my first one was, i was 18 so couldn't afford to insure a big engined one! It was still lots of fun, went surprisingly well, and despite breaking a gearbox after smashing it round a field, was massively reliable.

 

 

 

The AWD like i have now is well worth thinking about too, and of course the V70's given they're essentially an updated 850 offer a few more options when it comes to the bigger engined R models, in both FWD and AWD variants.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Baz

[The Arch Bishop 0]

Well, I'm sold! It was the TWR Volvo's that initially caught my interest in fact. Just loved the idea that these were out dueling in the late 90's at the hay-day of the series.

 

I think that, for what I could afford, I'd be looking at a (real) cheapy shed which is fine by me. I've seen one on Auto Trader that's very local and is under £500. It also has one of the lowest mileages that I've found but is currently SORN and is a little tatty visually. For that kind of money, I'm willing to take a punt though! It's only a second car although, if it remained reliable, I think it'd probably become my main transport!

 

Tooooo tempting......

[MrG 3]

here's mine

 

 

But don't just buy a cheepie, they're cheep enough as they are, no point buying a poor example as a good example will cost no a great deal more. Plus I reckon you should opt for a T5 as starter but try and get a T5R.

[The Arch Bishop 0]

I think I'd be happy with a T5 to start with. I might still take a look at the cheapy (it's only 12 miles away). Sometimes you can get a bargain and I'm fairly clued up on car buying so I rarely get the 'Got to have it' head on.

 

For those interested, it this one; clicky

The K&N filter and strut-brace are a bit of a put off though.

 

A guy at work as a ridiculously tidy T5R in metallic green with the anthracite five spoke alloys. Think he paid £800 for it which just seems like a steal.

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

... which my first one was, i was 18 ....

That reminds me of the Top Gear episode where Clarkson had a water bed in the back of his "student car". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RLP2GdTN7M