I found a yellow T5R in Los Angeles that I went round and round on and then decided not to buy. It might be a really good car, but the distance adds too much expense. The owner is a Volvo Master Tech that has been working at the same dealership for eight years. It has 125,000 on it and he has taken the engine out and replaced the head gasket, seals and timing belt. It also has brand new S60 R wheels and other new parts along with the IPD exhaust and upper mount. Said it is putting out 275 HP. He is selling for around $7,000, and it would cost approx. another $1,000 to ship. At this point I am probably going to pass on this one just on gut feel and I can't afford to go see it first.

Then there is a 97 850 R in Evanston, IL that is red with charcoal interior with 119,000 miles that looks real good. Got him to also take about $7,200. This one is not out of the question for me to look at it.

The next one is a 96 850 R in the PIttsburgh area. It's red with a tan interior. For some reason the red on this one looks kind of orange compared to other red ones. I thought it was just the camera, but when I said this to the seller he said it is a little on the orange side. Anybody know if they had a different shade of red in 96? This one has 123,000 miles on it with new wheels and tires and all maintence records. He turned down $5,750 at the auction yesterday and will sell it to me for $5,900. I am going to look at it Saturday with my checkbook in hand.

I will keep you guys informed.

 

Can you post a pic of the one that looks orange?
It might have been repainted they had a weird color that they offered.

 

OK one qustion. I just talked to the guy and he said that the A/C does not blow cold at the beginning of the season after sitting in storage all winter. He will recharge with about 1 can and it works fine all season. I hate A/C problems. What do you think?

 

I has to have a slow leak.If you get it install dye in it to help you find the leak.
It might be the evaperator.If you send it to a shop to have it replaced it will cost you about $1200.00 to get it fixed.

 

Sure here is a picture:



[IMG]local://upfiles/1637/DFA9F171D2034647AD76715025A2B9EB.jpg[/IMG]

 

Now here is one that is really the color I expect with a red Vovlo.



[IMG]local://upfiles/1637/76B4B4DF7F6543069E0BC27226CCF374.jpg[/IMG]

 

Looks like a repaint.
I would ask for pics of the interior also to make sure it is really an R car.
But it looks like it is in good shape.

 

It's definitely an R. Has the 58 in position 6-7 of the VIN.

That's something I learned about the 850's:

58 = R with High Pressure Turbo at 240 HP
57 = High Pressure Turbo 222 HP
56 = Low Pressure Turbo 190 HP
55 = Non Turbo - I don't look at these.

 

Ok good then See I learned something new today!!! LOL

 

If that orangish red is original paint, I like that color better personally. My favorite is still yellow though. If you really liked that one, you should ask the guy to split the difference on shipping by reducing the price by $500. Glad you have decided on the R regardless.

 

Pretty much did get him to pay half the shipping. He started at $7,500 and came down to something around $6,900 but I never did come to a final price. The pictures of it did not look that great, and he is really trying hard to sell it. I like the yellow too, but they are really had to find. I heard there were only about 200 of them brought to the US.

When I look at the one Saturday what's the best way to tell if it's original paint? I guess just look inside the doors, the trunk and hood and if those colors match they either did a very good paint job or iit's original. The color kind of reminds me of the the Porsche Guards Red which I had on my 911. My wife is worried it will clash with the Burgandy V70 when they sit next to each other in the garage. I'm not kidding she really said that.

 

Also get the paint code from the plate under the hood and then look it up.
It will be a 3 digit code on the plate.

 

Also look closely at weather stripping and in the wheels wells for overspray. That's funny that your wife really said that. You could always sell the v70 and get twin 850 R's in matching color

 

For an auto with over 100,000 miles......................and in Pittsburg where the winters are rough....................I will bet you that you are getting a repaint that was not matched with a factory paint code!!! Look at the front of it................there isn't a stone chip to be seen!! As bugs bunny says................be veery veery careful! Lastly, I believe that auto uses freon in the A.C. and that can be expensive to replace. It is not that difficult to change over to 134 but it sounds like you have a leak that will never "cure" itself and lord help you if the dash has to come out. Perhaps the California auto may be a good bet................catch the red eye and check it out. I would rather drive one of Tech's volvos than one from Joe-on-the-street and it appears that the California Volvo was a "Tech" car.

 

The one in California is $2,000 more and the guy has only owned it for two months and it does not have plates on it, and the pictures just don't look too good. A cheap flight out and back would be at least $300, so I don't think so.

Now about the paint you got to check this out. I found this one for sale in Oregon:



[IMG]local://upfiles/1637/00AEF16EABD9440B888B59AF0C10967C.jpg[/IMG]

 

Totally different car but definitely orangeish. Leads me to believe it is a factory paint color. Also when I looked at the pictures of the one from Pittsburgh the door jams look the same color as the exterior. I think the guy is being really staight with me and it is definitely the best deal I am going to find. I mean he was offered $5750 at the auction and turned it down.

As far as the yellow ones, I heard that they only imported 200 of them to the US. Only a total of less than 1,000 T5R's were brought into the country and very few of them were yellow.

 

Jim, if you really want to know if the 'orange' is a factory colour, simply get the paint code off the auto and go to your local auto paint store and match the number with the colour chip. I was simply amazed that there wasn't a stone chip to be seen.................. for an auto that has seen 100,000 miles over several years. At any rate, it seems to be the auto you want with the engine that you truly want. Keep us updated.....................

 

Whoa you won't believe this, but I thought my wife was kind of kidding about the two cars clashing colors in the garage. When I told her I was going up to Pittsburgh to look at it this weekend, she went off on me. Says I'm too old to be driving an orange car and that Volvo's should not be orange in the first place that should be reserved for old muscle cars like GTO's. Then she overheard me talking to my son on the phone and I told him about the A/C and she really went off. I took the manly approach and told her to SHUT UP while my son was on the phone. That worked she hasn't talked to me since. To be honest I really don't care much for the orange either so I might pass on the 6-7 hours of driving. By the way I took her Volvo to work this morning and left her with the old Honda Accord. That'll teach her. She'll be begging me to buy that orangeish one now.

 

Wow Sorry to hear that!!! Good for you that you left her the old car to drive.

My wife learned early.I used to have a teal grean Toyota 4X4 pick up,Also a rust color Plymouth Arrow,Alot of stuff like that I like to stand out.I also can't keep a car just stock for more than 30 minutes after I bring it home.

Heck my wifes Chevy Barretta is almost the orange of the 850R.

 

Flying to Norfolk tomorrow morning to look at a 97 White 850 R. It's at a Volvo dealership and they have been servicing the car for the past five+ years. Got hot and blew a head gasket and the lady traded it in. They put a new head gasket, radiator, did a valve job, put on a new timing belt and some other stuff. The guy who ownds the dealership, I guess, has been driving it for a month and has had no problems It has 140,000 miles. They wanted $7,500, but said they would take $6,500. They also have a black with charcoal that he would take $7,000 for, but said the white is a much cleaner car that has been very well taken care of.

Wife is happy. She likes white with black interior. Said I won't look like the Dukes of Hazard in it. I don't know how I have stayed married to that woman for past 28 years. She must do something right.