Street Sighting ~ Volvo 850 R (Sedan)

By
Oh the smile on my face.

I continue to repeat myself with the whole notion of a survivor car. What I really mean is, when I see a car on the street existing normally instead of a solely weekend driver I get excited. And while I know this Volvo (it belongs to my mate Nick) it's cool seeing it parked up, awaiting its next drive, even if it is just to the gym/work/home etc.

So maffian. So viktig.


The R badge is the real cause for lust. Cars with unconventional engine setups have become extremely appealing to me. I think its why despite owning three cars with naturally aspirated four-bangers I love my Subaru the most. And to top it off it has the worst motor of the three. 

The 850 R, however, has two things about the engine that make me want one even more; 

five cylinders & a turbo. 

A unique combination that powers the wrong-wheel-drive setup I really enjoy in the Adelaide hills. And I'll die on those hills (probably because of understeer) but it won't change my mind about fwd.  

You may be thinking sure its got a cool engine setup but it's an Xbox on wheels (good looking wheels). But here is the kick in the guts (for me) and the counter argument. Despite the shape of the gangster saloon it has a drag coefficient of 0.29, which is the same as my Subaru and actually pretty decent.


At some point I'll get the Subaru and Volvo side by side to replace this image but until then this should be good enough to make my point.

And that is, the 850 R is an absolute sleeper.


I have no clue what music Nick plays (not Swedish House Mafia). Me on the other hand, I'd cruise the car on decent road, under moonlight, with music by Rüfüs Du Sol pumping to soundtrack the burning of 98 octane.



 


Adelaide based. No real consistency just yarns, plain and simple.

Comments

  1. Nick Bell30.10.24

    hehe great writeup mate! Need that side-by-side indeed! As for music, well the car actually came with a disk in it 'Sneaky Sound System' which is a bit of a vibe, I love a bit of vapourwave on a night drive too. I'm afraid Swedish House Mafia may have been through the speakers a couple times too ;)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ALL JAPAN DAY 2025

By
Image
This will be long and lack any sort of direction, forgive me. This All Japan Day was far more relaxed for me, as I decided early on I wouldn't be making a video like last year: As a result I picked up fellow enthusiast/blog author Nick at about 10:30ish in the Vortex . Flying in from Canada at 4:00AM Nick somehow still had energy, and as we cruised down south we picked apart the in's & out's of the strange Subaru .   I did feel a touch guilty that it only received a garden hose spray-down & leaf blower dry off. Good enough for Nick's first impressions. Now from about here-on-out you are going to read the writings of someone who allowed his mind to wander and instincts dictate when to take a photo. In other words if you want a comprehensive run down of AJD , this is NOT it. Out the gate I enjoyed seeing not one but two triple-S datto Stanza's. I know the Stanza is a boring boxy sedan to most, but I'm a sucker for sports allure, and the SSS paint schemes...
Read more

Car Feature ~ Subaru Vortex

By
Image
Subinats 24' was a wild ride. While strolling the show & shine, making sure to get enough footage, I finally got to meet Shane. Meeting another Vortex owner is a rare occurrence and Shane didn't disappoint. A super genuine dude, we talked wedge, getting the run down on his Wynn's Safari inspired Vortex .  I'll type up a page on that car soon, but during the tour, Shane told me he was not alone. There was another Vortex at Subinats.  At that very moment I noticed a red coupe. It was absolutely hauling ass around the elevated sections of Sydney Motorsport Park. Once Shane's attention had turned to the parade lap I knew it was my job to go track down the red Vortex . Seeing Grant's car in front of me was VERY surreal. When the Vortex came out it received a donk of a motor, the EA82 . Later on in Japan and the US, it would receive revisions including a new motor the ER27 (essentially a six cylinder version of the EA -donk). Anytime you had a problem with the...
Read more

SUBARU VORTEX VS AUDI QUATTRO

By
Image
** PREFACE: RECOVERED ARTICLE FROM MOTOR WEEK SEPTEMBER 1985 ** FOUR-WHEEL-DRIVE is not only a powerful tractive tool, but a potent marketing weapon. Just ask Subaru and Audi. The Japanese firm has been in the all-wheel-drive business longer than the Germans, and has specialised in small saloons and estates that can scoot through mud and snow with the aid of selectable four-wheel drive. It also sells these vehicles in two-wheel-drive form, and in the States the importers have netted a sizeable portion of the import market with these sturdy but unexciting cars. Around 80 per cent of Subaru's production crosses the Pacific to America. With the aid of four-wheel-drive, Subaru has created a profitable business in a market niche that has been left unsullied until recently. Now that Toyota and others have entered the arena, it is looking further afield. The answer has been provided by Audi, which entered the four-wheel-drive field with the epoch-making Quattro in 1980, five years after S...
Read more