Soldato
First of all a bit of an introduction: I don't post here very much, but have lurked for a long while! Anyone who went to the last southern meet may remember me, I was the guy with the grey mazda 3 
So, thought I'd make a post to introduce you to my latest purchase: a 1996 volvo 850 T5
I've been looking at these for ages: originally as a daily driver, until I realised that they're pretty terrible cars for constant start stop traffic on my journey to uni and commute on the m25 every week. Combine that with me needing to park in tight spots for work and I decided I'd have to get something more sensible.
So, I ended up getting a mazda 3 sport, which has (touch wood) been perfect for the job. With only 150BHP though, it's not the most exciting drive and since getting it I've had the urge for a second car as a kind of weekend toy.
Being 18, insurance was a pretty major factor, and eliminated pretty much every quick car other than the volvo. I kept looking on ebay, but most of them were either overpriced or utter wrecks, but I persevered until I found one that looked decent and had some nice mods. I spoke to the owner, put a bid in for £965 and won it, totally unseen. Probably not the most sensible thing to do really....
The next morning, I got up and proceded to break my sat nav and leave my car and house keys in the back of the cab I took down to the station. Not the best of starts, but I managed to fix the sat nav and the cab driver very kindly drove all the way back with my keys after his next job. Despite several train delays, I made it there on time, took a quick look over the car, trying to pretend I had a clue what I was looking at. Everything seemed fine so I handed over the money and signed the documents.
Anyway, here it is:
It's had a recon engine and gearbox, plus a pretty large amount of mods - I didn't realise how many there were until I came to collect the car: he'd missed several out in the description. I'm still finding more stuff, but here's the list so far:
T5R Gearbox
Rica 304 remap
Iridium plugs
k&n cone filter
ferriter exhaust with decat
polyurathane engine mount
red silicon turbo and coolant hoses
T5R Interior
Vented and grooved front brake disks and brembo pads
Having never driven an auto before, it was an "interesting" experience on the way back but I made it back alive. I also had a great conversation with some police at a service station who thought it was fantastic (apparantly they used to drive one). It's considerably faster than anything I've ever driven before and I haven't yet managed to master the fine line between a quick start and lighting up the front tyres (which it will do at 70MPH.....)
I took it for a proper drive with some friends this afternoon and it's brilliant fun. It also attracts a surprising amount of attention, probably because it's quite noisy and I look a tad ridiculous driving it, but people seem to take it in good humour. Had a bit of a brown trousers moment when I booted it onto a motorway, failing to see the police bike behind me, but he just flashed his lights and motioned for me to slow down, which I duly obeyed
So, here's a few more pictures (will update with better ones once my friend has sorted out his camera). Comments and even critisicm are welcome, I realise that for most people, the idea of an old volvo as a weekend car is madness!
So, thought I'd make a post to introduce you to my latest purchase: a 1996 volvo 850 T5
I've been looking at these for ages: originally as a daily driver, until I realised that they're pretty terrible cars for constant start stop traffic on my journey to uni and commute on the m25 every week. Combine that with me needing to park in tight spots for work and I decided I'd have to get something more sensible.
So, I ended up getting a mazda 3 sport, which has (touch wood) been perfect for the job. With only 150BHP though, it's not the most exciting drive and since getting it I've had the urge for a second car as a kind of weekend toy.
Being 18, insurance was a pretty major factor, and eliminated pretty much every quick car other than the volvo. I kept looking on ebay, but most of them were either overpriced or utter wrecks, but I persevered until I found one that looked decent and had some nice mods. I spoke to the owner, put a bid in for £965 and won it, totally unseen. Probably not the most sensible thing to do really....
The next morning, I got up and proceded to break my sat nav and leave my car and house keys in the back of the cab I took down to the station. Not the best of starts, but I managed to fix the sat nav and the cab driver very kindly drove all the way back with my keys after his next job. Despite several train delays, I made it there on time, took a quick look over the car, trying to pretend I had a clue what I was looking at. Everything seemed fine so I handed over the money and signed the documents.
Anyway, here it is:
It's had a recon engine and gearbox, plus a pretty large amount of mods - I didn't realise how many there were until I came to collect the car: he'd missed several out in the description. I'm still finding more stuff, but here's the list so far:
T5R Gearbox
Rica 304 remap
Iridium plugs
k&n cone filter
ferriter exhaust with decat
polyurathane engine mount
red silicon turbo and coolant hoses
T5R Interior
Vented and grooved front brake disks and brembo pads
Having never driven an auto before, it was an "interesting" experience on the way back but I made it back alive. I also had a great conversation with some police at a service station who thought it was fantastic (apparantly they used to drive one). It's considerably faster than anything I've ever driven before and I haven't yet managed to master the fine line between a quick start and lighting up the front tyres (which it will do at 70MPH.....)
I took it for a proper drive with some friends this afternoon and it's brilliant fun. It also attracts a surprising amount of attention, probably because it's quite noisy and I look a tad ridiculous driving it, but people seem to take it in good humour. Had a bit of a brown trousers moment when I booted it onto a motorway, failing to see the police bike behind me, but he just flashed his lights and motioned for me to slow down, which I duly obeyed
So, here's a few more pictures (will update with better ones once my friend has sorted out his camera). Comments and even critisicm are welcome, I realise that for most people, the idea of an old volvo as a weekend car is madness!
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
