lovevivi
Philia_Bear
calling @iceton1975
egads (she/her)
Rob
nickm
They are out there but many are getting old and lack maintenance.
Over the last 6 or so months there have been about 5 Rs for sale gumtree ebay and carsales.
Keep an eye on the radar topic here.
Prices around $5500 for a good one maybe up to $6500 for a manual wagon. Autos can be had for as low as $1500-2000.
T5Rs seem increasingly rare in good condition.
Wait it out the right one will turn up.
lovevivi
Ex850R
There is always the 850T5 you could make into an R with sears , suspension and door trims or make it into a T-5R.
@Jamest5r_ in the UK seems to find a lot of the ones you want and for the money you want to spend you could import one.
Talk to Mark. @iceton1975 as well as he has imported from UK plus he is a dealer here and finds cars nobody else can.
You can get seat skins almost off the shelf from USA or buy off guys there that do the junk yards and will sell to Aus.
Swedish Wreckers here in Melbourne had a newly recovered set of R black seats etc a while back , not cheap so may still have. Give them a call , its a start on your build!
Get hold of a 2.3 motor and build it the way you want for install into a car , saves time when you find one.
Another , better option is like the 850 AWD Turbos that Rob just bought , convert one of those into an R and have a much better driving car than the FWD which isnt greatfor real spirited driving and in the wet? Forget fwd.....Whack in a 6 speed manual out of a V50T5 awd or Ford Focus XR5 or Mondeo XR5 for a FWD and have a better again improvement as the R/T-5R 5 spd just isnt right in the ratios.
Philia_Bear
lovevivi;45447 wroteThank you very much for that info, was thinking even if I found cheap one for $3000 and spend $12000 on restore , but I think might need more money then that for original parts like new seats from Sweden !
There are a few local (sydney) companies that make new seat leather that are of higher quality than volvo factory
@jamesinc for more details (IIRC about $1000 for new from seat covers)
Also going to want to watch the varios volvo club car adds as well
jamesinc
Elwood Controls in the US make fabulous aftermarket covers, though the price would be above $1000 now due to the exchange rate.
Ex850R
If i remember corrcetly ( and that aint a given !! ) the Swedish Wreckers ones ( East Keilor in VIC ) were $2500 or so for seats that were recovered locally and were a great job.
nickm
I would say most time and money would be on mechanical repairs.
Remember most parts are interchangeable with a stock 850. So find one with all the 850R or T5R special bits in good condition.
The usual stuff suspension,brakes and oil leaks, Water and intercooler houses will need attention as they are pushing 20 years old so stuff is failing from age not mileage. That will eat up more money than seats.
Many seem to have a leaking rear main. Owners who don't do it themselves seem to move the car on. Thus a $3000 car plus the work required to fix it adds up.
The black interior seems to wear better than the tan.
lovevivi
jamesinc
I'm fairly certain the R uses the same chassis. The T5 uses a B5234T3 motor whereas the R uses a B5234T5 motor (unless it's a manual, IIRC).
nickm
The R has different springs and not sure about swaybars? the chassis is the same as a base model 850
nickm
Motor difference is only the ECU/overboost function the engine is the same mechanically.
darcher93
I'm looking into a few other bits and pieces at the moment. If I find anything that piques my interest then you could possibly have my t5 manual wagon.
Ex850R
^There is a great starting point to make it into an R or T5R^
Having a 'copy' is of little importance as having a great car in perfect condition with all the attributes of what you want , its your car anyway so who cares what others may say ( club members are notorious for being picky )...
AshDVS
You're going to struggle to find a 'perfect' one - if you find the newest 850R example that you can, it's going to be 18 years old.
An 850T5R will be 20 years old (1995 only) and the latest P80 R will be a V70R (2000) which is now 15 years old.
That said, they're easy enough to work on and you'll be able to do a lot yourself, even more if you're a little savvy mechanically and you'll be able to do nearly everything if you're savvy and have time and tools.
If you're happy to settle for 'good' as a starting point, you'll find one easily enough.
If you're happy to use a Shitfighter as a starting point, you'll be a bit more spoiled for choice.
A T5 is often in better condition by now than an R - the softer/higher suspension and 16" (instead of 17") wheels means that front end parts wear out a bit slower and in some cases they've had an easier life.
Mechanically, differences are minimal, the cars are essentially the same, as mentioned above.
Visual differences are wheels, front bumper, interior and suspension package.
@Ex850R and I both picked up sub $2k shitfighters.
I'm using mine as a showcase vehicle for our business - for writing fitting guides and photos, etc and to demonstrate that you can have some, even by current standards, really good performance for less than $10k.
Les picked up a V70R and I picked up a V70T5
My basic requirements were -
* Preferably a wagon
* Must have charcoal interior (no biege)
* No sunroof
* Must be FWD
* Must be high pressure turbo
It might be worth giving up searching for a unicorn, buying a donkey, duct taping an ice cream cone to it's head and covering it in glitter. :)
(I'm saying this while praying to find a yellow T5R that ticks all of my own boxes too. lol)
Things to note -
850R/850T5R front bumper is NLA as a new part from Volvo
850R 'Volan' and 850T5R 'Titan' wheels do come up but typically demand reasonable amounts of money
850R interiors are easy enough to get hold of but will likely require some work to get looking presentable by now
850T5R interiors are harder to find again (limited build, one year only)
ECU -
Aftermarket ECU tunes will yield more power easily enough than 850R or 850T5R stock tunes.
Suspension -
We've had over 20 years of suspension technology development since the cars were new. New shocks and springs will be a lot better than the originals where when they were new if you select them wisely.
markc88
i wish my one only cost $12k to restore (!) but for what I have spent (it must be $20-30k all in) I still think is very good value for what the car is. I thought there was a black t5r for sale in Adelaide at the moment?
The Elwood controls people will do a t5r interior kit as well.
Anthony
Vivi, a real good one will come up eventually and would cost between 12k and 15k. And over time will be worth a lot more. The manual T-5R is the most collectible and was the new face of Volvo. There are quite a number of differences that make this model distinguished from the base model to form a unique hot looking and performing package.
A few will be on display at the Volvo Nationals in Sydney in August.
T-5R owner.
