New to forum - 850R wagon

Julian

Hi everyone,

About 9 months ago I bought the 1996 850R wagon pictured, after keeping an eye out for such a car for quite a while following someone wrote off my previously beloved SAAB 900 aero.

The car has been pretty good since I have owned it with no serious issues to report, and it has been used as both a daily driver and vehicle for some longer trips up the coast. There are minor things wrong with it here and there but I am planning to start addressing them as I can.

Anyhow, I might make a few more specific posts about some of the fixes/upgrades I am considering, but thought I'd say a general "hi" first.

egads (she/her)

Manual R wagon! Niiiice

markc88

That's very nice!

morgan

Saw this for sale last year for around $5000, very jealous!

Ghettobird

More deets!!

jamesinc

Very clean, welcome to the forums!

nickm

Hi
Looks good and manual ....
Like mine you need a rear spoiler :)

Julian

Yeah I'd really like a rear spoiler! I did have a look online a while ago, couldn't find any locally in Australia and wasn't desperate enough to pay shipping on a remake from overseas.

Hmm, more details about the car...well, it has 165 000 on the clock, and is pretty standard from what I can see, except it has a strut brace fitted. Body is in great condition and couldn't hope for too much more with the interior either, with some minor dash cracks being about the worst if it. I found after buying it that the rear sway bar was snapped on the passenger side half way along the bracket between the end of the bar and where it mounts, so am hoping to try to source some ipd bars. A few other non-debilitating problems with it that I want to get sorted but it's going well at the moment.

I was pretty lucky to find the car actually, as I'd often look online for a manual wagon with the turbocharged engine but knew it was a somewhat uncommon combination, so had sort of resigned myself to probably having to travel a bit to pick one up. I was out at lunch one weekend, happened to search gumtree and see this one, only to see it was literally 1 street away from where I was. So I went and checked it out and the rest is history.

I'm the second 850 owner in the family, with my dad picking up a green 1996 sedan (2.5 na 10 valve). It's in very good condition, and had just 60,000 km on the odo when he got it a couple of years ago. Looking at the condition of it, I'd say that's probably accurate.

nickm

Ask around here there will be one.

94_850_t5

Very nice! The broken rear sway bar is not that unusual. I've had 2 break on me on 2 different 850s.

patchyfog

Hey, @Julian I have a regular rear sway bar you can have until you get an upgraded one. Not sure where you are located but if you can organize pick up you're welcome to it.

Julian

Hey @patchyfog that could be really good- I'm in newcastle, where abouts are you? I've called vp tuning a couple of times and the guy there said he is trying to find a supplier of the ipd swaybars to get some in, but it seems like this has been ongoing for 3 or 4 months now so I'm not sure how he's going. Do people generally just get these through vp or has it been practical to them posted from Sweden or wherever they make them?

patchyfog

Hey mate, I didn't actually go with the IPD set as I found them (and especially shipping) a bit pricey. I went with Ultra Racing instead, 25mm on the front and 23mm at the rear. I'm happy with them.
I'm on the Gold Coast @Julian, not sure if you know of anyone who could run them to you?

Raebird

Another qld'er, great news! Car looks great also! ?

Rolvo

Welcome! I saw this car on gumtree too (and considered it). I like the white best.
But went different direction and got a auto R - very happy to drive it in Sydney traffic (jams)

Russell

@Julian I'm in Newcastle aswell. Hope to see you around!! I'm either in a green 850R manual or white c30 t5 manual.

Russell

Also a mate at work got a wagon manual 850R same colour as mine. ?

Julian

Hey nice cars! I do like the look of the c30, and considered them for a while before getting my 850, but they were still a fair bit more expensive than what I wanted. My dad actually drives an 850 sedan in the same colour as yours, but it is the 10 valve NA engine with the auto. Still a nice car to be in.

Is your 850 fairly standard, or have you gone down the path of some modifications?

But yeah definitely come and say hi if you see me around, or even hit me up some time and we can grab a beer/coffee and talk 850s

Russell

The c30 cost me $9k with 115k on the clock from a dealership with a year warranty. The 850R has had all it airways open (tme exhaust, do88 intercooler, do88 radiator, do88 rip kit, snabb intake with k&n pod) is ready for power upgrades, bilstein suspension.

Julian

Looks awesome! How do you find the tme exhaust? Annoyingly loud/droney or a nice note?