On the one hand, a design near to the models 740 and 960, on the other hand to offer an entirely new layout in the substructure. Front-wheel drive of course means turning away from the six-cylinder, but also with a cylinder less the 850 presents itself as well motorized, especially later when a turbocharger is added (image below) and a TDI of the VW Group.

1991 the front-wheel drive is really new for the master brand Volvo. And the later added four wheel drive, too, which is a little surprising for a Scandinavian car maker. And opposite to Volvo's more slowly evolving model program, the 850 gets two more innovations, a new concept against side impact (video 1 and 2) and automatically height-adjustable belts.

The two years later presented station wagon has probably spoiled the Volvo owners with so much space inside that a today's Volvo appears much to small to them. Despite two years less manufactured, the car reaches considerable 326,000 sales compared with 390,000 for the sedan. Even the latter already has enough storage space, expandable by 2 to 1 divided backrests, optionally a flap e.g. for skis.

The engine history starts with naturally aspired 20-valves. Then is added a turbocharger, being boosted with help from the Fa. Porsche. The T-5R (83,500 DM) is then mostly to be seen with front and rear spoilers, the whole car in bright yellow color with a surprising low drag-coefficient of 0.29. It is also available as station car, it is not surprising that Volvo also uses this in the British Touring Car Championship 1994 (pictured below). Check out the last video for its race talent. 06/16