Taken just up the street from where we stayed over the weekend. This is 35W, I think, but I can never remember 36.

Part 2 in a series of cars I’m looking at. Today: the Volvo 850/V70.

This was another car I initially didn’t much care for; I just didn’t get the full-height taillights that have become the calling card of Volvo’s wagons. But as my opinion of Volvo as a company changed so did my opinion of this car. Abe bought an 850 sedan (the naturally aspirated version) back in 2001, and it was always a really nice, fairly basic car. The inline 5 was capable even in base form (more powerful then than VW’s new and larger 5-cylinder, and the car had some helpful cold-weather and safety features which came in handy quite often. The car was gorgeous – it was a 1996 with white over tan cloth, and it had the rear spoiler which really made it stand out from other 850s.

The major drawback, and the reason it was sold to make way for his CR-V, was that it was a sedan. Unfortunately finding a healthy 850 wagon for a reasonable price is something of a challenge, but if the search is a success it will be totally worth it. I test drove a turbo model over the winter and while the car was in horrible shape, it went like nobody’s business and there was absolutely no slippage on the ice-covered (I’m not exaggerating; it was like a skating rink) parking lot. There were just so many cosmetic/interior things that were wrong with it that it would’ve been too much of a hassle.

I know less about the V70. I’m pretty sure that it’s the mechanical twin of the 850, or very close to it, with a more modern interior and exterior. I don’t like that they took away the body-colored strip between the bottom of the headlights and the bumper, and I don’t like that they changed the black rub strips on the car to body-colored. Overall it looks slightly cheaper. Because of this, the ideal would be a 1996/1997 850 Turbo wagon with a manual transmission and heated cloth seats. Then I’d get a set of the taillights from the V70 and replace the 850’s red/amber with the red/white. So cool!