A dark blue Volvo 850, seen in the 798 art district in Beijing. The good Volvo was still used as a daily driver and that is always a great thing. It was in a reasonable shape but in dire need of some love and maintenance. The Volvo 850 was manufactured from 1991 until 1997 with a facelift in 1994. Our blue Swede is a facelifted example, with the new grille, bumpers, and alloys.
Wing at the back and sporty alloys were standard, and so were the somewhat odd mudflaps behind the front wheels.
The Volvo 850 Turbo was the second-fastest 850 after the T-5R and R. It was powered by a five-cylinder turbocharged 2.4 liter petrol engine with an output of 193hp and 270nm, good for a 225km/h top speed and a 7.8 seconds 0-100. The 850 Turbo was one of the most popular models of the 850 range because it was very fast without the madness of the R’s.
The Volvo 850 was never officially exported to China so how this black Swede ended up in the capital is a mystery, but I guess it is an ex-diplomatic car. Keeping an 850 alive must be hard since parts and expertise are hard to get. The engine however can go a zillion miles… Let’s hope the rest of the cars survives as well, as the great capital Beijing deserve a great car as the Volvo 850 Turbo on its always busy roads.
Over the years I have seen probably a dozen Volvo 850’s in China, and in recent years it has reached some sort of a cult status. I know a shop in Beijing that was restoring two 850’s, it took them ages because they had to source parts via eBay. I’ll post some pictures of the shop later on.
R-badge is not Volvo factory but a rather cool after market badge made by a UK company called Something Magic. Turbo badge below the light.