Volvo 850: The makings of a flying banana

And let's face it, they really were very good, very comfortable cars. Yes, boxy too. Despite having produced a number of turbocharged models over the years, Volvo still held a reputation for creating some rather sluggish, square edged gas guzzlers. Cars that undoubtedly rewarded their owners with oodles of practicality, durability and dependability but little by way of honest-to-goodness performance. This never seemed to phase any of their loyal stalwarts because what Volvo produced was exactly what their customers wanted. They wanted familiar cars that did precisely what it said on the box. In Volvo circles sublime comfort, reassuring familiarity and safety trumped all. Speed was seldom a priority.

Project Galaxy

However, as far back as 1978, toiling away in some dusty old back offices, Volvo's top brass were quietly working on some interesting new concepts under the codename “Project Galaxy". Little did the Swedish car makers realise back then that their endeavours would grow into the most expensive industrial project in Swedish history. Project Galaxy paved the way for the development of the Volvo modular engine as well as the Ford Escort sized 400-Series models. But without a shadow of a doubt, the real biggy to emerge from this project was the Volvo 850. A car that first saw the bright lights of a dealer's showroom way back in 1991.

In 1994, the 850 Turbo was unveiled. This was a high-performance version of the original. When the Turbo version was launched, the entire 850 range enjoyed a mild but significant facelift. With the launch of this new turbocharged Volvo, the motoring world sensed that the Swedish manufacturer was on the cusp of something new and exciting.

The 850 Turbo was certainly not your common-or-garden grandparents' runabout. Far from it. Driving one was to be a huge eye-opener. That's because being behind the wheel of the T-5 (as it became known) was a truly surreal experience. It was a bit like meeting the usually dowdy lady librarian down the local boozer. Initially, all would seem quite convivial and normal, until this hidden beauty suddenly lets down her hair, loosens her blouse buttons, removes her Deirdre Barlow librarian's spectacles and even reveals a bit of leg!

Huge upgrade

And, ohh myyy goodness, what fine legs they were! This was thanks to a newly fabricated 222 horsepower, 2.3-litre, turbocharged version of the in-line five-cylinder engine. This provided the 850 Turbo with plenty of luscious 'legs'. It was a huge upgrade compared with the measly 168 ponies which had been clip-clopping away in naturally aspirated versions. Whilst those naturally aspirated cars were hardly sluggish, they did sometimes feel a little asthmatic when faced with an uphill pull. They sort of lost their puff!

The 850 T-5's were never the cheapest of cars but compared with some other brands' offerings, they certainly provided a fair bit of bang for your buck. Compared with the likes of the V8-powered 530i from BMW, the 850 Turbo easily won the game of Top Trumps. To cap it all, the grunt those gloriously engineered in-line 5 cylinder (T-5) engines provided when suitably wound up was utterly sublime.

Stability technology

To get the best and (of course) safest possible experience out of an 850 Turbo, Volvo utilised vehicle stability technology. Other car makers called their incarnations of this technology ESP (Electronic Stability Programme). But in Volvo Land, the system was known as TCS (Traction Control System). And that's exactly what it did. It controlled traction. It did this by deploying the very latest cutting edge computer technology to detect and prevent loss of said traction. This system operated completely automatically, helping drivers harness the considerable power available without letting things get out of hand. TCS worked by sensing that one wheel was spinning faster than the others. Once a spin was detected, the TCS signaled the ABS control unit to automatically apply the brake on that faster rotating wheel. All this happened in fractions of a second. Such electronic intervention was intended to do just enough to keep the car on an even keel and prevent any serious loss of control.

Automatic transmission was an optional feature on the 850 Turbo. Volvo figured out that offering automatic transmission as an option would help make driving the 850 Turbo a far more civilised and user-friendly affair. They hoped that this would perhaps tempt a broader customer base. Indeed, the super smooth automatic transmission did make the 850 Turbo an absolute delight to drive and therefore Volvo succeeded to attract keen new interest in their brand. Of course, manual transmission was still available for any die-hard driving enthusiasts; the kind of people who would never dream of delegating any aspect of raw driving pleasure.

Of course, Volvo had always been a brand widely celebrated for their considerable achievements in the area of accident research. This facet of their brand ethos was made all the more famous by their use of crash dummies during a series of advertising campaigns. It was Volvo's ongoing accident research that resulted in the introduction of their renowned Side Impact Protection System (SIPS) when they launched the 850 in 1991.

SIPS was eventually extended to the entire Volvo range and was hailed as a major breakthrough in automotive safety. The system was designed to help divert energy from a side impact collision away from occupants. The 850 Turbo also featured the SIPS-Bag. This meant that the T-5's were amidst the first mass-produced cars to feature side-impact airbags as standard.

Commercial success

The T-5 was a massive commercial success. This wasn't just because of awesome performance capabilities but they were also very popular because Volvo had managed to retain all of their previous models' key attributes such as comfort, durability, longevity as well as familiar design traits in a brand-new and genuinely groundbreaking model. The 850 managed to please the die hard Volvo fraternity because it still looked every inch a Volvo thanks to the dab-hand of their in-house design legend, Jan Wilsgaard.

Just five years after Volvo decided to spice up the 850 with the addition of turbochargers, the T-5 model had become one of the most successful and celebrated cars they'd ever produced. The 1994 850 Turbo's great success led to the production of the T5-R in 1995. This was the most unbridled and powerful 850 incarnation yet. When finished in limited edition Cream Yellow, these legendary cars earned the nickname 'flying bananas' and they were in no way mellow yellow fellows! Leading from the success of the T-5R, we then got the R model in (phase-1) V70 guise (V70-R).

Crazy as it might seem, it's now over 30 years since the launch of the first 850's, so finding a nice example is pretty hard work these days. Nevertheless, there's no doubt that the 850 (the T-5 models especially) have earned themselves a place amidst the ranks of true modern classics. They really are a joy to behold.