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J̶a̶r̶e̶d̶R̶'̶s̶ Zach's 1996 Polar White 850R Estate

35K views 221 replies 29 participants last post by  JaredR 
#1 ·
Other than the wipers breaking 1/3 of the way home (rainx ftw), it seems pretty solid for $950.

 
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#17 · (Edited)
I have no idea lol. Right now we just needed anything else that we are ok with driving in salt now that I have a job I have to drive to and this, being a Maine car since 2000, fit the profile nicely. I sure wasn't looking for an R for this role, but this thing came up again (it's been for sale on and off since August 2016) and Will and I were talking about it and we were both like wtf what could possibly go wrong with a $1k 850R?

Who knows what we are going to do with it after the winter. Unless we finally succeed in finding a house with more space over the winter, we'll probably have to sell it in the spring because, like Ian said,

Wait - what?!? I thought there was no more room at the inn. I need to get one of these deals.
Yeah, there is no more room at the inn lol. Did you notice that it's parked across the street where we only put things when we don't have space anywhere else? Lol. The boat will be leaving for the winter tomorrow so that will help but still, it's pretty out of control. The R on the lawn, the T-5R in the building, the T5 SE in the end of the driveway not covered by the building, and now the 3 cars that are cleared for winter use on the street.

Glad you got home safe!
Thanks; good seeing you along the way!

That bumper tho :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: I need to see this thing IRL.
Come cruise by any time and check it out. As you probably noticed it's parked where you always park when you're visiting the neighbors so I bet all the other neighbors thinks it's your car LOL.

Would that be the one from Maine, NH? $950 is a steal!!!
Yes it is! I'd say so!!! The first couple hours on the drive home while the flat spots were working out of the tires was not that fun but then the rest of the drive was like omg I just bought an almost decent 850R for under $1k??!??

Stay single for while so you can enjoy the toys.
Or date a volvo chick!
Or create a few!



So, are you trying to get R wagons in every color? Next up: Black. And then the coup de grace: Olive Green.
Don't forget graphite grey and turquoise!
I'd love to. I need a barn first though. I'd really love to have a Turquoise/Tan 850R estate. I'm pretty sure it's the rarest of all the color combos but wow does that pop. Don't forget the Aubergine and Platinum Pearl T-5R prototypes! I don't think I'll be able to get my hands on any of those, though.

I have a few friends who want to take a road trip through Europe next summer and I'm not sure I'll be able to find a manual yellow T-5R estate in my price range, so picking up a manual Olive T-5R estate is very much in play for that. Unless I try to find a buyer for this white estate in Europe (white 850Rs are exceptionally rare in Europe, more so than T-5Rs) and ship this there to use for that road trip before selling it.
 
#3 ·
Wait - what?!? I thought there was no more room at the inn. I need to get one of these deals.
 
#9 ·
Stay single for while so you can enjoy the toys.


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#15 ·
Welcome to the polar white club! If you want a "MINT" condition hood and fender you know where to find me ;)
 
#18 ·
OK let's get down to business. WTF did we buy here.

  • Tires are absolutely terrifying. Fronts are, uh, I don't even remember what they are. I think they match but not 100% sure on that either. One of the rears is a P6 and the other is a General. So 3 different kinds of tires. Lol. Sure it was pouring rain on the drive home but I was following my dad in the '99 on Michelin Defenders (which are pretty bad in the wet themselves) and I was totally understeering on some of these corners going the same speed as him. Also couldn't go past about 1/3 throttle without breaking them loose.....and this thing isn't making full boost in the first place.
  • As mentioned above, not making full boost.
  • Brand new brakes.....so new that the parking brake wasn't even properly worn in. Drove around with it up a couple clicks for a while and it that cured the problem. Only problem is the brand new brakes are total trash. They're brand new and they're warped :facepalm:. So it probably needs brakes.
  • Speedometer doesn't work
  • ABS light on
  • Odometer broken
  • Interior light switch super flaky
  • Tons of lights burnt out in the interior.
  • Driver's door speaker isn't working
  • Power steering pump is HOWLING
  • Rear suspension has to be on some serious drugs to be that high
  • Both fenders are toast (one's dented, one has the classic rusted out fender syndrome from where the mud flap wore through the paint)
  • Tailgate has some awful touch ups with what looks like white rust-oleum or something.

Sorry for the one lame-ass picture last night. Probably one of the least descriptive posts I've ever put up.........but hey it was 1 AM so I was exhausted and just kinda wanted to see what you guys would say (I actually had my finger on the submit button before I had written any description for the picture lol).

Anyway here are some real pictures.







Ouch



That looks like shiit



Interior is actually not bad at all!









Ouch. I have a full set of this trim in stock but I'm not sure I want to break up the set to fix this.....



Worst instrument cluster I've ever seen that's still in a car. This has definitely got to go.



One of the better R bumper zip-tie repairs I've seen





Came with a complete set of both R mats and rubber mats!!!



Looks like it used to have a CD changer and someone took it out :mad:



Also looks like the Persus are original to the car. Whatever. They're going away regardless. Probably going to put the Volans with zLines that go to the red R on here for now.

 
#19 · (Edited)
OK let's get down to business. WTF did we buy here.
You bought a cheap-ass car hahaha, still cool though! Interior looks great at least

Try bedding the brakes hard, if they're brand new they hopefully are not warped and just weren't broken in properly

[*]Rear suspension has to be on some serious drugs to be that high
LOL I thought the same thing from your first photo of this car

Sounds like you (optimistically) need tires, an ABS module, some power steering fluid, possibly front brakes, something with the rear suspension, and the rest is cosmetic. Not too bad... But I'm sure you'll discover more lol
 
#20 ·
Yeah pretty much. Also heard something clunking in the rear suspension but we'll be in there anyway to address that.

Already started raiding the parts stash. Time to make that dash look correct.

 
#22 ·
We're transferring the reg from the red R so we'll have to do the lineup in my yard lol.
 
#24 ·
My yellow car had rear air shocks that the original owner put on it and when fully "inflated" looked like yours. I got rid of them as soon as I could.

Another recommendation to re-bed the brakes, they shouldn't need to be replaced if they are relatively new.
 
#26 ·
I might give that a try bedding the brakes. Never had issues with new brakes but then I'm not starting with cheap parts. Or maybe I will just go straight to 302s. We'll see.
 
#28 ·
All of my caRs are pushing 300k lol
 
#37 ·
Uh oh here we go making the winter beater mint......time to ditch that piece with the busted out wood trim.



Scratches? Not ok.



That should be good enough for the winter beater, right?

 
#38 · (Edited)
Goodbye ridiculous suspension. Hate to do a Nivomat delete but hey for $200 it'll look right and ride nice even if I can't move anything.

 
#42 · (Edited)
JaredR's 1996 Polar White 850R Estate

Goodbye ridiculous suspension. Hate to do a Nivomat delete but hey for $200 it'll look right and ride nice even if I can't move anything. Current running cost: $1150.16

Shoot dude I have VIP discount at fcp in the future. I think you'll like that spring and shock combination. It's the factory overload spring (10% stiffer) and keeps the rear behaved when unloaded and doesn't sag much.
 
#39 · (Edited)
JaredR's 1996 Polar White 850R Estate

Nice pick up Jared. Will be watching you transform it to a winter beater. Just be sure to park it away from your snow removal contractors.

I can see the Town of Hull coming out with some kind of ordinance on the amount of Volvo's one household can own plus an added tax!
 
#40 ·
Nice pick up Jared. Will be watching you transform it to a winter beater. Just be sure to park it away from your snow removal contractors.

I can see the Town of Hull coming out with some kind of ordinance on the amount of Volvo's one household can own plus an added tax!
Thanks! Yeah I don't know where I'm going to park it yet. Being white, I'd kind of like to get it off the street but we definitely can't kick the red R or the T5 SE out onto the street. Might end up putting both of them on the lawn :facepalm: so this can go in the driveway. As it is we need somewhere to put it when we are working on it. Might be time to get a cover for the T-5R so I can have this in the building when we are working on it during nasty weather.....plus Zach's Platinum estate might be spending a few days in the building soon as well so it's going to be busy around here the next few weeks.

Luckily all but one of them is registered so I think we are safe there, but they are already taxing us! Can't wait to see what they assess this car at.
 
#41 ·
Wow, that trim looks great. I also put Bilstein Touring on my T-5R - they work well on these cars IMHO.
 
#45 ·
Not letting the snow stop the progress entirely; replaced the pre-facelift CCM and SC-816.



Also swapped out the broken trim. Terrible color match with the new piece. I'll swap out the rest of it when I do the shifter bulb.





Hopefully I will be able to get at the shocks/springs tomorrow and then put the Volans on.
 
#46 ·
Anybody interested in buying this thing after I finish getting it in useful condition? I have a lead on something else that might be a better fit for a winter ride/daily (i.e. not an R).
 
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