Today in bad-idea station-wagon shopping: A Volvo 850. Maybe if it was the ludicrous T-5R model. https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rN108Wzw/1995-volvo-850-turbo-wagon
@Gurre in my heart i know you're correct
@bikepedantic I had the sedan from this model year for 3 years and it was riddled with issues. Then I drove a ‘92 240 for a decade and that was a great machine. The 850 was truly a bad idea. And think I paid $4300 for it in 2006, which makes this seem an even worse deal in 2023.
@etchlings @bikepedantic Didn't those have the brittlest CV shafts or was it just the S/V70 that came right after?
@bikepedantic such a brick.
@bikepedantic only a bad idea if you don't wrap it in the BTCC Securicor livery
@bikepedantic at that price, it’s not a crazy idea to pull the motor, drop in an EV crate motor, and have a slick retromod
@bikepedantic Maybe someone at #weirdcarmastodon can chime in, but is there a business model where a small restomod shop gets 20-30 of these as donor shells and sequentially converts them? I feel like there is a market for such things, and you could probably scare up 20-30 of a given model in reasonable shape. They could do it with Jeeps, or VWs, or old Benz models. Basically stuff that was made well, and have more life as rolling stock, but are very fuel inefficient.
@Will there are several doing just this. My impression is that it works best for pre-ECU cars, so 1970’s.
@bikepedantic send links!
@bikepedantic Growing up@we went from a sweddish 240+900 format to 850+900. We never had this level of cool until I had an XWD 9-3 Aero Combi and a miata. I probably will never reach that level of cool again.
@bikepedantic You just keep posting excellent automobiles and saying they are bad ideas.
@dan i have a severe bias against any car with more than 50K miles on the odo, and my only use for this eventual awesomemobile is hauling my kid on trips out to the outer burbs on weekends.
@bikepedantic I would argue that your limited use case allows you to get something 'weird' and old assuming it's been maintained and is not a rust bucket.
My 240 wagon clocks in at 275,000 miles and I would drive it anywhere but I would hate to have to rely on it for commuting or critical transportation.
Of course safety is another issue, modern cars can't be topped in that regard.
@bikepedantic I don't know anything about cars but I drove a '96 850 sedan up a mountain in Hood River OR and it was fun?
ban me from this carsandbids website before I make a mistake
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/KVadQ5wQ/1992-mitsubishi-delica-star-wagon-exceed-4wd
@ridingnowhere seriously, it’s a delica rich environment where I 100% can’t be trusted
@bikepedantic @ridingnowhere Don't sleep on the Tuk Tuk scene here: https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3BjbAo7B/dana-whites-auto-rickshaw-tuk-tuk
@Will @bikepedantic that looks incredible but I can't drive it up Mount Hood and then sleep in it.
@bikepedantic I had the non-turbo, 5 speed version. Cost me $1800 in 2016 and was worth every penny.
Sold it in 2022 when the starter went. Poor choice, but I just didn’t need it anymore.
@bikepedantic this one looks like a riot https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3BzbdNzb/1994-honda-city-ce-fit
@bikepedantic
240 is the only real Volvo stationwaggon.
850? Pfft.