Got myself an 850 GLT

[britten_mark]

Can I ask where you got your handle recesses from?

They are a very flawed bit of design; no reason whey the should not just slide down from above - I would be very tempted to leave the nuts off the bottom. They get cracked because in the act of refitting the door card the door release stub is too high and interferes with them.

There are far too many "clever" plastic fittings in the 850 (worse in the V70) so I wouldn't beat yourself up about being ham fisted - like the tailgate clips they were designed to be broken!

[4x4]

Handle recesses were bought through a wanted post I put on FB and someone who had a full set sold them to me. The grey is/has been impossible to buy now for a number of years and I was extremely lucky to manage to find these. I can imagine it will be many more years before I ever see another full set of four brand new for sale.

From my observations the reason the handle recesses fail is due to the interior handle mechanism bolts working loose over the years, this causes the interior handle to move about excessively putting extra strain on an already flawed part. All 3 that I changed the handle mechs were loose, I’ve tightened them up but will keep a close eye on them and if they do loosen off again I’ll put some thread lock on the bolts to keep them in place.

[4x4]

Took the 850 for a drive tonight, first time it's been out for over 3 weeks

[Baffler]

Absolutely fabulous, 4x4, and great light levels to show off that finish. This is exactly how I remember them new, back in the day, and the whole reason I developed a love for the 850. Just fab in my humble opinion!

I know they're completely different beasts but which do you prefer driving...the P80 or P26?

[4x4]

Thanks Liam, Silver Sand is a difficult colour to photograph, if the sun shines directly on the paintwork it causes the light to splatter and images just look like a silver 850, get the light right and the Silver Sand colour is completely different and the sand colour pops.

As you say the P80 and P26 are two completely different beasts. Back in the day the 10v 850 was not considered a slow car, however today most 1300cc cars will leave it at the lights. Driving it isn't about power or speed, it's a calm sedate adventure when out and about and at 27 years old there isn't any need to hurry it along. It will happily sit above the national speed limit all day long, occasionally it requires a shift from 5th to 4th to get up the steeper climbs but that's not a big deal when listening to the glorious 5 pot singing away. I’ve done a few journeys of 200+ miles in the 850 and never had any problems, it feels like an old car, it drives like an old car, it smells like an old car and that’s what’s enjoyable about it.

The V70 2.5T is a different kettle of fish, the engine is fast enough without being crazy, keeping an eye on the speedometer is essential or points will be accumulated, overtaking is effortless and when you plant the pedal to the floor it doesn't disappoint, I've put a lot into the V70 in both time and parts and now it's possibly one of the best, most sorted, unmolested original P26 cars left (they are disappearing fast, the latest How Many Left website shows 10 have gone between the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2022). The V70 feels a lot more advanced than the 850, the suspension is on the harsh side for where I stay because of the state of the roads. I had to go to babysit my granddaughter in the highlands last weekend and once out of Glasgow's suburbs and onto better road surfaces the suspension was superb to the point I seldom had to touch the brakes on the twisting winding roads the highlands are famous for.

Basking in the highland heatwave


Caught in a thunderstorm


Turned 65,000 miles when I left Glasgow to head north

[britten_mark]

Personal taste but Id take the 850 every time, as long as my daily duties didnt ruin it..

I owned a blobby one briefly (I did not know the nomenclature of P26!) a 2007 V70R no less, 300bhp of Sonic blue loveliness.

It took the whole family to France in the blink of an eye and had seat comfort I still dream about, but overall I couldnt wait to get back into a P80, and swapped it fairly quickly for a base spec one owner 40k V70-T5. Even though it was twice as old and a quarter of the price I could not have been happier.

[4x4]

Gave the 850 its second wash of the year ready for the Dumfries show at the weekend, then fillled it up with some E5. Looking at the forecast I might need my wellies.









The 850 used to be a mid size car but sitting in the forecourt it looks tiny against modern junk

[4x4]

Couple of pics (not mine) from the Dumfries show

I was captured giving the car a quick wipe over when I arrived. I left Glasgow and by the time I reached Kilmarnock the heavens had opened. When I arrived at Dumfries it was dry, even the grass was dry and we never saw any rain all day. Result...

[ITSv40]

Looks like a nice Capri you managed to park alongside.

[4x4]

@ ITSv40 It's not a real car though, it's only an old Ford...

One of the first things I did when I bought the car was to have 4 new tyres fitted. I ordered 4x 205/50R16 tyres from National Tyres and they were fitted the very day the UK went into Covid lockdown. Once fitted the car was taken a short drive and then tucked away in the garage as we were not allowed to go out, I did notice on the drive that the balance was not correct but with everywhere closed there was nothing I could do. A few weeks later when in the garage tinkering I noticed the front nearside and rear offside tyres were 205/55R16 and the other two were the correct size. I contacted National tyres and they ordered in another two tyres the correct size. When I went to have them fitted I told them that I thought the balance was out and after they fitted the correct size tyres they re-balanced the wheels saying they were indeed out, however there has always been a slight vibration starting at around 65mph.

3 years on and coming back from Dumfries at the weekend and at motorway speeds I decided I had enough and took the car into RD Tyre Service to have them re-balanced, Gerry was a pleasure to deal with, he was careful not to mark the wheels and torqued them to the correct 110Nm. His findings were O/S front 10 grams out, N/S front 15 grams out, O/S rear 30 grams out, N/S rear was fine.

Took the car a blast up the motorway and it's as smooth as butter.