I've had a few 850s and the R I sold a few years ago has been dearly missed. At the time, 700 miles a week made it very difficult to justify (and fuel!). However, times change and I've been looking for another for a little while. I'd kind of given up looking for something suitable and moved on to other things... then a couple of months after initial negotiations begun I ended up buying this for a knockdown price that I couldn't refuse. Now trying to see how far I can get titivating while keeping the total outlay to 3 figures...
Obligatory 'fill up' pic before the 260-mile dash from Suffolk to my in-law's birthday in North Yorkshire just before Christmas.
I had to make time so can confirm it pulls really well, better than my old R, and drove really nicely with the exception of what felt like slightly iffy tracking (suspicions have since been proved correct; 4-wheel alignment really is the best £25 you can spend on an old car!). It’s come with a great pile of history and mechanically it’s been really well kept, but my GOD was it dirty on the outside!
Still, I’d much rather buy a well-kept but grubby car than a glittery turd, and polishing is much less likely to lead to sweary blood-soaked afternoons than oily enforced maintenance, rounded nuts and rusty bolts.
A good wash and scrub made a world of difference, and a 5 minute polish of the bonnet has also shown signs of encouragement.
Since then I’ve been on a flying visit to Glasgow, a 400 mile roundtrip to Oxfordshire and generally racked up the miles. Little things like new headlight wiper arms have been fitted, the rattly rear hatch cured and remote central locking fixed. Being an 850, obviously the odomoter gears had failed so that I was a fun Sunday afternoon last week - such a rewarding £12 fix, though.
Then I had a real score, picking up a remapped ECU for an auto R, again for a bargain price. The mid-range is comical now, mountains of torque and boosts hard all the way through the rev range.
I’d forgotten how great these cars are. Absolutely love it
Obligatory 'fill up' pic before the 260-mile dash from Suffolk to my in-law's birthday in North Yorkshire just before Christmas.
I had to make time so can confirm it pulls really well, better than my old R, and drove really nicely with the exception of what felt like slightly iffy tracking (suspicions have since been proved correct; 4-wheel alignment really is the best £25 you can spend on an old car!). It’s come with a great pile of history and mechanically it’s been really well kept, but my GOD was it dirty on the outside!
Still, I’d much rather buy a well-kept but grubby car than a glittery turd, and polishing is much less likely to lead to sweary blood-soaked afternoons than oily enforced maintenance, rounded nuts and rusty bolts.
A good wash and scrub made a world of difference, and a 5 minute polish of the bonnet has also shown signs of encouragement.
Since then I’ve been on a flying visit to Glasgow, a 400 mile roundtrip to Oxfordshire and generally racked up the miles. Little things like new headlight wiper arms have been fitted, the rattly rear hatch cured and remote central locking fixed. Being an 850, obviously the odomoter gears had failed so that I was a fun Sunday afternoon last week - such a rewarding £12 fix, though.
Then I had a real score, picking up a remapped ECU for an auto R, again for a bargain price. The mid-range is comical now, mountains of torque and boosts hard all the way through the rev range.
I’d forgotten how great these cars are. Absolutely love it
I'm curious to see what you will thibk of the T1Rs on the 850; I was thinking of buying a set in 195/55R16 for mine, but wasn't sure how it would handle (last year I've been driving on yokohama advan sport v105's, great tire bit they rub too much in my setup (205/55R16))
