Volvo has been on a roll in the U.S. market, and this car is one of the reasons.
Although station wagons do not ordinarily play a big part in a manufacturer's total sales picture, they do at Volvo - particularly the Volvo 850 Wagon. Introduced just last year, it accounts for something like one-third of all 850 sales, in contrast to the more common 7 or 8 percent.
Why is this? We can only speculate. Volvos tend to appeal to people who prioritize functionality and safety ahead of style, and few automobiles are stronger in these two traits than the 850.
And as far as style goes, we happen to think that Volvo wagons generally look a little more appealing than their sedan counterparts.
There's a premium price for this or any of Volvo's other virtues. But Volvo owners tend to be a fairly satisfied lot, and their cars just keep going and going...
The 850 is
Volvo's first front-wheel-drive automobile, and it's been an almost unqualified success. The 850 is a midsize wagon - a little smaller than
Volvo's key competitors in this market segment: the
Ford Taurus,
Honda Accord and
Toyota Camry wagons.
And even though Volvo has been trying to smooth off the hard corners of its designs, the 850 Wagon still looks boxier than the others. We also found that the tall taillights that flank the tailgate from bumper to roof take some getting used to.
To be fair, Volvo didn't put them there just because someone thought they'd look good. Volvo's commitment to safety is relentless, and long taillights make the car more visible to other drivers - not just to the driver directly behind, but the driver behind the driver behind the driver behind...you get the idea.
Volvo has been busy with the headlights, too. For 1995, all Volvos will be equipped with Daytime Running Lamps - DRLs, as they're already coming to be known.
The idea is simple. Having your headlamps on all the time makes you more visible to oncoming traffic. DRLs are already required in Sweden and Canada, and a recent change in federal regulations makes them feasible in the United States.
We're not so sure that everyone's going to think this is a terrific idea. There are those who would argue that judging the distance to an oncoming car is more difficult when that car has its headlights on. And it can also be argued that having your headlights on, even at the low intensity used by DRLs, negates the usefulness of the flash-to-pass function.
Finally, there are those, including some of us here at New Car Test Drive, who dislike the idea of a car company playing mom to us all. Nevertheless, DRLs are in at Volvo, and other car companies are following suit - Chevrolet and Volkswagen, to name two.
The Volvo 850 Wagon comes in three models: the basic wagon, the more luxurious GLT and the torrid Turbo. A 5-speed manual transmission is standard for the basic car and the GLT, while the Turbo is automatic-only.
The standard engine is a 2.4-liter 5-cylinder that's acceptably powerful and exceptionally smooth. With a turbo-charger, however, this engine becomes a real tiger, generating 222 hp and transforming this modest midsize wagon into one of the fastest freighters on the road.
Our test wagon was a GLT with an automatic transmission.
