Bjorn To Be Wild

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday January 28, 1994

PETER MCKAY

SOME urban mythology is set to take a pounding. A pair of rapid Volvos have raced into Australian showrooms, each possessing the ability to fling aside those derogatory bumper stickers and anecdotal associations with oft-denounced members of the marque's motoring family.

Revealing performance levels to perturb BMW, the new Volvo 850 T-5 - in both sedan and wagon forms - is a turbocharged road rocket which flies in the face of the marque's traditional stolidness.

True, it doesn't handle as crisply as the rival BMW 5-series cars, but it has the acceleration, the braking, the features and keen pricing to capture the attention of enthusiastic drivers who, until now, have shied away from this Swedish brand.

Volvo does this occasionally. Just when you think it has forgotten there can be excitement in motoring, it bobs up with a hot rod to pin back the ears and open the peepers.

The arrival of the T-5 tearaways comes as some relief after the constant passive safety message emanating from the Volvo camp.

The switch of emphasis to include active safety, which is, after all, the first line of defence in the repulsion of danger, is welcomed.

"The philosophy behind the T-5 required a car that would not only be protective of its occupants but possess performance dynamics to proactively avoid accidents," said Anders Lofgren, the managing director of Volvo Cars Australia.

The performance model has the capacity to build on the desirable ability of the 850 range to pull non-Volvo owners into the fold. At the moment about 40 per cent of 850 buyers are from outside the 96,000-strong Volvo brood in Australia.

Lofgren points out that while the average age of Volvos here is a venerable enough 14 years, many thousands are over the 20 mark. "That is the big problem for us," he said, only half kidding. "Our cars last too long and there is no need for owners to replace them."

Volvo this week took the brave step of launching the new models at Phillip Island, a high-speed racetrack which quickly reveals any deficiencies in the dynamics of a vehicle, particularly a road car.

Along to unleash their potential, and to underscore Volvo's impending return to racing, was Peter Brock. He and Tony Scott will drive a T-5 sedan in the James Hardie 12-Hour endurance race for near-stock road cars at Bathurst over Easter.

Acknowledging the sporty nature of the T-5, the Volvo engineers have firmed up the suspension and lowered the ride height in pursuit of more responsive cornering. It's not a revolutionary recalibration, though, and the more conservative 850 T-5 owners won't find much about the ride quality to criticise.

Driven hard through corners, the turbocharged T-5 still slips into the characteristic understeer - or front-end "push" - common to front-wheel-drive cars, but there is nothing too nasty in its behaviour.

The 2.3-litre, 20-valve, five-cylinder engine is very impressive, delivering 166 kW of power and 300 Nm of torque in a delightfully smooth fashion, and accompanied by an earnest whistle from the turbine.

The manual sedan accelerates to 100 km/h in 7.4 seconds, en route to a 240 km/h maximum. It's enough to dislodge the felt hat of any driver.

The Estate, as the wagon variant is known, is available only with an automatic transmission. But though it weighs about 40 kg more than the manual sedan, it doesn't concede much in accelerative urge. Volvo expects a solid demand for the practical and versatile Estate, predicting it will attract those shoppers looking at a BMW Touring, Mercedes-Benz 300TE or Range Rover.

Longer by 5 cm than the sedan, the space efficient Estate gets all that extra length behind the rear axle.

The further good news is the value of the T-5. Equipped with all the features of the 850GLT - antilock braking, airbag, leather interior, side impact protection system and automatic climate control - the T-5 also gets traction control and taller wheels and tyres for its retail price starting at$68,450.

Australia is pegged by production limits to between 150 and 200 T-5s this year, and early demand is outstripping supply.