1992 In the start of June 1991 Volvo presented their first front wheel driven car ever. The new car was called the 850 GLT (Grand Luxe Tourer) and was equipped with a cross-mounted 5 cylinder engine that produced 170 hp according to Volvo. This was the first engine over 4-cylinders that ever was cross- mounted in a car. To be able to mount the engine this way Volvo had to make the gearbox half as big as an ordinary gearbox. 

This new model wasnīt built from the beginning as ordinary Volvo models in Sweden, it was built at the start in the Belgium plant in Gent. The production of this car was far more modern than other car makers, the whole front of the car including the engine and transmission for example was mounted beside the production line before it finally was fixed together with the car. This is also called the "marrige point" when assemblying cars.

From a safty point of view the 850  was way ahead of other carmanufactorers as it was equiped with "SIPS" (Side Impact Protection System) that makes the car better cope with sidecrashes. It was a very safe car to drive  ones again Volvo was the leader in developing safety equippment for cars.
(850 GLT shown on picture)

1993 There came a new model to the 8-serie, it was the  GLE (Grand Luxe Edition) and a estate. The GLE had nearly the same engine as the GLT besides that it only had 10 valves that produced 140 hp. The angine was equipped with a more simple injection system otherwise it was a stripped GLT and so faar the cheapest 850.

The equipment was alloy wheels, electric rear-view mirrors and windows, rails (estate) and the bumpers were in the same colour as the car. The estate was still smaller than the 745/945 because Volvo still wanted the 745/945 to be the largest estate in their modelrange. 

Volvo also this year tried to increase the power in the GLT to itīs promises but they didnīt manage acording to testresults later. All models got airbag as standard. 
(850 GLE shown on picture)

1994 Volvo produced their strongest car ever, it was the 850 turbo. This car had an 5 cylinder engine on 2.3 litres with 225 hp. They decresed the engine volume to make use of getting more cooling for the 55 extra horses towards the GLT engine. Volvo also made every enginepart very small/light towards other carmanufactors to disable the turbolag and to prevent that the pressure wouldnīt only build up at high revs making the engine harder and more uneconomical to drive and handle. The turbo-engin now had lots of torque already at 2.000 rpm.

The Turbo and GLT version gets a new front bumper that is smother and lowered plus smaller headlights.

The GLE-model changed name to GL and the option packet had the name SE (Special Edition).
(855 T-5 shown on picture)

1995 This year Volvo made an even stronger car the well known yellow T-5R also available in black. This was a breaktrough for Volvo, this car was the one that was going to challange the sporty Mercedes and BMW:s. This special model was only built in 2.500 copies. The car quickly got itīs pet name T-gul (T-yellow in english) in Sweden. The model got huge responce due to the fact that Volvo was well known for building safe and boring family cars and not high performance cars. The engine was the same as the ordinary turbo but the power had increased to 240 hp due to upgrading the enginechip and the turbopressure had increased from 0.66 to 0.75 bars. After the yellow T-5R had sold out Volvo built another 2.500 copies of the model but it then only was available in dark green or black.

This year the 850 also could be equiped with a 2.0 litre engine with 126 hp it was called S 2.0 and the S 2.5 (before GL) got 4 extra hp. The turbo car changed itīs name to T-5 instead of Turbo. Read more about the T-5R here. (850 2.0 S shown on picture)

1996 This was the final year of the 850 model so there were no major changes except of that there was a new R model. This model had 250 hp (aut 240) due to upgrading the enginechip and it finally had a top speed of 250 km/h. This model was only available in a special red and black colour but there were no limits in copies. All models got a complement to the SIPS -system they added another sideairbag on the drivers and front passanger seats. All models also got new frontheadlights, the ones that was mounted on the turboversion wich was more narrow. Read more about the R here. (855 GLT shown on picture)

1997 This year the 850 changed  itīs name to S70/V70 (V=Versatility) and got a huge "facelift". The enterior came from the coupé C70 and it did wonders for the car. The enterior was now much more modern than the squareish 850. Volvo claimed that they had improved and changed over 1.800 parts in the car to itīs best. During 97 they relased a new R-model that had the same engine that the older R model. The car had new alloy wheels and now the enterior on the dashbord was in metal otherwise it was the same car except it had the new facelift. . There came also a Bi-fuel model that could be driven either on ordinary fuel or on methanegas.

A new model called  the AWD (All Wheel Drive) was introduced. This car had an  2.5 litre low pressure turbo engine that produced 193 hp. It was the same engine as the GLT except for the turbo. This engine is called GLT in some countries USA etc. It was first sold with the old 850 chassie and exterior. (S70 T-5 shown on picture)

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