clarkson drives a t5?

[5seaterT5x2]

have heard about this video clarkson was suitably impressed apparently?
calls it the terminator? anyone seen got this vid?

Cheers Gareth

[pangster]

have heard about this video clarkson was suitably impressed apparently?
calls it the terminator? anyone seen got this vid?

Cheers Gareth

not sure.. I think he used to own an 850R though?..

[Alan M]

Wasn't it Carpy's old 850?

[snoop69]

On Top Gear he drove an 850 around a quarry with Anarchy In The Uk by
the Sex Pistols as the backing music.

He called the car a hooligan if i remember correctly & thought it was pretty
good.

People have been looking for this clip for donkeys years but no-one has
come forward with it yet.

[pangster]

On Top Gear he drove an 850 around a quarry with Anarchy In The Uk by
the Sex Pistols as the backing music.

He called the car a hooligan if i remember correctly & thought it was pretty
good.

People have been looking for this clip for donkeys years but no-one has
come forward with it yet.

it's a conspiracy so peeps don't realise how good the T5's and R's are! lol!

[RT MECHANICS]

Wasn't it Carpy's old 850?

Yes it now lives in france

Russ

[OogieBoogie]

He now has an xc90 as his daily drive, and mentions it at every opportunity (though rarely on camera).

[Rufe]

He now has an xc90 as his daily drive, and mentions it at every opportunity (though rarely on camera).

and he has mentioned it loads of times on camera

[Jon K]

He mentioned it on the TG winter olympics special when he phones his wife to help him get the seats down.

[walter leever]

the whole story you can read in one of his books(paperback)

wich is called " Born to be riled", inhere there is a chapter called:" A fast

swede".

In this chapter he discribes his disbelieve when Volvo decided to enter the

BTCC,in an estate ,of all things.

A quote:" When Volvo decided to enter the BTCC,we all said "no Volvo,this

isn't the British tow truck championship,please withdraw you'll emberas

yourselves"

"The t-5's looked good.Even those who knew were ashtonished and asked

themselves what's next?"

"Because i wouldn't be left behind,i bought my wife a T-5.(terminator)

"After the T-5 Volvo went bonkers and introduced the more agressive T5R"

"And now there is the 850R or R2D2as my wife calls it,i call it the terminator2"

[Jaseb77]

anybody seen an old clarkson clip ,when he went out on track with a young michael Schumacher in an Mustang (i think) when he drove for benneton ford.
side ways superb

[bailes1992]

Im in the middle of reading Clarksons Born to Be riled where he keeps going on about his wifes 850R. I'l scan some pages when I got time.

[Cause4Concern]

ive got an old book of his called clarksons top 100 cars,and he included the t5 in that.he says it redefined what people thought about volvo.

[bailes1992]

He also said in born to be riles that in the 90's with the launch of the 850 the volvo turned from a box into a serious BMW rival

[kyebosh]

SPEEDY SWEDE
EXTRACT FROM BORN TO BE RILED

If the makers of Blue Nun were to convince the entire nation, within the space of two years, that their sickly interpretation of wine is better than Chablis, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Given enough money, it can be done. I know this because in just 18 months Volvo has turned itself from a music hall joke into a serious and credible BMW rival.

It all began, gently at first, with the introduction of the 850, a surprisingly nice car to drive but you’d never know it, what with those Etch-a-Sketch lines and that badge.

Never mind that the top models had a creamy 2.5 litre, five cylinder 20-valve engine and a truly sophisticated rear suspension, it was still bought by old people who indicated left a lot and turned on their high-intensity rear fog lights during June, in readiness for autumn.

The rest of us were still safe. We could still spot a Volvo coming the other way and get out of its way. Motorcyclists could see one approaching a main road and know for absolute certainty, it wasn’t going to stop.

Then Volvo gave us the T5. And for everyone woke up to the fact that was a really nice car to drive, and seriously fast too, Volvo had entered the world’s most prestigious racing series for saloon cars. Only they’d entered an estate.

There was turmoil in the motoring world, ‘No,’ we said to them politely, it’s not the British Towing Car Championships. Please pull out. It will be embarrassing.’ And it was. In the first year, they lost spectacularly. And as the Swedish tidal wave cruised round in the middle of the field. the crowd pointed and made bovine noises.

The trouble is that in the car parks at these events you started to notice, among the Sierra Cosworths and BMW’s. a growing number of the aforementioned T5’s, finished in black, and lowered, and sitting on 17 inch gunmetal grey alloys.

They looked very good and the cognoscenti were impressed, in a confused, what’s happening here, sort of way.

Then all hell broke loose. Volvo started its second year in the Touring Car Championship with a brace of saloons that actually won some races. And they bought every single advertising slot on ITV so that we could see stunt men and photographers and meteorologists whizzing around in their Volvos.

Never slow to leap onto the bandwagon, I got hold of a T5 for my wife, and pretty soon everyone who’d ever had a Volvo was saying that they’d been right all along and that they knew I’d come round to their way of thinking in the end.

Things by now were out of control because to run alongside the T5, Volvo brought out an even meaner T5R. And now there is, simply, the 850R. Or as my wife calls it, the R2D2. Or as I call it, Terminator 2.

You’ll have to think up your own name because it just says Volvo on the back. However, no one is fooled for long, thanks to the rear wing, the vivid red finish, the six-spoke gunmetal grey alloys and the chin spoiler that grazes the road.

Inside, there’s powered, heated Suedette seats and all the fruit. There is also a wooden dashboard, the likes of which I have never seen before. You see, it’s made from what looks like polished pine and it is absurd.

It’s useful, though, because there’s no way you’d climb inside and think of the car as ordinary in any way. OK, so it starts with a key and the clutch pedal is on the left, but once you’ve let it up a bit you’re at the controls of a wheeled neutron bomb.

The huge turbo means the 2.3 litre motor now develops 250 bhp, and that, translated into bald figures, equals a 0 to 60 time of six point something seconds and a top speed of 160 mph. In a Volvo.

It will cost about £32,000 whethe4r you have the saloon or the estate, manual or automatic transmission, and while that’s a lot, I have to say, you do get a lot of car for your money.

What surprises is the sophistication. Instead of being bad and loud, it’s all quite subdued. You even get traction control which does its best to mediate as the explosion of power fights with the front-wheel drive.

Saab once said you can’t put more than 170 bhp through the front wheels. But Volvo has anyway and they’ve ended up with a car that you drive like your trousers are on fire.

There’s a Terminator 2 out side my house right now, and as it’s three in the morning I’m sorely tempted to take it for another drive. I love looking at the body language of those in front of you as they struggle to see what on earth is behind. It’s a Volvo Jim, but not as we know it.

And it isn’t either. It flows through the bends and while the ride is firm on those unbelievably low-profile tyres. It’s just like a BMW really, only faster.

And there you have it: an entire piece about Volvo where the word ‘safety’ didn’t crop up once. Mine’s a Neirsteiner.

[zoomungus]

SPEEDY SWEDE
EXTRACT FROM BORN TO BE RILED


Saab once said you can’t put more than 170 bhp through the front wheels. But Volvo has anyway and they’ve ended up with a car that you drive like your trousers are on fire.

.

lol!

[Tomcat]

As much as I love TopGear I must admit that my opinion of Mr Clarkson has gone down somewhat recently. A relative bought me his new book for christmas which is just extracts from the column he rights in the Guardian. I always though, being as he was brought up in Doncaster, that he was a genuine (working class) guy, however, some of the stuff in his book makes me realise that he's nothing but a stuck up, middleclass public school boy.

I won't go on because I'd probably get carried away.

[PaulZX]

he's got the best job in the world, and his head is up his arse, but if I had his job, I'd gladly insert my own head into the region of no sunshine... As would most of us, if it was needed to get the job and keep it.

I know someone who used to work a bar at Coombe Abbey Hotel nr Cov, where he stays sometimes (or used to 10 odd years ago), and (allegedly) he is a bit of an arrogant prat, in "real" life... Very much in the "do you know who I am" catagory of celebs...

I'd still love his job, the jammy f******-*****-*****-******rd...

[Tomcat]

No doubt we'd all love his job, doesn't stop him 'Pretending' to be mr average working class guy does it?.

A looong time ago when I was into 'Another' brand of car ( I won't say which) I attended a car show that had as one of the judges "Quentin Wilson" of the old Top gear fame. Couldn't believe the pompus arrogance of the guy, he strolled around the place followed by his lackies like he was bloody royalty. Needless to say we didn't hang around for long after he arrived.

[carpy]

Ahh yes my old car. Had loads of info about Jeremy & the car, and even had someone at the BBC send me still shots from the archives, but said they couldn't give me the actual footage due to copyright or something...........