Battle Of The Swedish Wagons: 1997 Volvo 850 vs 2000 Saab 9-5

Good morning! Today we have two station wagons from a country famous for meatballs, candy fish, a world-class chef, ready-to-assemble furniture, and some of the catchiest tunes of the 1970s. But I’m really only supposed to write about cars, so I guess we’ll stick to those.

Yesterday I showed you an odd couple of vehicles that didn’t really have anything to do with each other, and based on the comment and vote counts, they both kind of went over like lead balloons. The Blazer won handily, despite its higher price, probably mostly because it’s drivable.

The Blazer would be my choice as well. Yeah, I know, there are “better” small SUVs out there, but I’ve long had a soft spot for the baby Blazer, especially in two-door form. And the beefed-up ZR2 is the one to have.

You’ll be happy to know that today’s choices are much more closely matched in age, size, shape, and price. They also both hail from Sweden, have turbocharged engines, and sit just a little bit on opposite sides of the 200,000-mile mark. Let’s check them out.

1997 Volvo 850 GLT – $2,500

Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 2.4-liter dual overhead cam inline 5, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: West Orange, NJ

Odometer reading: 214,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

The Volvo 850 series sits at a weird point in the make’s history, after the drivetrains modernized and went front-wheel-drive, but before the styling actually became, well, stylish. They’re still boxy, still good, but no longer resemble farm trucks underneath. And as the old RWD boxes age out and increase in value, the 850 is becoming a good way to get that square Volvo coolness for less.

This is the GLT model, with a turbocharged 190 horsepower version of Volvo’s inline five. I think we’d all rather see this engine sitting alongside a five-speed manual, but the Aisin four-speed automatic Volvo uses in these cars has a pretty good reputation. It has 214,000 miles on it, and the seller says it has been carefully maintained and runs well. It does currently have a check-engine light for a secondary air pump failure, but if you don’t need to smog test it, there’s no hurry in getting that fixed.

One huge upgrade from the 240 to the 850 was the interior. It still has that good Volvo no-nonsense design, but it no longer looks so brutalist. This one is in pretty good shape considering how many miles are on it; the leather is a little rough, but that’s what those sheepskin seat covers are for.

Outside, it looks pretty good. There are a few bad spots in the clearcoat, but it’s mostly shiny. A check for rust underneath is in order, but I sure don’t see any problem areas in the photos. And I really like the color; too many of these are silver or beige.

2000 Saab 9-5 V6 – $2,250

Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 3.0 liter dual overhead cam V6, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Portland, OR

Odometer reading: 190,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

Inconsistencies in ads are something I’ve gotten used to in this line of work. Usually I catch them, and the ones I let slip through, you all can be counted on to find for me. Sometimes, though, a mistake is so egregious that you’d have to be blind to miss it. The seller of this car calls it a 2000 model in some places and a 2006 in others, and in the ad headline refers to it as a “Soap” instead of a Saab. It can’t be a 2006 model, because the V6 engine was discontinued after 2003, so I’m assuming 2000 is correct. And I don’t know where the hell Soap came from.

The V6 in question is a weird design, but what else would you expect from Saab? It’s an Opel design, with an unusual 54 degrees between the cylinder banks, and if that weren’t strange enough, only one bank’s exhaust powers the turbocharger. It works, though; it puts out 200 horsepower to the front wheels, in this case through a four-speed automatic. The seller says it runs and drives well, but we don’t get much more information than that.

Inside, it features some of Saab’s greatest hits, including a center-console-mounted ignition switch, an upright arms-out-straight driving position, and a special “night mode” for the instrument panel, quirks which are endearing if you like them and just plain weird if you don’t. It looks like it’s in really nice condition inside. The seller lists a whole bunch of options on it, but doesn’t specify how many of them work. I guess you’ll have to try them out and see.

Outside, it’s my favorite turn-of-the-century Saab color, a really nice washed-out green. It’s subtle, but stands out more than plain old silver would. Most of it looks pretty good, but there are some bad spots in the paint on the bumpers that tell of parking altercations in its past. Not a big deal, of course, especially for the price.

Seeing these two makes me nostalgic for a time when the car market was more diverse. Volvo still exists, of course, still good from what I hear, but no longer boxy, and nowhere near as charming. And we all know Saab’s story; it might be the least-deserved death since Barb in Stranger Things. But if you want to relive the market as it was 25 years ago, the cars are still here, and they’ve held up pretty well, it looks like. So what’ll it be – the Swedish car, or the, um, Swedish car?

(Image credits: sellers)