i was driving the other day and this mid 90's 850 turbo wagon passed me and it said "sportwagon" under the 850 turbo badge..

what is a "sportwagon"???

I think this was used only in the US as a marketing tool. I could be wrong though.

I don't think there is any real difference, like it had a certain package with the car. Volvo was trying to show the wagon was sporty and not stuffy. They had several ads in that era - Not your uncle Olaf's Volvo, etc.

I doubt if any Euro 850s had that badging, but maybe someone can add to this.

I believe this is how Volvo badged the 855 when it came out in '94. I only recall ever seeing the badge on '94s. It doesn't mean anything special that I know of.
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '98 V90 > 206K km, '98 S70 T5M SE > 112K km, '97 855 GLT > 274K km. SOLD: '91 745T, '91 745 NA and '94 964 (I miss all 3!).

It's a rectangular plastic badge that Volvo and/or Volvo dealers at times stuck to the tailgates of Volvo 850 station wagons. It didn't mean anything except maybe that a Volvo station wagon was sportier than mom's old Buick station wagon. It was only a marketing ploy and not associated with any additional equipment.

BMW currently calls it's 328iT wagon a "Sportswagon".

-BTC

Hi,
My wife has a 95 850T wagon that is badged a "sportwagon", this is a Canadian car tho` it sounds like it was not limited to Canadian market.
As others have said, it was simply a marketing gimmick.
Rich