This is a quick story about the life and death of our beloved 850.

I learned to drive in a Volvo and have been driving them ever since (late 70's). Shortly before my wife and I got married, she was in an accident in her non-Volvo. It was a head on crash and she ended up in the hospital for a few days. Her car was a complete loss.

She decided that she wanted a car like mine (a 740 at the time). Long story short, we bought her a beautiful 850. That was over 8 years ago, and it has been a wonderful car to own and drive.

A few weeks ago, she was on a thoroughfare and was hit head-on (again). This time instead of being in an ambulance en route to the hospital, she was waiting on the sidewalk for me to pick her up. The 850 sustained so much damage that the insurance guy asked her about her injuries and was astonished that she did not have a scratch. Once again, the car was a total loss. It was heartbreaking for my wife as she never owned a car that long (8 years) nor drove it that far (200k miles). She really loved driving it and had no intentions of replacing it anytime soon. (By the way the other guy was okay, just looked a little shaken up... of course his car was the source of most of the accident's energy).

For the last few weeks, we have been actively looking for her new Volvo (I currently have a V70 that we are very happy with). As fate would have it we bought her a practically new S80 that is the the same color (inside and out) as the 850.

Even though our cars can be expensive to drive and have an occasional quirk I sure am glad Volvos are what we are driving in the event of a crash.

Thanks