Wife's been nagging about slowness of the '97 850 N/A. Needs to traverse the 1.3 mile distance between house and son's preschool in a speedier fashion. She wants more power? I'll give her power, so how about an "R" (of course I'd love to drive it myself on weekends, but this purchase is not at ALL about me...hehe).

So I am looking at this 1996 850 R Wagon – or rather I will be looking at it in person this week. There are a few things however that have me doubt the model identity/history ... whether it’s really an “R” ?

First, the exterior color – it’s white, but everything I’ve found about 850R mentions only black, red or yellow. The vehicle history report does list it as an “850 R” model – however it also shows a collision in the year 2000. I have no idea how bad the accident was, but if the color is not factory, that may hint at something major?
Second, it does not have the rear roof spoiler (wing), which I thought was part of the package.
Third, it has 5-spoke rims (the swept propeller kind, sorry for being ignorant). I read that they came with 7-spoke rims?

Could someone reassure me that I am looking at a genuine 96 850R? Am I just paranoid? Is there any way of finding out details about an accident report?
Is there any other way to confirm model identity – any distinguishing features? It has the light color birch interior trim, the suede/smooth leather seats, roof rack, if that helps.

I can probably get it for << $7000 … it has 115,000 miles. According to owner, “there are 'some' maintenance records” (I know, I know).

Any hints, comments, ideas, gossip would be welcome.

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'97 850 n/a Wagon, 125K mi