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Rick--I installed a cabin air filter in my 97 850 wagon some years ago. At the time, I ordered both the retainer and filter from Volvo. When I pried up the black plastic surround on the passenger side to see what was there, it was the oval shaped retainer. It popped right out, the rectangular one popped back in, and the filter snapped down into the top of the new retainer. Absolutely no problem.
Then, two years later, I learned about the carbon filter. Because the activated charcoal in the later model filter removed a lot more contaminants than the regular filter, I decided to spring for one. And, I ran into the whole mess of a different size retainer, etc. etc. I phoned numerous Volvo dealers and had parts people say the carbon filter was bigger different smaller and you needed a new retainer, and other parts people saying it was exactly the same size. I finally said to heck with it and told the parts people to send me both a carbon filter and a retainer to fit. The retainer was only a few bucks, the carbon filter considerably more. When they came I popped the hood, lifted up the plastic on the passenger side, and Lo! the expensive carbon filter was an exact match for the older pollen filter I took out. Now I have a spare retainer kicking around in my basement.
If you're really worried about the fit, just tell parts you want the retainer that will accept the carbon filter. The carbon filter was a 70 series accessory and Volvo did not go to any trouble to change that retainer when they upgraded the 850 to the 70.
The 850 I shipped to Norway to my wife for her 2000 year present. The highways in southern Norway (and most other places as well) are nothing but tunnels bored through moutains every couple of miles . You can really tell the difference between the standard pollen filter and the carbon filter when you run into a tunnel with a gray haze on the inside. Only on very long tunnels, those around two kilometers or more, did I detect any noticeable odor inside the car with the carbon filter installed. With the pollen filter you noticed it almost immediately.
By all means spring for the carbon filter. It will even take care of the rotten egg smell from the burned out catalytic converter on the car ahead of you. Dick
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