96 850 Heated rear seats?

[Ozark Lee]

Volvo's OSD plan is hands down the best in the business. Round trip airfare for two, a modest discount on the vehicle, hotel, and insurance for a month while in Europe.

I was going to buy a new Audi 4000 on the Porsche/Audi plan and it actually would have cost me more than buying it on the dealer lot with all of the additional charges. The only thing I would have saved was rental car charges for the two weeks I was in Germany.

Oh - and then I actually drove an Audi 4000 and it was a piece of junk so I bought a used Audi 5000 instead and rented an Opel for the German vacation. That kinda dampened the Autobahn experience but on a good downhill run at red-line I could get the Opel up to about 220 kph which is around 135 mph. I thought it was going to explode at any moment.

My understanding is that Volvo's OSD plan is subsidized by the marketing department. In their eyes if they can get you to buy just one then you are a lifer - "Volvo for life".

...Lee

[findude]

Overseas delivery is a good deal. The downside is that most people take delivery over the summer during vacation. They are typically picking up an outgoing model year car. After driving it around for a couple weeks, they wait two months for the car to show up stateside. At that point, say late September, October, or even early November, they are picking up a car that is already a model-year old and could be had at a real bargain off the dealer lot. It seems to me the trick is to time a late-summer trip so that you get the first of the new model year.

We ordered ours in late October for mid-January delivery stateside and it worked out well.

Another factor is that while the base price of the car is substantially discounted (I'm thinking about 15%), options are priced at sticker value. If you are buying a stripper this makes for a good deal; if you buy a heavily optioned car you may actually get a better deal by negotiating hard with a dealer who can give quite a bit on options. You just have to do the math and weigh it against the value of a trip in Europe with your new Volvo. (Note: the last time I checked this was when we bought a well-equipped 2002 S60 AWD and it turned out the dealer had a better price.)

Still, I know plenty of people who have had great experiences picking up and driving cars (Volvos and others) in Europe and driving them around.

[shoagie]

Oh this all makes perfect sense to me now. I have a 99 V70 GLT with the rear heated seat option.
An earlier post by JRL's states,
"The only older Volvos with heated rear seats in the US were V70's custom ordered for Boston Coach in 1998 and 1999..."all these wagons were ordered one way, All GLT's, with leather, heated seats (of course), NO moonroofs, foglights, trip computer, Euro rails and crossbars (for added luggage) after all these were limos/cabs. No wood trim on the console."

The single switch is above the rear ash tray, to the left of the 12V outlet.
A Car Fax shows my 99 started out as a one year lease in Boston. The only difference is I have no roof rails, and I DO have the 3rd row seats. BTW, it is for Salem, as well as my 86 850 Wagon (non turbo)

[850notts]

I have a 95’ t5 with factory separate heated rear seats, two switches.

[abscate]

These seem common in EU, more so than in NA. I’ve never seen heatedrear seats In the United States

[misha]

Switches are in the rear side of the center armrest where rear ashtray is... on the left and right side of armrest for left and right seat.
Cars which aren't equipped withe them are factory pre-wired...at least from '95.Thats said....pop in seat heaters and switches and the magic begins.