Hey all,

I am looking to upgrade from my 88 740 (195,000mi) to a 96 960. Anything particular about that year to look for? How about the 97, or even 98 s90? I am looking at a few that have between 65,000 and 100,000 miles, which, by Volvo terms is still new, i know, but would like any heads up since I haven't done much research...

Doug

By age 23-- 84 240, 1965 pv544, 88 740

If you're a capable mechanic and can do most of the work yourself, then the 960's/S90's are nice cars that won't cost you too much.

If you have to rely on a mechanic to do even the basic stuff of brakes, timing belt, struts & shocks and that sort of thing, then these cars can get rather pricey to own.

You must do pro-active maintenance on the engine/cooling system to make absolutely sure that you never have a cooling problem or a timing belt failure. If you have one of these, it will cost you big time. All the components in the timing belt area except the pulleys must be changed out at 100-140k miles for insurance against this sort of thing. This will set you back ~$500 for the parts.

Then there's the plastic car syndrome with lots of motors and electrical things to go wrong. These things are less disastrous, but still expensive to fix if you don't fix things yourself. Even if you do fix things yourself, these cars will not be as cheap to own as an iron block 4 cyl like your 740, so be prepared for that.

After all that warning, I'll say that I love this motor design. The rear wheel drive version has a very friendly layout in the engine compartment that is fairly easy to work on.

I have two 960 wagons, both the same year and do all of the work on them.

We got a 1997 965 in May 2006, with 128K miles. Bought it on eBay without doing an inspection. (It was 900 miles away.)

Why did I do that? Because the seller (a broker) guaranteed that he had 16 pages of records from the Volvo dealership where the car sold new, and the timing belt had been replaced at 125K. Yes, he had the records. The car has done very well for us, it is the wifemobile, 44 miles daily commute. 22 mpg. Incredibly smooth engine.

For you - look for the lastest and best, a V90 or S90. They will probably have the lowest mileage. An the most improvements.

There are a lot of similarities in the 1996, 1997, 1998 models. I understand that the rear suspensions changed, with the Nivomats being dropped for 1997. That means rear shock replacement carries little or no sticker shock.

The 960 is less DIY-friendly than the red-block engines, and since fewer were built parts are harder to find. Thus ownership might be more expensive.

In my opinion, no records is the biggest deal-breaker. Then there is which, if any, "heavy" maintenance items have been done that need doing, given the mileage on the car.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)

My 97 model now has 250k miles and is still smooth-I have diy experience and have replaced my own timing belts and bushings in the front end-you will need to replace the timing belt at 70k and replace the entire pully system and tensioner and belt at 140k along with water pump. I take great care to make sure the vacuum hoses are not leaking on the car and get 27-28 on highway with around 20 in town-great car. The vac hoses are a key to maintainig the car in my opinion.
The tranny fluid should be flushed out and Mobil 1 synthetic fluid refilled-the tranny will love it-I use Castrol's european blend (for mercedes and bmw's) for oil-I used Mobil 1 for years but for some reason the Castrol seems to work better in mine. If the car is using dino oil- would flush the system using Auto R-X then switch to what ever syn oil you chose.
I would try to find a 97-98 model rather than the 96 if possible-updated cars from the 96 and don't use the ERG valve.
With a good engine to take care of these cars will give good reliability if well pampered-but you can still drive'em like ya stole'em and give good service.
Hope that helps
Poolman

My sister-in-law bought one (960) about this vintage 4 years ago, looked good with only 45K, but had constant problems with the front end and both front seats getting stuck (electric seats, not manual) and trim around the seats breaking off. (The plastic breaking off the front seats, I believe, has been an issue on the 700 series, so this might make you feel at home!)
--
If it needs to be maintained, repaired or replaced on a 1990 240, I've probably done it. '90 240DL, 245K looking forward to 300K badge. >>You haven't really worked on a car until you draw blood<< :-}