Hey,

I see people referring to their 945, 964, etc. What do these different numbers mean? I have a 1995 940 Turbo Wagon, what should it go by?

Thanks

Somewhere in the dim mists of Volvo history, they hit upon putting intelligence into the model designations. Thus you get a first digit for the series, as in 100, 200, 300, 700, 900. After the 900 series they went off in other mystic directions.

The second digit signified the number of cylinders, such as 4 or 6. The only exception is the Diesel series, about which more later

The third digit is the number of doors, as in a 2door, 3door (343 model), 4door and 5door (wagon).

So you knew that a 265 was a 200 series 6cyl (PRV V6) wagon.

Also they used letters for the trim level. DL for base, or DeLuxe, and GL for GrandLuxe.

Well, things got complicated. The Diesel has 6 cylinders, but isn't a V6. The rear badge said 244 (or 245) Diesel. It had the GL trim. Then there was the 740 Turbo Diesel, more complication.

What about Turbos? 244 GLT, sometimes. 744 Turbo. Some turbos had the GL trim level. Then came the 16 valve B234 engine. 744 GLE? Some had a V6.

For 1982 and 83 the 200 series dropped the numbers entirely, using DL, GL, GLT, Diesel, etc. Then came the 700 series. Oops. They put the numbers back, but made all the third digits Zero.

So a 940 turbo would be a 944Ti if sedan, 945Ti wagon. Ti being turbo intercooler. The first turbos had no intercoolers so later ones say so.

Whether or not one's Volvo is actually badged 244Gl, 965, whatever, the use of the numbers is a nifty shortcut for describing the vehicle. Just don't try for insurance on a number that's not on the car. Confuses them royally.

Hope this is more help than confusion.

Regards,

Bob

:>)

Apart from the 940 Turbo (estate - but not always i think which had an intercooler, in fact I THINK all 940 turbo's did, it was only the 7 series where the intercooler thing applied...

and of course the GLE being a 16 valve didnt always apply either - may have done in the US but certainly didnt in the UK...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the second digit, *usually* refers to the number of cylinders. I don't believe the 780 is an eight cyclinder vehicle.

--Paul
--
Paul '89 740 Turbo 102,000

I'm more of a "940 Turbo Sedan" or "240 wagon" kind of guy... but Volvo's naming convention is to use the 4 and 5 suffix.

The 944 would be 940, 4 doors.

965? 960, station wagon.

How about a 242? You got it: two doors, 240.

854? Yep. Sedan.

It kind of died with the V70. Although, a V is a wagon and an S is a sedan. So they got around the 4 and 5 convention with the S and V.

--
chris herbst, near chicago

There were no 744 GLE with V6 engines, but there were 764 with 4 cyl turbo engines, and the 780 is way out as it has either 4 cyl with the B230FT (or even better the rare B234FT, yep, 16 valve turbo) or the B280F and 6 cyl, the 460 only has 4 cyl, so does the 360 and the 480 the same, although these were never sold in the states. The V does not stand for wagon, but for versatility and the s for sedan, xc for cross country and the c for coupe. The only reason they have a zero at the end is becuase of Audi. Volvo wanted to call them S7 and so on, but Audi said, no, that is too similar to the S4, 6 and 8 which are the sport versions of the A4, 6 and 8 so Volvo said, ok how about S70...

Saab had the 9000 and then they wanted to build the 90000 and the 9000000 but too many zeros... so it is not a 93 and a 95 as the old Saabs but a 9 to the power of 3 and to the power of 5. Even Merc ended up in trouble with the 190 series, how about a 190E 2.6-16, eh? makes no sense.
--
George Holmer, Belgium, Europe, 1987 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/M46) 200k; 1988 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230FT/M46) 290k; 1988 745 GL (B200E/M47) 190k