I own a 97 s90 that has just turned the clock on 177k miles. For the most part it has been a reliable and trouble free car. Some folks have bad luck with them, I'm not one of them. I have done most of the maintenance work on it since it went out of warranty and have had it back to an independent garage twice for front end work. We bought the car with 16k on it and most of the miles were put on by my wife who used it for work every day. I took it over as my daily driver when I got her an almost new Acura TL a few months ago.

As for whether the car is worth it, I would say it is as long as there are no major items that need attention. Service records are a good thing to have. I think you would find it to be less troublesome than the FWD cars you had and the engine is definately much smoother than the 5 cyl. mills. The tranny has a reputation for being pretty bulletproof as long as you keep up on the maintenance. I always recommend having the car gone over by an independent shop. If you figure that car has a good 100k left in it and you are buying it for less than 6 grand, it really is a bargain. It is built like a tank, rides very smooth and turns on a dime. It has 4 airbags, abs and I personally like the boxier design of the older cars. Someone once described it as "The Last of the Best of the Volvo's"

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97 S90 with 177K miles still going strong

The timing belt was supposed to have been changed at 70,000 miles, make sure it was done.
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '82 Mercedes 300SD

My S90 was the worst car I ever had. Please know that this is only MY experience. Lots of folks have good luck with these cars and then there are those of us who would never have another one. Things to check: front end bushings for excessive wear, sunroof for proper operation, AC should perform flawlessly, with no loss of air flow at the dash outlets when you accelerate. Door panel material should not be puckered or otherwise distorted. Just get all the maintenance records for the car so you can see what it's been through. I'm not trying to put you off buying the car if you really want it but these cars do have their problems. As I said, numerous satisfied S90 owners are out there but I'm not one of them. Caveat emptor!
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Roy Olson