We just bought a 94 940 with 75K miles. The car's a beauty, our first Volvo. I love its quirks and engineering. How different from the Japanese and American Japanese copycats we've had! I'm wondering what weight oil to use.

Our last car, a 90 Subaru (a good car in its own right) used 20w50 weight motor oil and was running strong until its unfortunate entanglement with the garage door jam when my wife failed to shift from R to P and left the car running while she unwedged a baby stroller from under the rear right wheel.

The result caused a 911 call to the fire department after the Subaru backed out of the garage (catching the driver side door on the garage door jam) and as if under its own volition backed across the street into the neighbor's gas meter, breaking the meter, and spewing natural gas across the neighborhood. An ever earthquake ready San Franciscan (me) eventually figured out that it was possible to close the main gas valve, thus diminishing the general fear of a blow. But I digress.

Our Subaru mechanics swore by 20x50 weight oil. Now that we're driving the big Swede, I'm wondering if its colder blooded origins might be happier with 10x40. This is probably a relatively trivial question, but I'd like to get 125K more on the 940 before I think about replacing it.