I returned to Southern California in August of 2012 in what seemed like a precarious situation. A little more than a year before, I had sold my Honda and moved to New York City to pursue a degree in tax law, and an increasingly wayward girlfriend. At the end of the adventure, I landed at LAX with a dog, a different fiancée, and my old job. I had no wheels, beyond a really nice Impala that I had rented for 3 weeks or so. And for housing, I got a good deal at the Airport Sheraton.
Typical craigslist BMW wagon
I set my requirements optimistically: my next car had to be a wagon (dog), with airbags (fiancée), not requiring credit for purchase (don’t ask). The ideal was the beautiful E34 BMW 5-series wagon. But even the ones that were promising enough for a test drive looked like they’d been half-eaten or worse by automotive termites. Lesser, but still grave, infestations and afflictions struck the local Caprice, Roadmaster, Accord, Taurus, Subaru, and W124-T populations. (I admit this list is pretty insane, but I really didn’t want to spend more than $6000 on this thing.)
That left Volvo. The Wagon Master (apologies to former owner Ford). Due to the constraints described above, my purchase was not the historic PV-series Duett …
… or the beautiful (but elusive) Amazon.
It could have been the iconic 240 wagon, but it wasn’t.
Coffee before photo next time!
Here you have my first station wagon, a 1995 Volvo 960. It’s a great highway cruiser, a capable hauler, a white elephant, and an evolutionary dead end. On its introduction in 1991 as the 940, the 900 series marked a dubious signpost in the evolution of the 1970s-engineered 700 series (sold in America since 1983). After coasting through the mid-80s on the strength of the US recovery and strong dollar, Volvo faced the 90s with pretty old stuff, compared to most other automakers. Not bad, just…old.
The lion’s share of Volvo’s engineering resources in the 80s were dedicated to Project Galaxy, the front-drive program launched in 1978. The first product of this program to come to the US was the DOHC 24-valve inline-6 “whiteblock” engine in the 1992 960. This engine is a wonder, of sorts: the wonder is how it goes so happily from 3,000 and 5,000 RPM, given how long it takes to spin up to 3,000. It’s very smooth at any speed, highway fuel economy is about twice as good as city mileage, and its descendants have powered Volvos until Drive-E took over for 2015. As of 1992, Volvo’s engines, at least, were no longer old.
The first complete car from the Galaxy project to come to the US, the 850, showed up a year later, in 1993. (The smaller FWD 400-series, produced by Volvo’s Dutch subsidiary, debuted as a coupe in 1986 and a sedan in 1989, but smaller Volvos wouldn’t arrive in the US until the S/V40, in 2000. The appearance of a 15-year product development process is only partly true.) Meanwhile, the 900 series saw evolutionary change. This instrument panel first appeared in 1994, though it’s either timeless, or very similar to earlier Volvo designs. I’d like an oil temp gauge, to keep track of the impact of the many trips of less than 5 miles I drive. The information and controls are very easy to use, but there’s no sign of the everything-is-expensive look that was coming into vogue.
The seats, also updated after the 960 name was adopted, are the best I’ve experienced. I’ve driven from LA to San Francisco without any orthopedic complaint or rest stops.
In 1995, the 960 was given a lower profile grille, to reduce aerodynamic drag and make the appearance more consistent with the 850.
Volvo also introduced independent rear suspension for the 960 wagon in 1995. This feature inspired Paul Newman and David Letterman to build supercharged, 380-horsepower monster wagons. That’s twice the stock horsepower.
Believe it or not, they fit the new setup under the car without any visible bumps in the floor (other than the wheel well). Or maybe they had lots of room underneath the car: the rear seat is noticeably higher than the front seats, giving an effect like stadium seating. (Perhaps Volvo should have made a 960 Vista Cruiser to take advantage of this situation.)
The 960 wagon, renamed as the V90, lasted until 1998. My own 960 experience has been mixed. The dog loves his ride to the park. The 960 has been a reliable daily driver, but it’s an old car. I’ve had most replaceable pieces of the front suspension replaced, just as I expected. Less expected, I’ve replaced most of the cooling and HVAC system. The essential parts have great service life, but many essential peripheral systems do not.
The repair to end all repairs may be somewhere down the road. But until then, we’ll be enjoying our fully depreciated dead end.
Very nice car! I’ve always loved the minor styling updates the 1994-1998 960 received, the final evolution of the vintage-1982 700-Series design.
One interesting thing I have noticed about many Volvos is that their leather seems to wear more excessively than on many other brands. Now granted, your Volvo is 20 years old, and it doesn’t look too worn, but I’ve noticed this on Volvos in the 5-year range. I don’t know if it’s because Volvo’s hide is really soft or on the side, but it would be something I’d take issue with if I was ever buying a used Volvo.
Other than that though, I really like these Volvos. The green is an excellent color!
Was the leather cleaned & cared for regularly? Perhaps that makes a difference; we have a leather Ekornes Stressless orthopædic home chair & they emphasize such maintenance.
For folks with odd body sizes & back problems, getting a good car seat like that must be a challenge. I wish Recaros were factory options, as they were on an early Fox Mustang model.
Thanks, Brendan. I was looking to find a non-“roached” car, and many older Volvos have some sort of cheaper-than-fleece spandex-type cover on the front seats to disguise the hideous mess beneath. I don’t know what the deal is with the newer cars…on the older ones, the leather isn’t particularly soft, or thick, and these pictures probably look a little nicer than my day-to-day reality. I have a “Leatherique” cleaning kit, which I mean to use some day. I love washing cars, but will unfortunately procrastinate quite a bit on something that involves rubbing the seats down 2-3 times.
I see the same thing on SAABs, and I think it’s just because a more supple, luxuriant variety of hide was chosen for these cars. It’s not as hard wearing and it’s treated differently. By comparison, look at the leather used in a mid-grade family sedan from the mid ’90s, for example, and it’s usually intact but very stiff.
If you have never replaced the timing belt, do it RIGHT NOW. The white block is definitely not the stout iron-lump red block that powered pretty much everything before it.
Indeed, our timing belt (and water pump) are 15,000 miles (and 2 years) old. We didn’t get documentation of the change said to be done before we bought the car, so we just did it.
I bought this model as a sedan for the 100 mile commute I had. I fell victim to a deteriorating wiring harness that I am told was biodegradable on purpose. Didn’t keep it long as it decided to knock right after the first oil change. Sure liked it when it worked. Love the looks of the wagon.
Very nice wagon. You seem to have gotten about as new as you can without getting into their fwd stuff, which I consider quite scary as older cars.
That body style is what a wagon is supposed to be. It has a very roomy, rectangular interior that defines a wagon to me. I too like the green.
I looked at these cars when new – having owned a ’73 145 and, but for excessive wear on seating surfaces (vinyl then), I had positive Volvo thoughts. But driving the dealer’s car left me thinking it really needed a Ford 5.0 V-8. Everything else about the car was what I wanted but having lived with, in the interim from my 145 ownership, cars that could actually provide satisfying acceleration, I simply was not going to put up with what a Volvo engine could do.
Your car looks purposeful. The interior design is excellent; I wish modern car dashboards were as simple and elegant as Volvos and Mercedes of this era. I admire your car.
That’s a fine looking 20 year old Volvo wagon. I like the exterior / interior color combination.
Regarding the 400-series. There were the 440 5-door hatchback, the 460 4-door sedan and the rather special 480 that didn’t resemble the other two at all. The 480 was marketed as a coupe, but it’s clearly a 3-door hatchback.
A sporty looking one, for sure.
Most common and popular was the 5-door hatchback.
I just bought a 97 V90 wagon Friday…black, dirty and grubby inside, 190000 miles but it runs very well. Spent 4 hours cleaning it up today, got several compliments from neighbors. It does have deep tint window film on all the glass except windshield, which has made my wife call it a hearse. Nice leather interior that looks more Jaguarish than Volvoish.
Gorgeous car, and one of my top 5 “Timeless Design” members. But yeah, the supporting characters on Volvos can lead to life decisions. Our S70 was awesome in every way except that at 5 years and 70k miles it needed $8-9k in ABS and AC repairs. We had to cut it loose for something more reliable.
My “hearse” after an all-day clean-up…
Well done ! Yes, shiny black wagons always have a sinister twist, don’t they ?
They certainly do when movie goons always drive Suburbans or Tahoes of this color.
Well, in this particular case because of wagons like this….
And the different upholstery design for ’97
Very nice-looking 960! I’ve always thought that a late 960 wagon or V90 might be the perfect replacement for my Crown Vic–big, roomy, that famous Volvo safety, but in an old-school RWD package that carries the classic Volvo “look”. Depending on when my needs change to require a wagon, you might find one in my driveway yet.
I also like how Volvo doesn’t feel the need to change things just for the sake of change. That dash is extremely similar to the one in my ’88 780, with a few small exceptions. In most cars that would be a full generation removed, most likely two, for interior styling. But here, if it ain’t broke…
I saw an off-white late production 960 sedan yesterday…I have always liked that “vanilla ice cream” warm white color…maybe that’ll be my next car if I can find a decent one for the right price.