I've been looking at Volvos for a few months now, and I have a few posts on this forum regarding cars I was considering. It would be for a teen girl driver. So far, I have hesitated and lost the deal, or come across cars with issues I did not want to face. Today I looked at a 1995 960 with 147,000 miles. The "story" is a mechanic who lived next to the original owner bought it last year, with sheet metal damage in front. He bolted on new parts as required, and it now has 100% straight body with recent a 2-stage grey paint. He also did a lot of maintenance, including timing belt, A/C compressor, condenser, and valve cover gasket. He traded it for a Jag that needed an engine, so the former Jag owner is now selling the 960. Everything claimed in regard to recent work passes the eye and sniff test.

Here's what my inspection revealed: steering rack boots (tie rods?) torn, passenger window only operates from passenger button, cruise control inoperative, tires 1/3 tread remaining (but even wear and okay for a while), A/C compressor knocks (has receipt for warranty exchange for Pep Boys Auto Parts) but works, interior probably fantastic for a 95, but a couple of leather tears and door vinyl that is worn or detached, along with broken trim around the power seat controls, but dash has no cracks. Took it up to 65 mph; no vibrations, tracks straight including under heavy breaking. Starts easy, smooth idle, no smoke. A passed smog test will be part of the deal. I think I may be able to get it for $2200. There are two other 960s in town for quite a bit less, but they are don't have clean exteriors or decent interiors, and have higher mileage (180k and 220k I think), and it looks like they have not been well maintained at all. So here's the questions:

1) Good deal?

2) How difficult are the tie rod boots to replace? If they feel tight, are they probably okay aside from the boots, despite the exposure they've had?

3) Does a 95 have side airbags? It has the SIPS logo on the door pillar. But my limited knowledge of SIPS suggests that the name applied to a structural system before airbags came out, and then bags became part of the SIPS "package." If airbags exist on the car, I'd like a positive means to identify them.

Thanks for answers to the above and any general guidance you can offer.

 

Nobody?

Well, I bought it. I can't say I've come across more car for $2000, ever. It drives great and I really got to like it on the way home. My daughter is less enthused, but that's because she was immediately downgraded from Mom's GX 470; so Mom's happy to be back in her rig. But in the long run, I'll bet this is a vehicle that will bring back some fond memories when my teenager is older. Especially once she fully understands the concept of value. I still think I've gotten more excited about the cool cheap cars I've bought in my life than costly ones. This fills that square!

I just ordered the tie rod boot kit, and I heard there are two 960s at a local pic-a-part. Looking for a few interior plastic parts, including the third brake light trim and passenger seat control skirt. And a cruise control vacuum servo. I might have my local upholstery guy patch up the driver seat leather, which is solid overall but has two relatively small ripped areas. I missed one thing on my inspection - dash lights are out, along with all console background lighting (everything I assume would be controlled by the dimmer switch). So tomorrow a little tracing work, hopefully to a fuse. Maybe the dimmer at pic-a-part. Still not sure if the A/C noise is in the clutch or internal to the compressor. It's a few months out of warranty, but in spring of 11 it was replaced with all new components. So it would behoove me to catch the compressor before it grenades and contaminates the system, but if it's the clutch I'll probably just run for a while. Even if I'm into a $195 compressor, I can't complain about the deal.

A few little things to sort out, but she's a solid cruiser already. I'll try to get some pics up soon.

 

I can assure those are fantastic cars as long as you keep up with the maintenance. I have owned 2 and still driving mine. Little things here and there break easily but a good nearby junkyard helps a lot on a lot of things, specially on how to work on them better.

If the tie rods feel tight don't change them just put a tierap around the boot to lock it in..

It does has Side Airbags, is located on the side inside the seat, those came standard on every model for volvo since 93 or 94 i think.

 

My daughter learned to drive a '97 960 (which she totaled, but that's another story). I offered her a '95 960 but it wasn't good enough for her so she waited about 18 more months for a S70. Lol

As Gabby said, it does have side airbags in the seats. I would also NOT change those tie rod ends unless they have play in them. Torn boost don't seem to bother them. The suspension in those RWD Volvo's are bolder solid.

Doesn't seem like the price was bad. If I were you, I'd change the air compressor with one from a jy if it came down to that. The Volvo compressors almost never go bad.

You will likely NOT find any seat button plastic housings in one piece in the jy unless someone changed them with new ones recently, I've never seen any that were not broken and I have owned 3 of them.

As for your dash lights, it could be a problem in your head light switch. They break internally sometimes.

Don't feel bad about jamming your daughter into that car. It's probably the safest car she'll ever drive. They are also easy to drive.

 

Thanks for the responses.

Our first MPG check came in at 18.5. Probably a 60/40 highway city mix over a mere 150 miles. It's typical of what may daughter will be doing on a daily basis. 2+ better than the GX 470 she was driving, but 3 less than our BMW 540i 6-speed, and about 1 mpg better than our Dodge diesel truck. Not out of the expected range, but interesting in that I've had cars with 100-ish more h.p. that weigh the same r more and get better mpg.

Interior lights are driving me nuts. Fortunately the dash lights have worked every time she has driven at night. But they were intermittent when I was trouble-shooting. Surprising to me, they operated (on bright) with the dimmer unplugged. Good voltage at the dimmer when they are on, none when they are out. Dimmer continuity checks good, and variable as expected with a rheostat. The dash lights seems to work for sure if parking lights are selected, start the car, then go to headlights. Otherwise they are iffy. I'm also lacking console lighting, vanity lights, glove box light and console light (probably some others I haven't thought of. No power across the bulbs at the visors, fuses ok. Need to look at the switching, which I assume is a mercury switch. I'll look at the headlight switch and move on to the other stuff.

I have determined that the stereo is likely out of a 1998 850, since the owner's manual showed only a cassette for 1995 in the 960, and there were 1998 850 owners manuals in the trunk, along with the original cassette unit some miscellaneous parts. It sounds great but the CD skips easily over even minor freeway bumps. It sounds so good for a factory unit (has 8 speakers) that I hate to trash it. But I really should go Bluetooth, so I'm looking at a $279 Axxera DVD stereo at Crutchfield. Has the additional benefit of iPod controls and external inputs, plus provisions for a back-up camera. Need the safety of hands-free phone calls. Plus may daughter's a musician, which will make the upgrade and flexibility worthwhile. She listens to a lot of school/work related music stored on iPod and MP3 player. I'll see what I can do do regarding integration of factory speakers, since they sound decent. If too many challenges arise, I'll be looking at 6.5" component speakers, with the woofers in each door, tweeters in the dash grill and on rear deck, possible with some subwoofers in the deck's 6 x 9 cut-outs.

I'm guessng the right dash trim (including stereo surround) came out of a JY car, as it has a more detailed grain than the other interior trim and what appears to be the original panel is in the trunk and is cracked. There's one less button than I believe the 960 should have had - looks like the door lock is missing. The doors auto lock while driving anyhow, and the key fob works. But I'm hoping the plug is there. I can swap the old switch into a blank spot in the replacement panel if that's the case

The cupholder was broken, but I found another armrest with pristine holder in the trunk. Slightly different taper on front, but a 99% color match and itfits fine. Probably of the 850 - bonus!

Another oversights, not that I care much - the front fog lights are shattered. They sit so low I failed to notice them. The switch and manual imply there are rear fog lights, but maybe the switch is from an 850 that had them.

One of my most positive impressions is that this 17 year old car has zero fluid leaks, nor any sign of old ones underneath. So far, it's a great car that's going to be fun to get to know and dial-in.

 

Cool.

As for the dash lights, you can have a bad ignition switch. Look in the 960/S90 DIY sticky. Those ignition switches go bad a lot. Every 960 I had, had a bad ignition switch.

The stereo, that could have come out of a 850 but nothing else. I would toss a cassette adapter in the deck and let her plug that into the iPod and have at it. I do have a bluetooth chip but the quality is FM. I purchased it for $20 and if you want it you can PM me.

I agree with the dash trim coming from a donor car. You can check the manual for the buttons. The '95's didn't have the door lock button. Maybe they lost a blank or antenna switch.

Cup holder / arm rest likely came from a newer 960 donor car. I'm pretty sure the 850 armrest wouldn't fit, not even close. The 960 armrest is a lot longer.

ALL VOLVO's have rear fogs. I believe Volvo started that in the early 70's. They usually have separate switches, one car had a dual switch. Try to find replacements for those fogs they are nice. Not like the 850 fogs which are worthless.

Glad you are enjoying the car. Once your daughter drives it about 1,000 miles, she'll fall in love with it. It's a very easy car to drive. When I had mine, I got my mileage up to 25/31, it was tough but I did it. You can read my scangauge thread to see how I managed that. Hard to imagine you having a car with over 270 HP that was getting better than 20 mpg.

 

City MPG is a dog for this car -- 16 , 17. That is -- suburban streets. If tie rod boots are torn, I would get ready for new tie rods and alignment. They are not hard to remove by brute force, plumbers wrench, and an angle grinder.

Believe it or not, all those little trim pieces have part numbers and they can be ordered quite easily from Tasca for a few pennies each.

Rspi made a good point about the ignition switch, which is a common failure in this cars. The second cause I would suspect the ground points. You should search here; I have posted several times links to my Volvo Repair Manuals and Schematics which show pretty much everything.

 

Quote:
"I had mine, I got my mileage up to 25/31, it was tough but I did it. You can read my scangauge thread to see how I managed that. Hard to imagine you having a car with over 270 HP that was getting better than 20 mpg"

What kind of car are we talking about? It sure isn't a 960!

 

LOL It's true. A '97 960. I miss that car.

 

OK, I'll bite...
First, how did you get 270HP from a 960?
Second, 960 is rated at 16/24hwy. I am pretty sure that if you in fact got this mileage, which is highly doubtful, Volvo would have been quite interested in your methods. My experience is mainly with Red Blocks, but I have seen my share of 960s too, and the best one can hope for is nearing 30mpg with a 114 HP B230 and a 5 speed in optimum conditions.

 

OP said there are cars with 100 hp more and better mpg for same weight (3500 lbs). 1995 - i thought Mustang or??? I wouldn't doubt that. 960s are not MPG cars. Rspi got it by feathering it and doing 55 mph on highway.

 

Oh, my 270 hp comment was about someone's mention of getting better gas mileage from a car with over that hp, not my 960. But I have seen some 960's with over 400 hp (I mean read about them, David Letterman had one).

As for me getting 25/31, I did a few things that helped and yes, it was not doing 75 on the freeway. At 73+ mph I would only get 24, but at 63 mph (which is the car's sweet spot) I would constantly get between 29 and 31. So, when I went into town from my burb, I would drive 63 instead of the limit of 70 or 65. Yes the 18 mile trip would cost me about 90 seconds but would save me 25% in gas cost. So, instead of paying $3.75 per gallon, it would cost me as if I paid $2.85 per gallon. Over the long haul I saved about $565 in gas the first year I purchased my ScanGauge II. I also switched to full synthetic, changed plugs to OEM Volvo brand, installed a K & N box air filter and kept my tires 2 psi high. After those tweeks I was getting 25 mpg around town (average speed of about 29 mph) and 29 - 31 on the freeway.

I must admit, it was very hard driving from Albuquerque to Little Rock at 63 mph but I did need the $20. I have made that trip in 12:30 and it took me 15:10. Cars buzzing me and blowing their horns, lol, it was crazy.

Now with the B230 I had in my 740 GLE... Man, I could NEVER get any more than 25 mpg in that thing. I got 23 to 25 no matter how I drove, in any condition. The only time I got worse mileage was when I put some Champion plugs in the thing. I took them out in a week or 10 days. My mileage dropped to about 17 mpg.

 

I'm actually kinda amazed as how these newer cars are engineered to do so much better than older cars. My 740 had about 114 hp and my 850 T-5R has 240 hp, more than double and gets better mileage on the highway. Then the 960 had about 187 hp and got better mileage. Heavier car, much faster and better gas mileage.

And these new cars, wow, 300+ hp with similar mileage, it's incrediable.

 

I am interested in MPG, especially since the bad mileage the older Volvos get is the biggest problem I have with them, so I am no slouch in the squeezing the mile out of a gallon of gas. I can believe the 30mpg on the highway out of 960, actually I'd up the tire pressure much more than just 2 psi, more like 10psi extra, but the 25 mpg IN TOWN? Doubt that. I think reducing speed even further, say 55mph, gets the best mileage, at least in most cars I test over long distances... Of course going 55 these days is definitely hazardous--if some 3 ton shack on wheels (aka SUV) doesn't mow you down, someone may take a shot at you. But the economy of lower speeds is unquestionable! The savings between the 80mpg which is the speed traffic seems to move, and the optimum 55ish, around 30%! Just think, a little self awareness, and our energy problems could largely go away!

 

What I said was that I had cars with around 100 more horsepower, not too different in weight, that did significantly better with fuel consumption. I'm now seeing a range of 18.5-21 in the freeway/city mix previously described.

Ex-2001 Lexus LS 430 weighed in at 4000 lbs., 290 h.p./320 tq, 24 mpg on pure freeway trips, 19 or so in our daily mix. Current 2000 BMW 540i/6 weighs about 3800 lbs., 282 h.p., 320 tq, 22 mpg in comparable driving and will do over 26 in exclusive freeway driving. One could argue technology advancement and some other advantages these examples have, but at the end of the day there is a big gulf when considering weight, power and mpg relative to the 960. Not bragging, nor dissing the 960 either, because I like it a lot. Just explaining for those who were skeptical about better mpg with more powerful cars. Another contrast was my 5000 lb. 1969 Olds Toronado, a 7.5L, 400 h.p. sleeper that won a lot of acceleration and top speed contests, while getting at least 18 mpg on the rare occasions that a 17 year-old kid wasn't using all four venturies on the Q-Jet! (did I really sell it for $800 32 years ago? Wish it was in my garage today!). For whatever reason, some cars surprise me one way or the other ... the 960 mpg is perfectly acceptable, but it stands out on the low end of efficiency for a 2.9L Euro car.

 

With the ScanGauge plugged in, I reset the trip computer at several speeds and drove at least 100 miles at each speed. That is how I found that 63 mph was the sweet spot. I did 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80. The car got worse mileage at 55 than it did at 63. 63 Is the sweet spot. When I say in town, I really mean around town, not on a road trip. That included my short trips into town in Little Rock.

As for my 850 wagon, it's a little different, 45 it gets about 33 mpg, at 50 - 60 mph it gets 30 - 31 mpg, and at 65 - 79 mph it gets 27 - 29 mpg.

Technology has a lot to do with preformance and effeciency. Lets not forget that a few years of the 960's did make the Cash for Clunkers list.

The main purupse of the ScanGauge II is to help you get proficient in driving for better mpg. Make it a game and you'll soon be good at hypermilling. I'm actually disappointed that my wagon isn't getting better mileage. I was getting 25/29 out of my 850 T-5R sedan. Not so with this wagon (I do carry a lot of tools around with me a lot).

 

As most know, there are many variables in MPG, some can influence 1 or 2 mpg alone. Fuel grade is one example. My 960 does 1 maybe 2 mpg worse with regular. Plugs, brake drag, roof rack, PCV, O2 sensor and a million other things can influence things. Tires alone can swings figures by another 1 or 2 mpg. Heck, MPG in the Manhattan is a useless measure. Gallon/hour would be more meaningful.

18.5 mpg average at 60% city is what I would expect, after stage 0 is completed, good tires, spec tire inflation, premium grade.