Howdy folks, I haven't been on this forum for a long time as we were between Volvos for a couple of years, but my wife just totalled her Mercedes diesel she was driving and we can't find a replacement so we are thinking of returning to Volvo. Previously we had 2-'95 850 sedans both non-turbo, so I wanted to look for a s70. But a friend of mine has a '92 960 he recently bought from one of those 'donate your car to charity' organizations. He claims when he bought it the back glass was smashed out and the windshield was cracked. Both of which he had replaced, he also put on new tires and says it has a stack of paperwork that comes with it from the PO. I have seen the car but haven't been able to test drive it yet, he has been drving it, I think he said it had about 140k on it he wants $2k for it. The paint and seats look pretty good but it seems a little saggy in the rearend. He said I can come get it and spend a couple days with it before making a decision. What should I look for exactly on this car and what kind of fuel economy can I expect? Our 850's got about 25 hwy so I can't imagine this doing any better. My wife comutes about 80 miles a day, mostly 4 lane highway at 70mph some in town. I already know about the timing belt thing, I'll be sure to check about that. Are parts readily available (mail order of course) is there anything I should be scarred of??? Is this a decent price?? Any help and info is appreciated.

 

I just sold my '92 960 and I kind of miss it. It was the most powerful of the 6 cyl cars until the S80 T6 came out, but it's rear wheel drive and really smooth. The 5 cyl I find buzzy...

Not that this is likely to be an issue 18 years later, but check the side of the block under the exhaust and look for oil seeping out there. The early blocks had problems with cracking there.

Also, I would buy this only if it never lived near salt. Mine was a beach car and all the crap electrical connectors gave me constant problems. I had to splice most of the inline connectors out and had to do soldering here and there. I'm thinking that the problem would be even worse in a snowy area where they use salt.

The rear end will probably pump up with use. I think these all came with Nivomats.

Mine got about 22mpg average, and I liked to floor it...

 

$2,000 for an 18 year old car seems a little high. If it looks good, does not need paint, has no tears in the seats, has good light lenses, maybe that is fair for a good running car. I'm trying to pick a S90 up today for $800. Has a coolant leak I need to track down but the car started right up. I expect to put about $400 into it and give it to a relative.

I'm getting about 28 mpg on the highway in my '97 960. I get an average of 23 or 24 mpg. I'm not aware of any issues with the 960's but I like the post '95 models and I'm sure you can get a '97 in fair condition for $2,500 all day. If the car doesn't need anything I guess it's not to bad.

 

You have a point, a '95 and later won't have the problems of a '92, but the '92 can still be good.

I sold my '92 about 4 months ago for 1800.