hey guys, i'm looking at getting a 1996-97 volvo 960 wagon as my first car.. my dad got it in a car deal.. he says he's only in it a couple hundred, it has about 270k miles from what i could see.. is that too much for the 960? i want to get a good 5-10+ years out of this if i can without spending a whole lot on needed repairs.. when i heard it running it it sounded nice while idling, very smooth.. dont know more about it then that right now.

i honestly dont like the look of newer cars as much as i do the old.. i want a wagon because it has lots of room and this particular one has a ball on the back so i could haul **** around. also i feel naked driving or riding in a small little car and a decent truck in my price range doesnt have enough human space to feel confortable, this gives me room for my hobbies.

i also face a small delima of whether i should mod or try to keep it in its stock condition. maybe i could remove the baby seat it has :/ would that mean replacing the hole back seat?

anything you could add to this that you think i need to know? possibly some mod ideas also if you could

edit: i just realized.. i must be so tired i put my email address in the username xD can a moderator remove it?

 

I really like the 960's. There are not a lot of mods out there for them, mainly because most of the owners were mature and had no interest in making any changes to them. Paul Newman modded a couple of them for himself and David Letterman but it was costly and was real high maintenance. They are pretty solid cars and can be pushed pretty hard.

I don't think 270,000 is that bad for one. You should be able to get around 350,000 out of one pretty easy. You should run 91+ octane in them and keep the oil changed. Some issues are starting to surface with them but heck, they are 15+ years old now. I plan to get another one and I think you should be ok for a few more years.

As for your user name, it would probably be best if you simply deleted your account and set-up another. I couldn't figure out how to change it at my level.

 

i read somewhere ...so dont hold me to it....that the 80% of people that buy Volvo's drive them till they die, and 50% of those owners will put 400,000 on the clock before they die...............may not be factual but its a pretty good statstic

i own a 95 960 that was abused pretty badly, paid 600 for it...... replace 2 door handle, hatch locking mech, fuel pump.....new battery and still only paid another 600 .....got all my parts out of a salvage other than the battery

i do have a valve issue now but we still drive it every day.......i love the car and if the motor goes it may get covered until i can afford to make a "VolVette"

i think from my expierience if you can get into a good running 960 for less than 2500 bucks [including all repairs back to stage 0] then you will have a damn good car for a pretty fair price......

id take mine on a road trip right now ....running on 5 1/2 cylinders and not even blink

good luck ...keep us posted on progress, repairs....mods if any

 

thanks, i'm hoping to pick up the car in a week.. i may upload some pictures when i can

 

91 octane? Ouch...I'm not liking that...I cant seem to duplicate your 550 miles per tank and around here driving @ 63 mph will get you run over...in every other aspect this is a great car and there isnt anything I'd modify...YMMV

 

I've run 87 octane in my car since new with no problems. That being said, premium is only 20c a gallon more which is less than gas prices vary per day here in Cleveland so who cares?

BNE - I drive the speed limit just to **** off the BMW drivers. Makes my day. Good luck on them running me over

 

That was a fun day. I had all kinds of people flipping me off and trying to run me off the road. I didn't budge.

I usually got better gas mileage with 91 octane. Around town, after I installed the K&N box air filter, new plugs, and newer tires (2 psi high), I was getting 25 mpg. It was fun.

I could not find anything I needed to mod either.

 

LOL Love that one.Heh heh...Yeah my gas is ethanol free and I have been using 87 grade...I dont know abt long term but right now the engine is running super fine...engine oil and filter change this weekend

Geez you certainly have more restraint and patience than I...LOL I cant seem to keep it below 75...engine wants to run...thank goodness for cruise control...;-)

 

Well, I must say that I did push my 960 harder than any other Volvo that I have owned. The other one that I pushed was our S70 GLT. (I was hard pressed for cash when I took that trip).

As for my 960, I have set 2 travel records in it. One from OKC to the Little Rock area. Another from Memphis to the Little Rock area. Very fun!!!

 

25mpg ????? holy crap.......i can't get ours above 15......ill try the 91 and see what happens

you said K&N air box.....is that a made for volvo item or will a K&N filter in the volvo oem box suffice....or can i put a cone {mushroom} intake filter on inplace of the box all together

i put a cone [Air raid] on my diesel and went from 13 to 18 mpg in a 9,000 lb one ton, but the ol dodge has no computers or air control systems for intake differences to mess up

 

I purchased a K&N box filter that fit in my standard Volvo box. Just replaced the paper filter with a K&N brand. I also use Lucas fuel injector cleaner and run OEM spark plugs.

My average trip with that car was about 18 miles. I did not drive over 65 mph nor did I race to the next light in town. When I did drive agressive, the lowest mpg I would get was 21.

When I would try 87 octane, my car ran fine but my gas mileage did drop to around 21. To me that's a 20% drop in fuel. So instead of paying $4 per gallon, getting 25 mpg is like paying $3.20 per gallon. So, running 91+ octane (ours is 93), it actually cost me about 10 cents less per gallon.

 

A 960 getting 15 mpg? I have never gotten less than 22 in the worst traffic.

 

one thing about the 960...I wish it had a mileage countdown to empty...like the 850 has...when the little red fuel lite comes on how much fuel is left? I never really know how much further I can drive.

 

well keep in mind mine sat for over a year was moved around by choking it with a rag so the motor sucked fuel into as the fuel pump was bad and on top of that the gas cap was gone when i bought....so im sure im still fighting varnish, crap filters.....and a sh*t ton of carbon, we've only run 4 full tanks through it 8mpg.......11mpg.......13mpg and 15.6 on the last one, then the valve issue......im thinking as she cleaned up carbon built up under the valve....she seems to be getting stronger and stronger each time we drive it now after the service [see "coil pack issue" thread]

thanks for the tips...ill be running 91 next tank and looking into a K&N filter....ive got plugs to go in now......waiting to see if this valve issue clears up and then im doing a complete service.....oil filter, fuel filter, plugs etc

 

Heck, in that case I wouldn't wait another day with the fuel filter. Also run the lucas injector cleaner. It's suppose to clean the valves up as well.

 

Not all 850's have the fuel / trip meter option. That is one of the main reasons I purchased the ScanGauge II.

When the light FIRST comes on you can make it about 35 miles total. About 19 miles once it stops going out. Found out the hard way one day, about 4 miles short of the gas station I was trying to make it to. Once it started sputtering it dies in about a mile.

 

1.6 gal

 

I was referring to my 850..sorry I wasnt clear on that...That is interesting about how the low fuel light functions as I am further educated on this car. My trip odo. is inaccurate and I have to go by the main odo which is accurate.
I'm not up on ScanGuage II. Pls elaborate...

 

Thanks...as rspi says ...about 35 miles ...I guess thats about 1.6 gals worth of fuel if you avg. 25 mpg or so.

 

Now I'm confused as to which car you are referring to. Are you talking about the low fuel light on your 850 or 960? If 960, you have your answer. The 850 light usually comes on when you have about 60 miles to go. You can find that info in your owners manual or on the Volvo site:
Volvo Owners' Manuals

960: 1997 Volvo 960

850 (Mine comes on sooner and stays on when it has about 2 gallons left - 40 miles): https://www.customers.volvocars.com/...1_1.html#pg1.2

The Scangauge II site. www.ScanGauge.com

I also like the Ultra-Gauge: UltraGauge Automotive Information Center and OBDII Scan Tool