I've owned my black on black 1997 960 wagon for just over a year now and I thought I post my experience with it and how impressed I am with this car. I bought it from the 72 year old second owner who decided that this car was now too big for her. I would agree with her as the car has every corner scuffed and the fog lights broken from curbing it. She downsized to a Honda Civic, which I had noticed had a new scuff on it already when I picked up the Volvo. It had just under 240,000 miles on it and she was asking $500 for it. Except for a small rip in the drivers seat, the interior was immaculate. Besides the corner scuffs, the only body issue was a small patch of rust starting on the center of the top of the windshield, undercarriage was surprisingly clean with no oil soaked parts underneath. Even came with a set of studded snows

I was able to get it for $400 and drove it home. After joining this forum and ton's of reading/research I knew I scored well on this car. After looking through the whole car, I replaced the rear pads, sway bar links, plugs, whatever they call the PCV thingy and air filter (air box was packed solid of leaves) and did the Timing belt component kit change all with Volvo parts. I had a local exhaust shop patch a small hole on one of the pipes before the cat for $25 and I was good to go. I have to say this is the easiest car I have ever worked on. Engine bay has loads of room to work in, didn't even have to take out the radiator to do the TB. The 2.9 is one smooth motor that is surprisingly powerful given its HP/torque rating and it's weight

13 months later, I now have almost 249,000 miles on it, it uses less than a quart between oil changes and still runs like a champ. Except for replacing the battery in October and now a thermostat, this car has not given me one problem and we use it as a daily driver. It goes down the highway doing 70 like it has only 50,000 miles on it, a very impressive solid chassis for a car with this many miles on it. It's surprisingly great in the snow for a rear wheel drive car but I'm sure that has to do with being raised in snowy Sweden. I just wish the heated seat worked on the drivers side after last weeks cold snap.

I'll post a picture of the odo when I hit the 250,000 mark, till then, keep it classy and swedish.

 

Hi! I'm about to buy a 98 model as well. It shouldn't be too tough to troubleshoot the seat heater with a multimeter. It could be as simple as a loose wire at the switch, or a ground wire. Multimeter could rule out if its a relay or something. Wish me luck with my first year. Lol

 

You should be a shame of yourself for cutting 20% from the price. SMH

I really enjoyed my 960. My all time favorite. I hope to get another.

 

I just got a 97 960 Wagon as well! So far so good!