1993 Volvo 940 Wagon: The Oppo Review

"DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully" (danceswithrotors) 03/30/2015 at 13:23 • Filed to: Oppositelock the Review!, Review!, Volvo, 940, Wagon Life, Merchandising!

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Disclaimer: Volvo wanted me to drive this car so badly that they sold it to somebody, who sold it to someone else, maybe? (I seriously don't know how many owners it has had...) who sold it to my friend Eugene who drove it for six years and then posted it on Turbobricks for $900 including a carload of extra parts, and the flight to Minneapolis to buy it was only $80, so I flew up and bought it and drove back to Kansas and here it is...

Exterior: 6/10

The styling is...conservative. It looks much like the IKEA box it came in, and that isn't a bad thing. I, personally, like how it looks. With the E-Codes, it even manages to look as classy as a car painted in a mix of burgundy metallic and Midwestern Racing Grey two-tone can. Now that I have a complete set of matching alloys, thanks to my friend Bob, it'll actually look classy, especially when it gets the gallon of white paint that was included with the car.

History lesson. The basic design of the 940 dates back to the 740, which was designed by Jan Wilsgaard, originally as a wagon, but, due to American market pressures, the sedan came out first, with the wagon following two years later. This design evolved, first with a facelift to the 740 in 1990, which brought about new front fenders, a new hood and core support, and then with a butt-lift behind in 1991, with the advent of the 940, although the 740 was sold until the end of model year 1992. However, all the hard points on the chassis remained, and the only change was to the C-pillar back, with a redesigned C-Pillar, less vertical rear window and new tails on the sedans... None of this affected the wagon in any way, which only saw structural changes forward of the firewall, from its debut in 1985, to the last of the line, the V90 in 1998.

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Interior: 8/10

It's plain, it's unadorned, but it has a power driver's seat, it's cloth and the heated seats could warm a meal. Seriously, it's everything you need, with nothing you don't. I seriously can't think of a better place to spend a road trip, and I should know... Since I signed the title on 28 February, I have put 3,800 miles on her. The controls are well-placed, and my only gripe is that the aftermarket radio faceplate sticks out a bit, so I sometimes hit the face when putting the car into Park. Also, this wagon has a third row seat (not pictured)... Third row seats are awesome.

Acceleration: 4/10

This is not a small car. The weight is somewhere around 3250 lbs. without me in it, it has a 19.8 gallon fuel tank and there are only 114 horses to move it around in NA form. Pair this with an old, but reliable Aisin-Warner automatic (This particular gearbox is known as the AW71L in Volvospeak, but essentially it's a Toyota A43DL with a different bellhousing.) that has had the accumulator mod done (See Turbobricks for details), and it moves adequately. Not fast, but adequate. Once you get to speed, she's got enough power to cruise the freeways all day.

Braking: 5/10

My car has a fairly soft pedal, so I'm not blaming the car yet, until I bleed the system, but it does haul the car down from speed in a fairly adequate manner. ABS keeps me from locking up, and there are no weird pulls to either direction. So, average braking.

Ride: 9/10

The ride is well-damped, with Bilstein HD shocks at all four corners providing good damping, and it's really a great place to spend lots of miles. I can drive for 10+ hours at a time without fatigue, due in part to the good ride and great seats. Seriously, it's that good.

Handling: 9/10

The long-wearing Michelin all-seasons do hurt a little in this regard, but with the extra underbody chassis bracing and the IPD anti-sway bars, the handing is solid and predictable, and the tail can be induced to step out, if you're really wanting to. Overall, a well-balanced, RWD wagon for those who want to haul stuff and dodge cones. Seriously, seriously, the handling is great, especially given what it is.

Gearbox: 4/10

Remember that rebadged A43DL we talked about, earlier? Here it is. It's solid and reliable, and it does shift firmly with the accumulator mod, but it's also an old-school, dumb automatic with a lockup torque converter that loves to lock around 48 mph and stay locked without a bootful of throttle, where it drops to 3rd. However, it does its job reliably and without too much fuss, so it get four points.

Toys: 8/10

Well, it has a clock and a broken temperature gauge and this weird counter that is currently showing a bit over 337,500 on it... (Picture is over 1500 miles old.) Don't know what that's for...

In all seriousness, it's fairly well-equipped. Aftermarket radio with Bluetooth, power heated seats, heated mirrors, a glass moonroof from a 960 make it pretty well-equipped. Seriously, the only toy my Mazda3 has that this Volvo does is the Bluetooth, and it's lacking everything else.

Audio: 8/10

The aforementioned Bluetooth stereo is paired with decent 5.25" speakers in the front and rear doors, plus some decent tweeters in the dash and soon, a small sub in the back. So, the sound system is pretty great. However, the engine is a bit quiet and humdrum, even with a factory Turbo exhaust (from the cat back)... Still, the stereo is pretty great, and the engine isn't horrible-sounding, even if my (much louder) 740 sounds way cooler.

Value: 10/10

For $900, including a carload of parts, this is a really, really hard combination to beat. It's incredibly comfortable, very reliable, not terrible looking and it has/will go anywhere. This isn't my first old Volvo, and it's not a manual car, but honestly, this may be my favorite out of all of them. It's just that good at being a car, and tackling anything I can throw at it.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Coty > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 13:32

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Gimmie.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 13:35

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I do wonder if it also has that sensor (like most old Lexuses) that prohibit shifting into the first couple of gears for a while... Happened to my ES300.

Coty > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 13:36

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Think it would pull a Beetle on a car trailer okay?

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura 03/30/2015 at 13:36

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Nope... Old-school automatic without any of that fancy electronic trickery.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Coty 03/30/2015 at 13:36

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No.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Coty 03/30/2015 at 13:37

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Well, I used my 740 sedan to pull a Fiat 124, so... I don't see why not.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 13:40

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Huh, guess it doesn't apply to some Toyota A transmissions.

Stupid FWD packaging. Normally on an A transmission, you can't technically get into OD without warming up the engine and gearbox first and that takes a horribly long while compared to a normal gearbox.

Coty > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 13:40

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On a trailer or a dolly? How far?

Just curious.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Coty 03/30/2015 at 13:41

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I used a dolly, and pulled it just a little over 600 miles.

Coty > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 13:43

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My car is so stupid low that when I try to dolly it the ratchet portion of the strap hits the fender before the strap is tight :(

Steve in Manhattan > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 13:58

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Drove an 80s version of this body style once, and drove a couple 90s 850s (many a rental). All the Volvo wagons of the period were dead capable, if not dead reliable. I kind of miss these basic wagons, not that today's Volvos are a bad thing.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura 03/30/2015 at 13:59

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Yeah, the A43 never had that issue.

Doug DeMuro > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 14:34

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What a great $900 car. And an excellent review.

FYI ran the Carfax from the plate number. The first owner was in Kentucky. They were pretty good about maintenance which is probably benefitting you now. They owned the car until January 2004 @ 186k miles.

Second owner was in KY then moved to NC in 2005. He lived in Asheville NC and had put on the 250,000th mile by June 2007. Your friend bought it December 2009 and it looks like you (Winchester, Kansas) got it 2/28/15.

No idea when the burgundy panels showed up :)

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Doug DeMuro 03/30/2015 at 14:50

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The burgundy panels are original paint... My friend started the process of turning it white, but didn't quite finish, so it's going to happen later.

As for maintenance, I have the records from the second owner, and from my friend, so it's still well-maintained.

gmctavish needs more space > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 21:35

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I'm really glad I read this, because the main thing I've been considering as my next roadtrip car/winter daily is a Volvo 740, preferably a turbo but they're sell immediately.....either that or a 240 wagon because I adore 240s, and miss my 140

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > gmctavish needs more space 03/30/2015 at 21:37

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The 940 is all the things that are great about a 740, plus some additional refinements. Of course, I /also/ have a 740 in front of the house, so...

gmctavish needs more space > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 21:44

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I just really prefer the looks of the 740, I used to hate the C pillar but it's grown on me. The front end is the main thing though. Especially with E-Codes I really prefer the 740s

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > gmctavish needs more space 03/30/2015 at 21:56

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I agree, the 740 is a little better looking, in sedan form. The wagons are interchangeable to me.

Also, my 740 after going overkill on the headlights:

gmctavish needs more space > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 03/30/2015 at 22:09

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Haha love it

Hiroku > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 04/04/2015 at 21:36

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Tailgate spoiler adds at least 50hp. I speak from experience.

Hiroku > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 04/04/2015 at 21:39

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Nice write-up!

When are you getting a 740 Turbowagon and reviewing it? I've been lusting about those for ages but no idea how they would compare to my 850 (aside from the obvious power/drivetrain differences!)

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Hiroku 04/04/2015 at 21:44

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Funny you mention that... I drove a 740 Turbo wagon through college... Then, let it go to a friend because I /thought/ I wanted an S60... Big mistake, that was. Actually, below is my old 740 wagon, parked next to the S60 that replaced it.

Hiroku > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 04/05/2015 at 07:41

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Nice! Are those original Hydra wheels? They are getting increasingly difficult to find around here, for some reason.

Why was it a mistake? Was it that worse to drive? Or did it drain your wallet?

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Hiroku 04/05/2015 at 09:47

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Yes, those are Hydras, and it was a mistake because that was probably the best car I've ever owned. At least, after I finished with it.

(Not the best one I've bought, that honor actually goes to the 940 I reviewed here...)

Hiroku > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 04/05/2015 at 16:31

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Nice! Sounds like it's just as good as I imagine it to be, then. Definitely need to get my hands in one of those. Now I'm curious though, how much of the car wasn't stock after you were "finished with it"? I'm usually like to keep my cars stock but there are definitely some small mods I'd be willing to do (my 850 could absolutely do with some better sway bars!).

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > Hiroku 04/05/2015 at 17:25

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Accumulator mod to the transmission, swapped in a 15G with a MBC set at 16psi, browntops from a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, TLAO chips (see Turbobricks for more info).... It was wicked fast in a straight line.

the_pinguin > DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully 12/14/2015 at 22:37

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Reading this just makes me regret selling it to you.