At $9,900, Is This 1994 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon a Sweet Swede?

Boxing Day may be over two months away, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate the boxy efficiency of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Volvo. Let’s see if we can also appreciate what buying it should cost.

I think we all tend to get tired of the old same-‘ol, same-‘ol that can creep into our daily lives. That’s why yesterday’s cheeky 2003 Volkswagen Beetle S pickup conversion initially felt like such a breath of fresh air. At least it did to me.

For many of you, however, its $19,500 price tag arrived like a stale old fart, wafting through the nostrils and sticking like rancid peanut butter to the roof of the mouth. Yuck! That lingering malodor resulted in an 85 percent No Dice loss for the custom Vee Dub.

Maybe today’s 1884 Volvo 940 Turbo wagon will prove a more pleasing experience. After all, it’s even more practical, and a whole lot cheaper than yesterday’s Beetle. One of the pleasing features of this 940 is its odometer reading. Volvos of this era and earlier are well known for laying down the miles, but this one says it’s only done a mere 70K. That’s like kiddie pool laps for a car like this.

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Now, Volvos of this era are also known for having broken odometers and the seller does state in the ad that: “The six-digit odometer shows 70k original miles,” not that the car has that few. Whether that number was fixed at some point, leaving the odometer in stasis, while the true mileage has continued to grow will have to be determined in a test drive. If accurate, though, that 70K is damn low for what this car is likely capable of.

Perhaps reflective of the low miles, the car looks to be in great shape. Based on the pictures in the ad, its metallic green paint could stand a buff but otherwise looks serviceable and suffering from only a couple of obvious door dings. The black rubber bumper caps show no signs of scuffing or other issue and the lights all look intact and unmarred. The only notable complaints on the outside are a bit of rubber trim detaching from the rear hatch and a missing center cap on one of the alloy wheels in one of the pics. By the way, I once had a V90 with these same wheels and they are a hassle to keep clean.

More evidence of light use is present in the cabin. The car is trimmed in cloth upholstery which tends to be more forgiving of age and wear than the leather Volvo was using at the time. The only problems inside the car are the woeful fading of the factory floor mats and the lack of a third-row seat.

These cars are much smaller in person than they let on to be in pictures, actually being shorter and narrower than today’s Toyota Camry, making it all the more remarkable how much space the Volvo’s interior affords. Having the third row makes this a seven-seater, which is quite the feat considering the car’s overall size.

Power comes from Volvo’s venerated B23FT “Red Block” turbo 2.3-liter four. In this model, that engine claimed 162 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque. Backing that up is an Aisin AW71 four-speed automatic driving the live rear axle.

The ad doesn’t give us details on the present condition of the mechanicals, but the under-hood shot does show an engine compartment that looks to have received a good bit of spit polish and shows no sign of any monkey business. In the seller’s defense, the ad does note a fresh set of 15-inch Delinte tires. That’s a brand I’ve never heard of but is apparently part of the Sentury Tire brand.

A clean title wraps up this 940’s bona fides and sets us next to looking at its $9,900 asking price. Now, these 900-series wagons, along with their 700-series predecessors are cherished by Volvo aficionados. Many also tend to be driven into the ground by people who own them but don’t really care about them. That means finding one in this nice shape is a bit of a coup. Could it really be worth that much money, though?

What do you say? Is this tidy but two-row Volvo worth that $9,900 asking? Or, is that just way too much for so Vanlig Janna a wagon?

You decide!

San Diego, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!

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