This is the 1994 Volvo 940 Turbo that I’ve owned since 2017 and it’s both amazing and horrible. I bought it because I didn’t want to daily-drive a stripped-out first-gen Miata through another winter and I had always wanted a turbo Volvo wagon.
Even though it wasn’t the best financial decision — I hadn’t sold the Miata, and didn’t for a very long time — I flew down to Tennessee sight unseen to buy it and drove it back up to Michigan the same day with no issues.
After half a year of daily driving it, including through a horrible Michigan winter, I made the awful decision to lower it on super stiff springs, absolutely ruining the ride.
I also straight-piped it, so it’s extremely loud and obnoxious. Exactly how I wanted it to be.
For having 230,000 miles it’s in pretty good shape, although a bunch of stuff doesn’t work like the sunroof and the power seats. The speedo also stopped working and I don’t know why.
The awesome turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four feels great and the car’s a lot quicker than people expect, plus it has been really reliable. Except for when it would never start if the temperature went below 36 degrees, which is a problem in Michigan.
It’s endlessly practical. I moved apartments using it and have transported all manner of things — it’s also extra storage space for things I can’t fit in my apartment, like a second set of tires.
I’ve road tripped it to Philadelphia for Radwood and it’s really comfy on long highway slogs. It gets worse fuel economy than a V8-powered BMW 8 Series, though.
It’s also pretty beat up. The paint looks like garbage, it’s missing a front turn signal, there’s a bunch of random scrapes and dents. But there’s no rust!
I really love this car, but I also hate it. It’s perfect.
