1993 Volvo 940 S Wagon review from North America

We have had to replace the radiator, which is normal for these cars.

We have gone through 3 water pumps, all of which have failed while driving causing over heating.

Seats look horrible. I've seen seats in much better condition with more than 130,000 miles. 128,000 miles is relatively low for a 13 year old vehicle as well.

Gas gauge sender unit in vehicle failed. Almost $500.00 to fix.

I have 2 dome lights fail to do a faulty circuit boards that would short out. This caused "Fuse 5" to blow every fuse immediately and there are many accessories powered by Fuse 5.

Front drivers side door panel is puckering out causing speaker grille to not fit on tabs and gaps between the door frame.

A deer was hit going about 35 MPH, and the airbag didn't deploy. No one hit the steering wheel, but it makes me wonder if it'll deploy at when its really needed, or maybe when its not. The deer hit in the bumper/crushed the front of the hood/grill/left headlight.

The AC no longer works. It may just need refrigerant, but the compressor doesn't ever cycle on. I haven't actually taken a look at that yet, but it hasn't worked in over a year.

This car has been fairly reliable. I guess I could call most of the problems minor, although still in a large number and quite annoying.

This car wants to make me feel safe, but because of the deer episode described above, I'm not sure if it is. The car did take a lot of the impact when the deer was hit, making it feel very sturdy, but there was no airbag deployment, which I would think anything hitting the front at 35mph should deploy them. I've read a lot that they will sometimes deploy by just hitting someone going slower than 10 MPH!

The performance of the car is absolutely horrid. Slow is an understatement.

I can't remember the comfort of the car when we first got it, but now its very bad. It is very noisy making it hard to talk to anyone in the car. There is a lot of wind noise and creaks and squeaks. The ride comfort is also bad. It doesn't seem to soak up any bumps, making the already "rattly" interior, even worse. I find some of the ergonomics not very good either. As with all European cars, the cup holders are horrible. You can't put a cup in the front cup holders before you put down the parking break, otherwise you either can't put the parking break off, or your drink won't fit at all. The radio controls are also hard to use without having to look for too long to find the button you want.

Overall, this will be my last Volvo. The reliable has been so-so, and for its time it was a safe car. By todays standards, most cars are as safe as Volvo's were once claimed to be, and are more reliable.