I commented about the 6-cylinder volvos. We had a '97 S90 (which is a
960) --- beautiful car, nice size, rwd, etc., however, it had a 6-cylinder
engine, no turbo --- this was before they started adding the twin turbo to
it on the S80s. The engine performed well at the low end of the power
curve --- great pick-up from a standing stop --- but trying to get it to
accelerate quickly at the higher end of the power curve, well there wasn't
anything there. We had a near-incident where we needed to get out of the
way quickly while running at about 60 MPH --- so when I pushed the
accelerator to the floor to get a jump to 80 or so, absolutely nothing
happened (we were able to avoid an accident by veering around awkwardly
since we couldn't accelerate past it).
We loved that car, but became very aware of its lack of power when needed,
and switched it out for an S70 with a high-pressure turbo.
We also still have a '91 940 turbo(the tried and true 4 cylinder engine),
which has held up extremely well and has more power than that 6-cylinder S90
ever had. Best car Volvo ever made!
Beyond that, Volvo used the 6-cylinder with a turbo in the S80 and several
other models , and even that didn't work out very well. This last year,
they dropped that 6-cylinder from all models that had it, and now have just
introduced a new 6-cylinder that seems much better.
All that, FWIW.
