Bill--I have two 97 wagons, and installed cabin filters in each one. The cabin air filter is on the outside of the car, under the foot-wide black plastic shroud that juts out from the firewall, on the passenger side of the car. You don't have to remove the windshield wipers or all of the torx screws to get at it, but you do have to disconnect the one-inch plastic drain pipe that connects to the shroud on that side. Undo two or three torx screws, lift up that end of the shroud, and peer back under. If all you see is a curved hole doing down into the passenger compartment, you don't have a filter. You do have to buy a filter holder, remove the curved plastic opening (it just pops loose) and install your new filter holder. There are two kinds of filters you can get from Volvo--a white paper one that is relatively cheap, and the more expensive activated charcoal one. Get the activated charcoal filter. It will stop all those noxious odors from coming into your car, particularly when the catalytic converter on the car ahead of you is burned out.

If you have time, remove the entire black plastic shroud, which means also disconnecting the drain pipe on the driver's side. Both are held in place by a clamp whose ends you squeeze together with a pair of pliers. Run a stick or something down through them to make sure they are not plugged. Leaves and the like get into them. Remove the whole shroud and clean under it and the lower edge of your windshield. There is a piece of molding that fits along the edge of the windshield and which the back edge of the shroud slips in to. The molding is not glued on or anything, and easily comes off, letting you clean the lower edge of your windshield. You have to remove both windshield wipers though to take the shroud off. Again, not a biggy. Note the two tiny white dots on the bottom of the windshield. These are where your blades should rest when you screw the wipers back in place. Dick