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I can feel your pain -- I gave up on my V90 (now 239K) as an everyday driver a few years ago after one of the minor parts in the rear suspension broke and took one rear axle with it (well, I had to drive it for a while before getting to a shop). It still works, and I used to drive it around plenty (the transmission just recently gave me a code and went into limp mode so I parked it for a few weeks to compose myself so to speak and figure out what to do). It will also most likely need a head gasket job at some point to get rid of the leak from the rear of the block, but so far the leak has been more annoying than urgent. Still plenty of life in it (and I took care of the HVAC issues by replacing vacuum motors together with the heater core (was just starting leaking at 234K -- not really hard but VERY time-consuming).
I'd consider seat mechanisms an easy fix: I had to replace mine on one side (junkyard part) plus a switch on the other side. Not a lot work to replace, but takes some patience and luck finding in good replacement parts (I had to buy and return two defective ones before finding a good one). Now, seat upholstery is a little tougher (or more money) unless you find a junked car with low miles in same interior color... There's a description on the web on how to actually fix the failing seat mechanisms by modifying the cables, which can be followed with a bit of patience (search for "volvo 960 seat mechanism repair" -- atthetipwebs.com), but I took the easier road by just replacing the whole mechanism.
Good luck with finding a worthy replacement; personally I wouldn't even look at the newer model Volvos except perhaps the 2008-2014 V70, but that one is still a front wheel drive isn't it. Those seem fairly rare and haven't seen that many offered for sale. Perhaps a Cadillac CTS? (RWD, sedan or wagon) :-/
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'98 965
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