The car in question is a Silver 1989 Volvo 240DL Wagon with the 5 speed manual transmission with 222,000 miles on it. From Craigslist it looks to be in good shape with 12 pictures and the only rust being some surface rust on the inside of the drivers side door. Vin. YV1AX8859K1828716 They're asking $1,000 for it. Anything I should be on the lookout for aside from the usual used car inspection?
Thanks!
-Luke

 

thats this car?
https://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/6008496357.html

thats not surface rust on the bottom of the door there, thats rot. probably extensive. I'd check those drain ports on all 4 doors carefully for signs of more such rot.

looks like a fair bit of rust on the undercarriage shot too, sway bar, trailing arms, exhaust system...

 

Yeah. That'd be the one. Didn't notice the sway bar rust. I had noticed the exhaust though and planned to replace it anyways. And I suppose the sway bar gives me a good excuse to get an IPD upgrade. How would one go about fixing rot or would it be better to get a new door altogether? And what part of the sub-frame specifically brings up concern? I'm looking at the 240 specifically because, to my understanding, the B230F engine is good for novice tuners and is happily quite turbocharged, and I'm looking for a resilient engine and chassis with a good aftermarket community and after browsing craigslist, I kind of fell for the idea of a fast-ish wagon.

 

yes, you can get a fair bit of power out of the old swedish brick, 250HP isn't unobtanium, thats over double the stock 115HP. BUT that will be at the expense of fuel economy, even my stock 740 turbo got at BEST 18MPG, and easily in the low teens with leadfooting, and that setup is 160HP.

note that a whole bunch of modern cars get both 200+ HP *AND* 30+ MPG without even using a charger.

 

Look at a Southwest or Southern car that is not so "crunchy" (i.e. Rusted). Mechanical things are readily fixable, rust is a major $ and time project... unless you are very handy with a torch and welding. Non rusted cars are easy to work on... The fasteners actually undo rather than snap off. It's better to start with a solid car.

There are cars on Craigslist (Tucson and Phoenix area) that are in the same mileage range, but southern cars. Most are under $2,000.