I am looking for a car for my 16 year old daughter so I want to find something safe and reliable. It does not need to be fast or pretty. She bought a 92 960 but the timing belt broke and now it will cost way more to fix than it's worth. She want another Volvo and she has less than 2k to spend. I have looked at 240's, 740, 940, and 850's. Does anyone have any suggestions or advise about any of the models, pro's...con's, etc.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

 

Most of the Older Volvos are reliable cars. 240s and 740s are easier to work on, and in my opinion are a little less expensive to fix. 940s and 850s are again, my opinion a little more, but I love 850's . I think any one of those are going to be fine. Some of the older 240s might not have airbags but are still safe. Question then I would ask is how much do you want to spend for gas, insurance , airbags,etc... as some of these might be more on those for a 16 year old (insurance ),etc... I think anyone of those are great for her.

 

You must have bought a 16 valve 940 if the timing belt has caused so much damage? If so, go out and buy her a nice 740 with the single cam head. Simple, reliable and cheap to maintain/repair behicles.
The 850's tend to be a little pricier to fix although a non 16v 940 would be another good buy.
To be honest, even though these vehicles were excellent in their day for crash safety they have been surpassed by many more modern cars......

Regards, Andrew.

 

See if you can find another engine for the 960 and have it put in. Probably end up with a better car than you can get for $2K. Trying to get a reliable car for $2K is a real gamble.

 

I'm not really familiar with any of those models, I own a '98 S70 GLT, which is just an updated 850 for the most part, so I'd go with the 850.

 

Thank you to everyone for thier input. A Volvo mechanic I met suggested a 1991 740 turbo thatjust hd some work done, including a new turbo. I look forward to seeing what shape it's in.

 

I'll take any Volvo that has a turbo in it.

 

I would fix the old 960 myself.