What is the most reliable Volvo?

 

I would have to say that a new car is more reliable than an older car.

 

The old 240s (not listed). I've seen these dinosaurs chug through the auction lanes with half a million miles on 'em. Of what you have listed the 700 series are the highest mileage Volvos I see at the auctions.

 

When you say the "700 series are the highest mileage", how many miles are we talking about? How many miles are they capable of?

What is the maximum amount of mileage a 700 series has done?

 

I've routinely seen these with 300k+ on them. Not an expert by any means, and new to Volvo, so I just recently started noticing.

As far as how many they're capable of, I don't know. I work a second job for a used car lot. I just pay attention when cars go through the auction lanes.

 

My 740 GLE had over 400,000 on it when I sold it to a single mom for $7.34. The car looked like it had 70k on it. I would guess that I put less than $2,000 into it in repairs in 17 years. However, I did not allow anyone to touch wires under the hood because of the wire harness issues with that year car. The 4 cylinder motors last longer than the 6 cylinder motors found in the 760's.

I can honestly vouch for any Volvo built pre 2000. They hold up really well and the 5 cylinder motor can go 500k if kept to the maintenance schedule. I think the 960 is the best car Volvo ever made if you like larger cars and the T-5's in the S70 - 850's are probably the funest. However as with all FWD cars the suspension takes a beating when driver on rough roads.

I believe any car will go 200,000 with good maintenance and Volvo's will go 300,000 easy. Now for the condition, looks, and other things like seat wear, options working, and moldings still in place, Volvo's will hold up better than other cars. You can find that almost all 20 year old Volvo's in junk yard, back yards, etc. are in pretty good shape with buttons, *****, etc still in tack and working. While other cars experience more "falling apart". Most Volvo's leave the road because of neglect and people just stop maintaining them, then when a timing belt breaks and the cost of repair is more than the value of the car, they bail, which I can't blame them for doing. However, if they would have simply kept the car service like they would a newer car, they would not have the problem. I watched a guy kill a 960 with 260k on it because the would not replace the radiator and kept trying to fill the thing with water. One night he thought he could go that last couple of miles without filling with water and it over heated and cracked the block. Senseless if you ask me. If you can't afford a $165 radiator you simply can't afford to drive.

 

Yeah, as for the 240's... https://volvoforums.com/forum/genera...0-value-55562/

Don't know if any major work was done on this car though...

 

Most 740's and 240's had the same engine. Volvo has been using that basic motor for 30 years. It's iron clad.

 

Part of my point when I mentioned these. They're simple enough to work on that they're deemed worth the effort to fix. I assume anything with more than half a million miles on it has had some major work at some point in its past.

Not even a car I like the look of, but I'm thinking of picking one up as a winter beater. Brick outhouse construction is hard to turn up my nose at.

 

yea it looks like to me the older they are the more reliable of a machine they are? Is that not correct? why is this? how come as the years go bye these things dont last as long?

 

The most reliable Volvo is the one maintained properly.

 

Except for the 1999 S80, right?

 

You are correct. The worse car Volvo ever built.

 

not just 99 but 2000 as well but still major money makers so i cant complain.

 

I really like my 1982 Volvo Glt. I had a similar one a few decades ago when I was in University and these older cars just keep on truckin' ... they are really quite amazing. My current car is just over 30 years old. The body also doesn't rust like some other cars I have had. I had a Karman Ghia and with a rebuilt engine it was great but the rust everywhere on the car .... omg, what a nightmare! My volvo, except for a few surface scrathes, looks very good.