I'm second in line for a beater...hoopty...600 dollar car.

Are the vw turbodiesel engines "rare" in the 740...after 30 years?

 

yeah, I hardly ever see *any* Volvo diesel. Lots of Mercedes W123 240D, 300D's but few if any Volvos.

 

This is a VW motor Volvo used back when... Rare for a good reason.
These old diesels spew something like 1,000 times the pollution of a modern engine, in case you care... They are banned in Europe unless fitted with expensive soot filters. This goes for the old Mercedes diesels as well...

The diesels do get better economy, 10-20%, but considering the cost of the fuel, relative scarcity, the smell, the noise, the crappy performance, and the fact that parts and labor are much costlier, old diesels are really a bad deal, not even counting the huge environmental cost...