my personal preference is 1990-1995 740/940 wagons, later the better.

 

I like my '93 240. I think the 240 has a more acquired taste and are better taken care of, or at least enjoyed more. The 740 and 940 owners are more main stream and own the car because they have to, and because it's cheap. I see them in student parking lots way more than 240's, so I think that would be the series to get to stand out if that's what he wants. The 740 and 940 will still prove a point though.

Oh, and this one is for you Swiftjustice... Volvo : 240 | eBay
Thought you would be interested...

 

having owned and extensively driven both.... the 740/940 has a better ride, is quieter at speed, handles better, is roomier. the 240 is more retro. the electrical wiring on the 740/940 is better organized. the ventilation system is nicer (240 fan on anything above '1' is quite noisy).

 

Oh yeah, I would love the relay setup on a 940... in fact drool over one. Okay, maybe not that much, but still, big improvement. I can only dream what a 960 feels like having heard what people say on here, and personally from another Volvo enthusiast who owned one. I do like the interior of a 740 though, but all I can speak of in terms of experience, is from a 240.

 

I feel stupid. I paid $1800 for my 1988 240 Volvo wagon A/T 239,000 miles(currently 2. I talked the guy down from $2200. The wagon is in great condition exterior/interior(-A) and mechanically(C). So far it's gone over $1000 in repairs(water pump, radiator, hoses, new A/C compressor(I live in Phoenix,AZ it's hot), transmission flush , etc.......SO YA, SOMEONE BUYING A VOLVO NEEDS TO BUDGET. I learned the hardway but hey I got my 240 wagon and it's running very good(not perfect). Im also learning so much about my volvo through you guys and the Bentley manual!!

 

Meh...don't feel stupid at all. Body work is expensive. Finding decent interior pieces now is quite difficult. All the mechanical stuff can be dealt with...either in the driveway or at the hop. You're still under 3k and sound pleased so that's the name of the game. It's perceived value. I'm an old fart and frankly, paying more than I can afford to throw away for an old car bothers me. Also, I've been very fortunate with my purchases. It's the ultimate luxury to buy a car because you want to rather than because you have to. You can low ball and walk away if they don't want to "horse trade".

 

Yep, the value of any car is in the eye of the beholder. One particular 240 may be worth $5,000 to one guy, and $500 to another. This is not to say the guy selling his at $5,000 takes better care of the car any better than the guy selling it for $500, or vice-versa. $1,800 is still way off from some of the ridiculous bids I have seen on eBay for some 240's.

 

Sorry to have been away for awhile, but I'm still looking at some used Volvos and wondered what opinions there are regarding the 850 (turbo?) and S70. There seem to be more of those locally than 240's.
One particular question: How much harder would these be for the average person (me) to work on than the older 240? I am no mechanic, but have done my share of auto work over the years.
Thanks again for any advice/opinions!

 

So far, a Haynes and Bentley repair manual helped me replace ball joints, a control arm, valve cover gasket, rear shocks, PCV, radiator hoses, air filter, distributor cap and rotor, and plugs and wires. Some of those are obvious, but they are easy to access if that is what you are concerned about. If you already have some know-how, the 240 is defiantly a car you can feel confidant working on even if you don't exactly know the exact process.

 

the 850 and especially the turbo are a much more expensive and intricate car to do anything major to. they are front wheel drive, and have a completely different ride and feel than the older RWD volvos. I have a love-hate relation with my 850 turbo wagon (which I was about to put on the market when a tree fell on it)


lets see... likes...

• fast, smooth, powerful engine
• quiet interior
• dual climate control is very effective

dislikes

• rough harsh ride
• handling is not what it should be considering how stiff it is
• low ground clearance
• lousy turning radius
• tons of interior squeaks, rattles
• expensive engine repairs

 

I don't care how good a condition the car is; if it has 300,000 miles on it, I wouldn't touch it. You can easily find a car on Craigslist for around that price which has much less mileage on it. The lower the mileage the less likely chance you'll be spending more money to keep it running. Remember most people sell their cars because they want to get rid of them, maybe it is because something is wrong with the car, maybe they are afraid something will go wrong. Most likely, a car with that many miles on it will have issues, in other words it is going to cost you more in the end. Your better off spending more money for a used car that has consistent repair and maintenance records that show that regular tune-ups and oil changes have been done, and if it is over 100,000 miles the timing belt and water pump have been changed.

Definitely don't buy a car that has a broken speedometer/odometer, you don't know how many miles are actually on the car. Don't buy a car that over heats, it could possibly have a bad thermostat or a blown head gasket.
Other then that, I would bring any car that you are considering buying into a certified mechanic and pay him a fair amount to check the car out before you buy it. Have him do a compression test, check the plugs, the radiator fluid, the transmission, the universal joints in the drive shaft if any, have him check the steering and suspension all these things ware out and can be expensive to fix. Shocks and tires are expensive enough as is. So, the least you have to repair the more comfortable and confident you will feel driving this car knowing that it is complete and will get you from point A to point B safely and soundly. Always do a a carfax.com check to see what the history of the car is, you'll be surprised at how many things people hide about a cars past. Oh, and find out how many owners have owned the car, that is important because everyone drives their cars differently, some people neglect, some people abuse and some people do care about their car and how well it looks and drives. Because this is a hard financial time for everyone in this world, most people will neglect their cars and do as little repairs or just enough to keep their cars going. So, remember that when buying a used car.

 

OK, thanks once again for all of the replies. I found a 1992 960 for $1500 and wonder what anyone thinks about that model as far as reliability and ease of repairs are concerned. Looks like it could be similar to the 850 in the expensive and intricate department. ??

 

major engine work like head gaskets are $$$$ hard on the whiteblocks. If they eat a timing belt, they almost for sure will eat the valves for $$$$. otherwise, the 960's are really nice cars. 92 was the first year, there were some teething problems with the timing belt on the first couple years, I'd say find a 94+ where this was mostly sorted. absolutely ONLY buy a 960 thats been really well maintained and babied.

 

Thanks Pierce. This one is from a dealer so they probably don't know much about its history I'd bet. I think I'd be better off with a 240, for the simplicity aspect.
Speaking of history, is there a way to get a free VIN report? Every site I looked at promised free stuff, but none delivered.

 

carfax used to be the deal, for some reasonable fee, you could look up a fair number of VINs over a 90 day period. but now its more expensive and only allows a rather limited number of lookups :-/

 

OK, here's the next car I've found: 1988 Volvo 740 Sedan - $900.
Don't know anything about it yet, but wanted to get opinions regarding reliability, bugs, ease and cost of repairs, etc. How does it compare to a 240?
Also found a 1986 with 100k.

 

excellent 740 buyers guide here: Buying a Used 7xx/9xx

my take:

• the 740's have the same basic engine as the 240's, optional turbo, optional 16V/DOHC.
• the 740 chassis, IMHO, has better ride and handling than the 240, it has a wider wheelbase.
• its a roomier car, the wagons are huge inside. Properly setup, they handle big loads.
• 740/940 Wagon, with the Volvo dog gate, is the perfect dog carrier.
• 1988 should be after the biodegradable wiring that plagued early 80s 240/740s'
• 1988 has the (slightly) simpler LH2.2 fuel injection... which doesn't have the diagnostics that the LH2.4 had from 89 or 90 and forward.
• any car that old might have a lot of things that can go. radiators, hoses, water pump, thermostat, the heater core... all easy to self repair. the suspension bushings get tired, fuel pumps wear out. alternator, etc etc etc. you want a car thats been well maintained. our 240 has 400,000 miles on it and is still running strong.
• 740 Turbo have significantly more pookah, a heavy duty transmission, with a transmission cooler, bigger radiator, etc. Turbo has more parts to fix (but really isn't that bad), much more low end torque, lousy gas mileage (18/22MPG).
• 16 valve DOHC engines have nearly as much power as the turbo, but you have to rev them higher (they have lower gearing), on the DOHC if the timing belt breaks, you'll probably have to fix the head and valves (they hit the pistons).

I bought a $1200 1992 (last year) 740 turbo wagon in January with 190000 miles, and have been slowly fixing it up. The 91/92 740's are identical to stripped 940's of the same years.



I've had to replace the intank fuel pump, and the head gasket was marginal when I bought it, and it let go on me, so had to be replaceda couple months ago. there was no further damage, so all is good now. when I bought it, it had two rather badly bent rims and 4 bald tires, so I bought the hydra wheels off craigslist or sbricks or something and put 4 michelins on it. the interior is in great shape, except the drivers seat leather is shot, I haven't fixed that yet. I put a trailer hitch on it (the 740 can tow max 3500 lbs). I bought but haven't installed bilstein touring shocks, wagon overload springs, ipd sway bars and a lower front brace, and some bushings I want to replace. Eventually I want to add good front door speakers (its got a decent JVC CD player). this 740 I have is a base model, although it has leather seats and a sunroof, the seats are manual, the heater/AC is manual, there's no cruise control.

 

Thanks again, Pierce. You are a wealth of information.
I think it would be great if you just sold me your 740!

 

oh. the 740's have quieter/better ventilation too. fan on our 240 was noisy when it was brand new at any speed above '1' (it wasn't that quiet at '1').

the 760/940SE/960 are even nicer, both the AC/ventilation and the ride (they have more soundproofing). 760 turbos and 940se are the same turbo-4 as the 740 turbos, with an upscale interior, while the regular 760 only came with a "PRV" 2.8L V6, and the 960 has a beautiful-but-expensive-to-maintain 2.9L straight 6 'whiteblock'

if I had my choice I'd be looking for a low mileage clean 94/95 940 turbo wagon. the 94/95 turbos have improved piston lubrication, and the last 2 years have pretty much every other little improvement they made over the 10 year life cycle of the model series. For some reason, on this last couple years, only SOME of the turbos say 'Turbo' on the back, others are a lesser equipped version but with the same engine/transmission.

 

I just paid $2000 for my 94 940 non-turbo (talked the guy down from $2400) and I wanted to get it for a little less but the guy had really taken good care of it. It has 224k miles on it but 8 months ago he had the timing belt, water pump, suspension, tires and all fluids changed. He only used Volvo parts for everything and aside from some minor interior parts it all works. The body is in good shape and overall the car drives well. It was worth paying for a car that has had most of the work done. I could have bought an 83 240 wagon for $800 but I would have spent more than 1200 to get it in the shape that mine is in.

I have looked at a lot of cheap Craig's list cars and if you wait patiently you can find a good one every so often.