Hah! Seems like what youre saying is matching what i've been been reading. Great!

With that said, especially driving hardly 16k miles in 3 years.. I should be pretty okay with one of these! Hopfully getting rid of my honda civic and ''down grading'' to an old volvo.. YEAH RIGHT!
Well.. maybe at the pump..

 

Are you having trouble with your civic? I have owned both volvo 240s and hondas - including a '97 civic. In my opionion, if you aren't willing to turn wrenches yourself, the civic is the cheaper car to own. Of course, if your civic is 25 years old, then perhaps it is the same reliability as a 240.

On the other hand, if you are willing to learn how to work on a car, there is nothing better than a 240, 740, or 940 to learn on. Also, parts are relatively cheap.

 

Not anything unusual as far as problems I guess. But, I beleive now might be around the time at 130k miles.. I'll start having/had to take it to the shop bit more. I don't drive much, so im figuring I can get a few bucks from my honda, buy an old 240 and pocket the spare change as I hear they are extremly reliable. I'd love to learn to work on the car, but honestly.. I'd be kidding myself if I said I was going to learn and do everything myself. Working 12+ hour night shifts tends to drain ya pretty good.

 

Owning an older car, ANY older car, regardless of how reliable their reputation, IS going to require more maintenance. Since you're not mechanically inclined then you need to make sure there's an independent garage/mechanic near you that can handle anything that comes up, is familiar with it's specific systems, knows where to source parts, etc... These older cars are usually owned by the frugal car guy that likes the brand and doesn't mind, even enjoys getting a little greasy on the weekends with help from the forum

I do love my Volvo's but my heart really belongs to the old Benz's.

 

Sounds like common knowledge when buying a used vehicle.. but.. VOLVOS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT!

Well, what about the 89 for example? That car has tons of work already done, assuming it was taken care of.. Do you think i'd run into much of anything within 20k miles?
These type of questions show my experience.. I know

 

the transmission could go out tomorrow and cost $2000+ to fix at a shop.

you could blow a radiator hose, and if you don't shut it down IMMEDIATELY, blow a head gasket, and cost $1500 or more to fix at a shop.

a fuel hose could fail, the car catch on fire, and you'd be out the whole car, plus any liability from the ensuing fire burning something else down.

 

that car looks like mine i paid 300.00 for it and it was full of gas with new tires and complete brake job done last year..i have 125,000 on mine with alot of new things replaced with in the last year i bought it from a customer of mine that stored it here inside the storage facility i work for

 

126k on the honda is peanuts - of course depending on the age. Age has a lot more to do with reliability than actual miles. The honda civic I had was a '97 that I gave to my son last year and had 210k miles when I gave it to him. He drives it daily around 100 miles a day and hasn't really put much money into it. It is a stickshift though. Never even put a clutch in it.

I rarely worked on the honda. My '90 240 I work on quite often and I have a couple if items I still need to do. Blower motor is on its last legs. Rear brakes need replacing.

These volvos are durable - but at this age not necessarily reliable. They will drive a long time but you need to keep giving them tlc. If I had to take my 240 to a shop to get the work done, I would have sold it long ago and bought a honda.

 

I see. Definetly sounds about right.. I guess I got my hopes up a bit too much. Starting to run into a few problems with the honda now, maybe no so much normal at this point. I have or atleast thought I had everything covered, but now (starting yesterday) a couple days after I got a few belts tightened.. i'm sometimes shaking upon startup, and running rough temporarily untill put in drive.. which usually stops it within a few seconds. Now check engline light is on again, and a couple days ago i brought it in they said it was a false reading.. :/

Was hoping to get it patched up and sell it and get something cheaper but reliable and wouldent require much shop attention. I guess a little unrealistic eh?
Came across this aswell.. Volvo car
Still probably something I shouldent get involved with if I don't know how to work it myself.. or?

 

Body looks decent but as Pierce mentioned earlier that its hard to tell from pictures. Needs headlight lenses, turn signal lense (one is sitting on the front seat), its missing the gas cap door.

Also had head gasket replaced meaning it may have overheated. $1500 is about my top end price in buying a 20+ year old car unless it is totally immaculate. I really don't look at mileage as much as age. These engines run a very long time as long as they are treated properly. Overheating doesn't fall into that category.

On your honda, check your spark plug wires if you hadn't replaced them. My son ran into a similar problem over the winter in my old civic. Was running on 3 cylinders. We determined which cylinder it was by pulling the plugs on each injector one-by-one. As you pull them, the engine idle would change until we came to the failing cylinder. Once determined, I pulled out the spark plug wire with the engine running and noticed lots of arcing in the tube that the plugs sit in. I temporarily taped up the spark plug connector with electricians tape and the car idled fine. Then it was off to the parts store for new wires.