Buying a 740
 

Hi,

New here and would like some advise.

I am thinking of buying a Volvo 740 GL from 1991, it has done about 155000 miles in total but the engine was renewed and did about 9000 miles since then.

It looks in good shape overall, some pics:

View image: volvo 740 rural 1
View image: volvo 740 rural 6
View image: volvo 740 rural 4
View image: volvo 740 rural 5
View image: volvo 740 rural 3

Is it worth buying this car to use as a daily driver?

It looks in decent shape. What I tend to look at when buying a used car are the following:
If there are any leaks from the engine oil, transmission and coolant leaks.
Tires
Body condition (noticed a small rust spot on the passenger side)
Test drive the car (looking for shifting quality and any engine problems and any suspension/steering issues)
Interior condition
Wiring (I have seen a few cars come into the college auto shop that are a complete "WTF, how does this still run?")
Just take some of those into consideration. How much is the seller asking?

Looks good, but when you say "renewed" do you mean a tune-up, rebuild?

I'd look into that, B23s don't normally need re-builds until...a million miles I guess?

Get records, get a test drive, check the tires, exhaust, rust, then get back and I will be able to provide better answers.

Rough, rusty, $500 worth.

my prime concerns are body condition, interior condition, transmission, and steering/suspension. engines can be fixed and/or swapped readily. transmissions can be swapped too (usually too expensive to repair). a trashed interior is forever.

I note a few minor dent/creases on the right rear quarter panel, if that doesn't bother you, fine.

not applicable here, but avoid the biojunk wiring years of 1981-1987 in all volvos.

Thanks for the comments and advise.

The seller wants around $450 for it.

Tomorrow I am going together with a mechanic to check it out. If everything turns out OK I guess I'll have a "new" car ;)

For $450 I'd buy it sight unseen! The 740 is one of the most trouble-free and reliable models and simple to work on, once you're used yo Volvo's idiosyncrasies. I bought my 1992 740 wagon 6-1/2 years ago for $750 with 472,000 klicks on it and it now has 506K on it (I'm retired and don't drive to work anymore). The engine does not use any appreciable amount of oil between oil changes. Only maintenance it's needed from me is brakes, fuel pump, rear shocks, hanger bearing, a ball joint and return fuel line. When I bought it, it required a timing belt and water pump. If your's needs all that, it's still a good buy for $450.

and I paid $1200 for my 92 740 turbo wagon, which had an excellent condition body, decent interior except the front seats were worn out, well maintained running gear except the head gasket was known to be on its way out (but new radiator, all hoses in good shape, etc etc etc). scored some new front seats from a 960 that were the right color grey for the interior, they bolted right up. drove it a year before that head gasket finally went and got that fixed. spent too much money on renewing the suspension bits because I wanted it to drive like a new car. I've since put about 50k miles on it.