I'm looking to buy my first Volvo & need some advice. What these cars worth?

https://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/4964260207.html

Are these guys out of their mind or is this 240 anywhere close to being worth this much?

Used 1993 Volvo 240 Base Wagon For Sale in Chicago | Serving Skokie & Oak Park | YV1AW8808P1946934

Thanks for your input.

 

$5000 is top dollar for a 240 but that wagon looks like NEW. unblemished front seats, from the pics the interior and exterior look perfect, and ridiculous low miles (our 1987 240 has about 500,000 miles on it.

and that silver 740 looks like a well maintained solid car for $1500. frankly, that would be my choice, the 740 is a better car than a 240, but a 240 has more hipster appeal due to its retro body shape (essentially its a 1960s design updated slightly in the 80s)

the real answer to the question 'what is something worth?' is, what is someone willing to pay for it?

 

Thanks Pierce for your advice. Maybe I need to tell everyone what I have in mind. I'm looking for a wagon that I can drive back and forth from Indiana to Florida 2-3 times a year for a couple of years until I move down permanently. Am I crazy to think I can buy a car of this age for long distance trips like this? I really need the load space of a wagon but the options are limited & I can't stomach the thought of buying a minivan.

 

I'd have no problems doing that in my 1992 Volvo 740 wagon, but I've had it for a few years and have it completely sorted out. these things are about the simplest cars in the world to work on, and as long as maintenance hasn't been neglected, will go a half million miles. the sorts of things that might fail tend to be stuff like rubber hoses, and of course, regular wear items like brake pads. They don't have a lot of horsepower (standard non-turbo 240/740 is like 115 HP) but they can go all day long, albeit they won't win any races. that 740 wagon, with the back seat folded down is cavernous inside, 70" long on the flat floor, 48" wide at the narrowest. they carry more than a lot of SUV's. I have overload springs on teh back of mine and I can really load it down.

example: camping gear, and all my astronomy equipment, loaded for a week long road trip...

 

there's a 3rd seat under the rear deck, which I remove for more stowage,

 

Great photo.
The load space of that 740 & the price has really got me leaning towards it. I'm not afraid of working on cars especially if they are simple. The simplicity of the Volvos is another thing I find attractive about them. My current project is a 1956 Olds Super 88 that had been sitting for 36 years. It's now a great running & driving car. I have done all the work myself so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty.
I know the old saying "A car is only worth what someone will pay for it". But in your mind is $1,500 for the one I posted in craigslist a good, average or high price. I know it's all hypothetical considering you haven't seen or driven the car. I'm planning on going to see it tomorrow if I can.

 

I paid $1200 for mine knowing it had a bad head gasket, bad tires, and 2 bent wheels. but the prices on these things in California tends to be high, plus I just plain couldn't find ones that weren't trashed inside and out for sale. the body was clean, the car had been well maintained, had a new radiator etc, just a known-to-be-weak head gasket from a overheating event (blown heater hose) and the owner was tired of the maintenance.

in addition to the head gasket, I had to replace the in-tank fuel pump (there are two fuel pumps on Bosch injected cars, but that 740 in your picture is a Regina car, I can tell from the ignition coil, those only have a single fuel pump). I chose to replace all the suspension bushings to tighten the ride up (probably overkill to replace more than a couple worn ones) and put all new ball joints, steering tire rod ends, bilstein shocks, and overload springs on the rear, also IPD antisway bars as I drive quite a bit on mountain roads. I replaced the 4 door speakers with JL Audio component speakers (squeezing 6.5" into the front doors, just barely got them in), a good stereo... I also had to replace the drivers window regulator as it was getting really slow and not sealing properly, but thats over the last 4.5 years of daily driving.

oh, somewhere in there, I did a full brake job with new Brembo rotors front and rear, and new PBR pads.

 

So I take it that if the car runs & drives well, and all the system seem to be in good working condition $1,500 in not too much. I would still try for less, I know from watching the ads he has already reduced the price $250.

 

$1500 seems to be the going rate for these cars here in the midwest. I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and watch CL and that seems to be a fair price if there are no major items that need work. You might expect to put another $500-$1000 to make it a real solid daily driver but if you do the work yourself you can do it cheaper. The $4999 car seems a bit high even though it seems to be rust-free. Rust and interior condition are the two things to keep an eye out for. Anything mechanical is worth fixing as these cars last a good long time. A decently maintained engine can last over 500k miles and a decently maintained automatic transmission will last upwards of 300k miles.

 

assuming no major rust underneath i would buy that silver wagon on CL for 1500 in one second...

 

I paid $1200 for my '89 740 and $1150 for my '92 940 here in central Ohio. I've spent about $650 in parts on each of them over the last 2-3 year's.

If I could I'd buy the 740 for $1500. The 240 is kinda pricy but it's at a dealership.

 

again, that 240 presents in the advert like a new car. look at those front seats. 85000 miles is like barely broken in. my biggest concern would be if its been sitting in a garage for 20 years undriven, then got taken out and detailed... all the rubber and fluids could be bad

 

Hello Sam,

I have to concur with Pierce and others who have chipped in their opinion. I currently drive a '95 940T wagon. Last summer I drove from Montreal to western Canada (about 5000 miles round trip) without a worry. Loaded down with my two sons and luggage and pushing headwinds through North Dakota and running the AC taxed out the engine somewhat but that was the only issue. Easy to work on although I save the heavy repairs for my local mechanic. The 740 looks reasonably priced and if you can get a serivce history that is very helpful. I bought mine from the original owner and he kept everything including the bill of sale. I'd consider purchasing another one if I could find one as mine has seen some heavy salt from wintery roads and showing signs of rust.

 

I didn't get to go see it today due to work and rain. I really hate looking at a car for the first time standing in the rain. I did talk to the owners father that sounded like he knew as much about the car as his son since he had done some of the work to it. As for service records they didn't have much other than they ran a Carfax before they bought it. No collision & 4 previous owners. One tidbit was the odometer wasn't working when they bought it but they got it working so the mileage is unknown. The other thing is he stated that there is rust around the windshield. I'm going to go see & drive the car maybe tomorrow but I'm thinking I would rather have a car with more of a history & good service records. I'm in no hurry so this may not be the car for me but I still want to see it.

 

The odometer seems to be a common problem on these cars. The cars are really durable and it isn't uncommon to see them on the road with 300,000 + miles on them. The odometers however seem to have been designed for a car built to last 100,000.