Sorry. My 1990 240 had airbags and abs. It also would have been easy to retrofit the doors as there was plenty of open space inside for bars and anything else you want to stiffen them(in reality, they hold up ten times better than the doors on a Dodge Neon).
"Duh" indeed. You found one 240 with 140,000 miles on it, and from that you presume that you know the going rate of every 240 in Canada. "Duh." Then you go on to posit that no one would choose a 240 if they could get a different, new kind of Volvo for only twice the price. It's a little like saying, why pay a million dollars for a Da Vinci drawing when, for only two million dollars, you can get something drawn last week? "Duh." Then you use for an example of why Volvo wouldn't bring back a new version of the 240, Volkswagen, which *did* bring back a new version of an older model of their cars. "Duh" all around, dear.
It's not just the side airbags. Volvo never built a 200 series car with SIPS.
The 240 would be a bad choice to bring back because:
- It gets lousy gas mileage (can you name another 115hp car that uses that much fuel? An 850 *turbo* will get similar gas mileage)
- It doesn't meet current emissions standards (no OBDII/EOBD)
- It doesn't meet current safety standards (no dual airbags, no SIPS, any sort of pedestrian safety standards)
- Lousy electrical system (glass fuses suck for the 13 or so fuses in a modern 240, a modern 850 has about 2-3x that, plus the 240 has relays everywhere).
- Poor soundproofing
- It's expensive to build.
I'd say bring back the 95-98 960 and/or late model 760, but offer it with the turbo 4, NA 5, and turbo six white block motors.. and ditch the sliding piston front calipers. The late model 960 has all the amenities of a modern car (nice rear suspension, nicer soundproofing, airbags, better side impact protection, better HVAC, etc). The electrical system is a lot more sane (blade type fuses, relay block, etc).
Sorry. SIPS is not about building stronger doors. There were reinforcements to the B pillar and the floor pan that could not have been retrofitted to a 240.
ABS was standard on all Volvos after 92, and I think all 240s after 90 had driver's side airbags.
People like them now because they are inexpensive, durable, and (for wagons) very good work wagons. A new one would not fulfill the "inexpensive" part of the equation -- few would be willing to pay new prices (1993 new price was around $19000, which was considerably more than typical cars like Accords, Camrys, etc.) for a 1970s design.
SUVs are the hottest thing selling, that is why Volvo now makes one.
You know why Volvo stopped making this car? Cuz it was obsolete in the market, THE MARKET dictates what manufacturers will eventually make.
Say, you know what car company still makes a body style that everyone was DICTATED to love and drive? The Russian built Lada 1600. It started life as a Fiat 124, and continued on as a Lada, dah Comrad!
That makes no sense, today's safety standards are way lower then they used to be. You run a '75 LTD into a '95 Metro guess who dies? The cafe standards imposed by the government have made today's cars smaller, lighter and much, much more dangerous.
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