Advice on buying an older Volvo

It's interesting that they have maintained a strong reputation among many people, even though they are often a world of trouble.

If you are not a hobbiest with a good shop and plenty of money, stay away! Even routine stuff is very expensive. The very fact that you mentioned money at alll indicates to me that you are in for disappointment. The only thing that that might work is a VERY old 240 or some such, manual shift, carb model. This is something that you can work on, but even so it's still a money hog for parts.

I have an old corolla with 170K that runs like new. A buddy has an older one with 270K. How about a Nissan or Mazda pickup...simple and easy to work on and you can carry more papers!

OR an old Voyager. Even with a $1500 tranny, they are cheap. My 1990 has

203K and burns NO oil. It did have the tranny at 175K.

The Volvo stories are interesting, and probably mostly true, but I'd bet the owners have paid plenty for routine and serious maintenance.

My son's 240 SW has had two crankshaft position sensors, a whole new rear end ($700), and it's under 150K. My mother had a 940 of 960 sedan, which ate an engine AND tranny before 125K. And she is in her 70's and hardly leaves the city!

I'd love a Jag V-12, and could afford it, but fun is just not worth the headaches. Buy something cheap and simple, run it until there is a killer repair, and then start again. Sell all the papers you can and invest most of the money. You'll then have a happier life and can take care of yourself when the time comes.

More than you wanted to know, but I've been there!

You can still get 100,000 mile medallions.

They don't even hand out mileage medalions anymore

Just got my 100,000 mile medallion today!!! '92 960 Wagon

Larry Combs The Gar Hole Brewery LA (Lower Arkansas)

The best predictor of reliability of a used car is the book value. If a used car has a low book value it is because they are having trouble selling them. If a used car has a high book value, it is because they know its reputation is such that they can get that kind of money for that mode.

Having said that, the price of a particular car is not a guarantee of quality. Individual cars can be lemons. Even Volvos. I love Volvos and have had good luck, but I have several friends who dumped relatively new Volvos because they had problems (especially electrical problems) that Volvo dealers were spending much time and money trying to fix.

"Your mileage may vary."

I've gotta agree, the highest mileage I've seen in the last 3 years of pick a part crawling is 603XXX on a honda civic, wouldn't have noticed it except it was the closest car with all its windows during a shower. Dave Shannon snipped-for-privacy@cox.net (Spring Valley CA)

1988 240 DL 18X,XXX 1985 240 Ti 20X,XXX 1984 245 DL 20X,XXX 1984 245T 19X,XXX '01 Jeep Wrangler Sahara 10K

But note that heavy fleet use tends to depress used car values. Also, perceived quality and reliability based on name plate may have an impact. Compare the Chevrolet Prizm to the Toyota Corolla (only cosmetically different, built in the same factory), for example.

Those old Toyota trucks really are excellent, the drivetrain is probably comparable to Volvo, the interior does feel a bit cheaper though and the safety isn't there but they're good trucks.

There's something wrong there, we've got 7 older Volvos in the family, nearly all with over 200k on them and they hardly ever need anything at all. Most of the money I spend on mine goes to making them nicer, not fixing things that break. My broke friend got a 740 GLE about a year ago and the only thing that's happened to it so far is the spring on one of the door hinges broke, new hinge was $5 from a junkyard. If you avoid the dealerships and shop around for parts they're no more expensive than most other cars, and they're much easier to work on too.

Really? Heh. The local dealers don't carry them.

Pretty much agree w/ James. Not surprising that a kid could trash a rear end or an older driver could burn up an engine and transmission

-- just keep driving it after pegging the temp indicator or breaking a timing belt. Our five 240s have over one million miles. Semi-retired '87 w/

300K has a rebuilt trans (at 150K) due to 100+ degree summer conditions and operator error. It survived many teen mishaps and should pass upcoming state inspection. Another has a replacement engine because a former owner ignored temp gage and kept driving. Once had to replace a steering rack (on a formerly owned '78) but I'll take responsibility there. Have had to replace a couple air mass meters ($$) and rebuilt an AC system w/ some new parts ($$$). Blower motors sometimes makes noise ('87 has been screaming for 6 years but still functions), and rear seals will leak, but nothing terrible. The 240 engines are built to such tolerances that can run on a quart or two of oil w/o damage (just don't do it intentionally). Good shocks/struts last 60K easily. Paint looks good forever if half maintained. Have never replaced an alternator. Have 220K miles on an original clutch. True cost of a car is average cost to operate (including depreciation) over a longer period of time and cost of a 240 is very low, especially considering safety factor. Buying used can be tricky since "bargains" often have a lot of deferred maintenance (which is OK if you know what you are getting into). Unless you really know what you're doing, probably much, much cheaper in the long run to pay at high end of book value for one that has been properly serviced and cared for than going for the "dime in the urinal."

I appreciate these good experiences, but I don't understand them. Of course we are talking statistics, so we have to remember that there is a wide range of performance.

My 240 ate clutch cables, at $80 each, when I was making $9K/yr. That was Volvo replacement, but not well made. My mothers car was a used creampuff from a friend, Volvo maintained. Wouldn't get out of its own way, ate engine, ate tranny, went to a friends boneyard to feed his driver.

The son's s/w was a dealer pampered creampuff, but developed screaming rear end anyway. Replacement required a cat fight to collect on warranty sold by dealer and cost nearly $1K. This one is driven by his timid wife. Anyway, the auto tranny doesn't deliver enough torque to damage anything!

My advice to the poster had as much to do with potential repair liability as with actual performance. It doesn't sound like he is a gearhead who can do a lot for himself, so junkyard crawling is probably not in his cards. Our mechanic, who is good, won't let a Volvo in the door and the Volvo mechanics, even non-dealer, are usually snotty and expensive. When CrapMaster has a load of papers to get out, he'll be behind the 8Ball with only these people to lean on and they'll probably fry him.

OK, that's my two cents worth. Cheap, common, simple, seems to be the formula I like, especially when money is better spent on beer than on cars. I even liked my Taurus!

You can go to ownerconnection.com and sign up for the high mileage club. Eventually, they will send you one if you report enough mileage.

one of the few Japanese cars i have heard good things about were the trucks...i agree...i was commenting on (that "i don't hear of too many > 200k mile Japanese's cars around" ) a sedan more comparable to the volvo line of autos, not volvo trucks or suv's...although i would like to spend some time driving their trucks.......go scoop me up some dirt.....

anyway, sure there were a few good Japanese's cars & trucks...but believe me...turn some wrenches on both, (for say, at least 25 hours) and you can see the difference in engineering, materials, and fasteners....

What the local dealer should carry is the application you send in to get the medallion. You can also get the medallions on line.

actually Toyota dealers may do a better job of keeping them on the road than Chevy dealers. There may be a real difference when they reach the used car market.

One example of this is that a car that has one problem is more likely to have other unrelated problems than a car that didn't have a problem. The reason is the act of servicing a car reduces its reliability. Apparently colateral damage is the reason. Obviously the techniques of the mechanic are an important factor. A mechanic that doesn't specialize on a particular model will be more likely to cause colateral damage.

Clutch cables are really consumables, IMO, kind of like distributor caps and such - every so often they need replacement. This is part of the huge price savings on a manual transmission - roughly $300-350 for a clutch job and maybe $100 a year in maintainence vs nothing until it breaks and then "OMG - $1400???".

If you were only making 9K a year - consider yourself lucky. My sister's Buick LeSabre eats at least $1000 a year in maintainence. A computer module? $200 here. Engine mounts. A/C. Radiators. Alternators. Tires - batteries and such not included.

Ate tranny and low HP - well, they are not 850 turbos, afterall, though stick does help.

So - gosh - easy to get a new rear diff. I spent $650 on new brakes for my beater Buick last spring. If $1K is all it needs every few years, you're not talking about major money.

FYI - Payments on a Focus run about $250 a month. In four months of payments, you've paid for a year's repair on that old Volvo or a new clutch and tires, or that rear diff or... The Older vehicle is fine for the rest of the year and you still have 8 more payments on that new one($2000).

If you want cheap and simple, that 2K or more a year you save(closer to

3.5K on a S40) buys a lot of repairs. In fact, you could buy an old vehicle every year for $3K for ten years and come out ahead after you factor in registration fees(high on a new car - mine is $52 a year!), taxes, and interest on the loan.

I've had four cars in the last ten years:

1975 164E 1988 Dodge Colt(ecch, but free) 1987 Buick LeSabre(pampered father's car) 1990 Volvo 240

The 164E was the most frugal to keep running, followed by the 240. The Buick is the backup car(wife is learning to finally drive, too), but it does cost about $500-1000 a year in repairs. Grrr.

That 164E - put $2000 into it in three years I owned it, including a new transmission, gas, oil changes, tires, and everything else, including registration and such. Just ran and ran and ran.

The 240 needed a new Cat converter and O2 sensor. Put new tires on it and well - $19.95 for an oil change in the last four months.

So does it look odd to have 100K, 200K and 300K, or is it more proper to just display the highest one? My 240 has 230K on it, so it's just getting "broke in".

I'm sorry Wilson,m I thought you were making some valid points...... until you said you liked a Taurus!

That volvo had a full engine rebuild at 680K :-)

WIth regular oil changes and plenty of good long runs any engine can do big miles.