Good used Volvo?

Hello,

Looking into getting a cheap used Volvo.

I saw some 740s, 940s and 240s for about $4000 (CDN). Most in the 80s
- 86-89s

I am looking for ones minimals rust and genearlly good performance for
a car that age.

What sort of KM (or miles) should I be looking at. An non-turbo is
300 000 km too high? Electrical in Volvos supposedly is shaky - true?
That sort of stuff...

What models had problems in the era?

Any comments or suggestions would be welcomed!

Thanks,

Tmuld.

 

There's a few FAQ's out there. I wouldn't pay much attention to the milage,
it doesn't really matter, the important thing is how well it was maintained
over the years. It's a good idea to have a mechanic inspect the car before
you buy it, compression test, have a look at the suspension bushings, and
poke around for signs of neglect. A well maintained car in that series will
generally run until the interior crumbles.

 

Any post '87 240 or 740, and any year 940 should be fine, age
considered.
Obviously a '95 940 will likely be in better shape and past longer than an

'88 240, but how well the car was maintained and how many miles it has
on it are more important than year alone. I'd only look at cars with less
than 150k miles; plenty of them go for much longer than that, but the odds

are that you will be replacing pricey parts often in a high mileage car.

The crumbling wiring problem was supposed to be solved in '88, but
it wasn't entirely, so check the condition of the engine wiring. This is
especially true for turbo engines.


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http://www.albany.net/~mjc1/index.html

 

I am in Ontario Canada - we salt roads here and get a lot of snow.
Then the summers are nice and hot. So I need a good all season
vehicle. So rust is a concern. I have heard some Volvo bodies are
better then others - zinc galvanized?

But not sure if that was a certain model year - or for all of them.

Thanks for the help!

Tmuld.

 

IIRC 240's made starting in '86 had better rust protection, the 700 series
may well have gotten it sooner.