What's the best model Volvo?

last time i checked, one can swap out a used & working turbo for a 940t
foe around $200...if you want brand new, or "modded & built up" one can
spend up to $1,000.....or more....(this includes labor)...

 

The thing about the turbo 4 is that it's a simpler, easier, and less
expensive motor to work on and there's a *LOT* more of them out there so
parts are easy to find.

I've got almost 270k on my turbo, quite a bit of play in the shaft but not
leaking or rubbing yet. Volvo turbos are no different than any other turbos,
my 740 has a Mitsubishi turbo while the 240 has a Garrett. They can be
rebuilt for a few hundred dollars or you can buy the whole cartridge for
around $650-$800, so it's not a cheap job but it's very rare for them to
fail in less than 100k miles and usually the water cooled ones will go more
than 200k so it's not really a big issue.

The 960 has a great engine, but there's not any cheaper to run or maintain
than a 4 cyl turbo.

 

You can easily spend $2k on *just* the turbo not even factoring in labor,
but typical price is more like $750 for a rebuilt complete Garrett or $1200
for the Mits.

 

Cool, thanks... the only turbo motor we have is in my VW (TDI engine,
1.9L)... I believe it's a light pressure variable vane, never heard of
problems with them, but it is something that worries me about the car - I
suppose they're not as big a deal as I would think on an older car.

Maybe one day i'll get a turbo'd Volvo (S40 T5 AWD would be nice, but the
FWD 2.4i is more like it right now...)

 

Gee, and I thought I was doing well with 233K miles on ours.

Mike

 

Just curious...
How old is your VW TDI and how has it been in terms of
durability/reliability ?

The last VW I owned was an air-cooled pancake engine and in those days,
one was almost guaranteed that an engine overhaul or replacement would
be required at 60k miles or sooner.

The reliability/durability of VWs since then appears to have gone
downhill with the late 90's era VWs spending more time in the shop than
on the road.

I have been attracted to VWs TDIs primarily because of their impressive
fuel efficiency but fuel efficiency would be pretty meaningless if the
vehicle isn't on the road 60% of the time.

Now if Volvo were to put a 4 litres/100km TDI engine into a classic 245
body with FWD/4WD transmission, I think we'd have the perfect vehicle.

 

1999.5 (I sent you a far more detailed e-mail to your personal address)

1.9L, 4 speed automatic, TDI Golf. 90Hp, 155lbft of torque - approx
105hp/180lbft with tuning box.

Catalytic converter failed with 118K Kms warranty (8yr exhaust warranty)
EGR Valve completely clogged (116K Kms, cleaned $100+)
MAF sensor failed 61 K Kms repaired under warranty (7 year extended
nowadays, reimbursed when warranty came into place)
Window regulators failed due to plastic clips at 30K Kms (7 year extended
nowadays... covered under new vehicle warranty)

Head/tail lamps lasted 60-65K Kms/4 years... Pretty good i'd say... all
(highbeams are original... low beams, rear running, rear brakes except
centre... turn signals all original)

Front brakes:
Rotors 97K Kms replaced due to warpage
Pads ~100 K Kms, replaced due to front rotor replacement, pads still had a
"few thousand" left on them
Rear Brakes:
Pads 57K Kms
Rotors 108K Kms replaced due to warpage
Pads 108K Kms replaced with rotors, plenty of meat still on them

OEM tires:
57K Kms replaced with S rated Kumho's, terrible tire replaced with:
87K Kms Nokian WR's - still going with 5-6mm left (started with 8mm)

~100K Kms new shocks all around, Tuning box... done to improve
handling/ride/performance on highway.

Overall they're good cars i'd say... Don't expect it to be cheap because its
a VW... they're pricey cars to service, less then Volvo's tho.... Tho Volvo
parts seem to be more worth it then VW parts.

 

A friend of mine has a VW TDi which has done a fair number of miles without
any major problems so far, it's a nice little car. Though with Diesel fuel
costing nearly 50% more than regular gasoline these days the advantages
aren't nearly as great at the moment, it gets good mileage but isn't really
any cheaper to run in the US than the gasoline version.

 

50% more... ouch, i'd get rid of mine if that was the case (I get 6-7L per
100kms, our gasoline Golf gets 8-11L, so the fuel economy issue would be a
moot point)

Diesel in Ontario is around 80 cents per litre, gasoline swings from 75-85
cents.

 

It used to be about the same price as premium gas, but last night I drove by
a gas station downtown and regular gasoline was $1.96/gal while Diesel was
$2.69/gal. Why, I don't know.

 

You have cheep gasoline and diesel we pay ca. 5,37$/gal for gasoline and
ca. 5,04$/gal for diesel here in norway.
so i drive diesel.

 

Sounds fairly in-line with most of the world as far as I know, it's always
been cheap over here though, not really sure why, but people sure whine and
complain when it goes up a few cents. Diesel *should* be cheaper than
gasoline since it requires less refining but for some reason here it's not.

 

Here in Sweden you can find the VW 1,9L diesel in Volvo V40
and VW/Audi 2,5L Diesel in Volvo 850 and some V70
In 240 they used VW/Audi 2,4L diesels with or without turbo
I´ts just sometimes around 1998-1999 Volvo started to make their own
dieselengines.
But in cause of the Swedish taxes its not so economical to drive
diesels any more.

 

I put my two penneth in earlier in the thread and have obviously been
following it since. Something came up I thought you might be interested in.
I had 2 940T estates, my son a '89 740GLT estate 16V. He decided to swap me
the 740 for one of my 940's 8 months ago, because he prefers the lively 2.0T
engine, plus it's more economical!
The 740 had 170,000 on it so I put it in for an MOT, failed on n/s
balljoint, other than that perfect, engine smooth as silk and no oil being
used. Left it on the drive, decided to sell it last week. Now this has not
moved in 8 months. I had previously removed battery so I charged and refit.
It started first turn of the key, perfect. Got my son to take it down the
M'Way for 10 or so miles to check it out and get the water and oil
circulating, still ran perfectly. So I've advertised it for £450, more as
it's a waste not being used.. Whoever wants it will get an excellent car for
buttons.
Funilly enough the 940T, is a '91 with almost 300,000 on the clock, although
it has been well maintained.
My 940 is a '95 Wentworth 2.0T but it's only got 45,000 miles on it. Drives
like a new car. However doing so few miles annualy now, I make sure to
service it at shorter intervals.
I still think the last 740GLT's were the best though!

 

Although I don't know the ins & outs/specifics of the matter, there are
a few people on some non-automotive-related email lists who have
mentioned that they use biodiesel in their VW TDIs and at least one
fellow who talked about using waste vegetable oil from deep fat fryers.

Stop in at a McGreasePucks, pull up to the deep fat fryer and say "Fill
'er up, ... and _no_ fries with that" ?

A few people have mentioned that in their opinions,
the 940 turbo (as opposed to a 960 non-turbo) is the best Volvo in
terms of performance/fuel efficiency/durability while others mention
having reservations with the turbo option due to ease of failure of the
turbo unit and expense when it comes to replacement.

So the obvious question is:

How much of an improvement in fuel efficiency with the turbo and what
is the life expectancy of the turbo unit (assuming that one takes a
reasonable (not excessive) amount of care in letting the turbo cool
down before shutting down ?

ie Does the increase in fuel efficiency over the life of the turbo work
better than balance out the replacement cost of the turbo unit ?


(From someone who is wondering how different (read: magnitudes better)
Volvos would be today if Volvo had merged with Volkswagen instead of
with Ford.)

 

Improvement? You'll get much better performance with the turbo, but the fuel
economy will be noticeably lower.

See above, I don't really see the problem with the replacement cost of the
turbo though, it should last 150k-300k miles, you're looking at perhaps one
turbo replacement over the life of the car, sure it comes all at once but
even if you pay a shop to do it the cost is dwarfed by the cost of
consumables the car needs over the same time period. If you don't work on
your own cars and don't manage money well enough to pay for a $2k lump sum
when the turbo does eventually fail then don't get a car with one, same if
you're looking for fuel economy, the turbo on a gasoline engine will cost
you around 3mpg, more if you drive it hard. But if you want a perky and
often downright fun but also practical car, go for it.

Of course if you get a Diesel model I would go so far as to say the turbo is
an absolute necessity, I don't know how it affects fuel economy in that case
having never compared similar enough cars with and without.

 

i am squezing about 250hp out of my 93 940t...almost 250,000 miles
on it...origional turbo...and i drive it hard...i have been told to
expect
about 1,000$ bitt w/labot to swap out the turbo, when it goes...i have
ocassional blue smoke (just a bit, under wot)...and some minor
oil leaks....i fig its to be expected the way i drive and the
miliage...i will
let you guys know how much it is in ttl, if i have to replace the
turbo...i
am thinking if i should just swap w/a stock mitsui...or go for a built
up
turbo..or remafg mitsui, w/special berings...teflon, i think i was
told...

anyway...in 6 mos , or so...the boost gets turned down...the car gets
de tuned...and goes to daughter #1 (#1 of #3) for 1st car ... dad gets
to
pick out another used volvo to mess around with...1998-2003 v70....i am
thinkin' ...... so, it the 940t holds out till then...i may never end
up swapping
it out...unless it gets real bad.....

richard
colorado

 

Yeah, that's sort of my plan with my '92 240... hand it off to daughter
#1... here's a reliable, slow tank to learn on!

-jeff

 

yep....slow, steel and air bags...a nice combination..

;-)

 

Well, my '92 240 only has the one airbag, but it does have ABS... I do with
it had a passenger airbag as well. Still a very safe car for a kid to learn
on.

-jeff