Why I drive a Volvo...

Just wanted to say how thankful I am that my son (18 yrs old)
is live and well after 3300 lbs. of my 940 sheared two trees
at 75 mph and came to a stop as nothing more than scrap
metal and he was helped out (after he came to) with nothing
more than a bruised ankle.

Looking for a 940 Turbo Sedan in Central Fl USA.

 

Glad you son wasn't hurt.

Perhaps you should forgo the "turbo" part of that...


Gary

 

Look for a 240 Diesel non-turbo with an automatic....

Glad your son is ok. It was Volvo's reputation that convinced me to
get my daughter a 240 sedan for college.

 

Those can hardly get out of their own way, if you can even find one. Few
were sold, fewer survived, and prices have shot up from the biodiesel craze.
A standard B230F powered Volvo is slow enough without being *too* sluggish
and you can still find parts and people willing to work on them. It's really
too bad we never got the D5 over here.

At any rate I'm glad too that he's ok, but those trees could have been
someone else's kids. I can think of few excuses to hit a tree at 75 mph,
it's rare to find a speed limit that high anywhere near trees.

 

I won't debate the existence of tree on the side of an Interstate.
I'm not sure what "someone else's kids" that would have to be standing
on the side of an interstate means...

Thanks for all your well wishes.

And, by the way he wasn't in a Turbo. I just prefer to replace it
with a Turbo (if possible) after owning 740 turbo and switching
to a 940 nonturbo.

Happy New Year

 

Yes, Volvos are tough cars, alright.

My wife's 740 was rear-ended by a Mazda.

Wife was stopped, Mazda doing about 45 mph at impact.

The front end of the Mazda was slammed way back.

Little damage to the Volvo; most of the impact was absorbed by the
bottom of the trunk.

I spend ten minutes pounding the trunk back into shape.

The car runs like a top and looks good.

 

The 240 Diesel with an automatic was a poor attempt at Volvo-based
humor. I did own a D240 and taught 3 kids to drive a stick shift with
it. A perfect example of a gutless but otherwise well designed car.

Seriously, a turbo-charged four cylinder car in either the 7 or 9
series would be quite a good car. Given the age of those cars I would
have a pre-purchase inspection done including attention to the turbo.

 

If I were you, I would consider a 855 or a V70 instead. They are *MUCH*
safer.

I'm glad your son was not hurt . But thin about the video....

Joerg

 

Sorry Roadie
By today's standards of crash safety I would rethink this choice.



Take care,

Joerg

 

Glad your son lived to tell the tale - not every kid is so fortunate.

I need somewhere to store all my bumperstickers, so I drive a Volvo.

Seriously, I got mine late last year because I needed to replace a
(dead) 10-year car with a 15- or 20-year car. My service manual is on
the way so I'll be learning oil/filter changes shortly...

 

I must take exception to the diesel 240 being a poor example of Volvo
humor. It's the biggest joke played on the American public. Sweet
Wounded Jesus, that car is a piece of shit. I know. I own one. It
handles like a shopping cart and with any cargo it is dangerous to
have in traffic. Mine's for sale if anyone is interested. Since it
also runs on vege oil, you can imagine the blinding acceleration when
you're smelling fry oil. But the sunroof works nicely.

 

Actually the motor on mine worked for 200k miles. It accelerated like
a VW Kombi, billowed out smoke on hard acceleration, would cruise at
highway speeds, got decent milage, made a great driver training car
for the kids and pulled a small trailer filled with stuff for college
dorms. The rest of the car was typical unexciting but well made 240
Volvo. What can I say, but that it workeed. I would not own another
diesel though. The cost of operation is about the same as gasoline
over the long term.

The 240 and 740 gasoline cars were not known for inspired handling or
acceleration. They were simply comfortable people moving sedans.

 

Todays standards or not, they're still very safe cars. Many thousands of
people have walked away from real world accidents in 2/7/9 series Volvos
over the years and they're no less safe than they were back then. This can
be argued until hell freezes over, but IMO you reach a point where a car is
"safe enough" and beyond that are diminishing returns. I also take crash
test data with a grain of salt, what really matters are the results of real
world crashes that occur every day.

 

Up until a few years ago, whoever keeps track of these things listed
the number of deaths in the US of drivers or passengers in a 240 as 0.
Then an elderly couple in a 240 in CT got thoroughly creamed by some
kid and died. Of course, some of this is because a lot of eledrly
couples drive it. But for a car without air bags, let alone side air
bags, it does pretty well.

 

Got nailed at a redlight by a speeding Mustang who just didn't see the
light, a couple of years ago. The impact was so bad, it actually
cracked the plastic on one taillight.

 

There are several aspects to what you say. If I had to sit in a
20year-old-car when two old cars crash I would also prefer to sit in a
240. But I would definetely not like to sit in a 240 or 7-/9-series
Volvo when a crash with a current Volvo or another premium brand car
would occur.

Someone cited that in a given year nobody was killed in a crash with a
240. I love to hear that but the population of 240 in the US is so small
in the meantime that this fact is not proving anything.

What I would like to point out is that Volvos probably are still the
best compared to their contemporary competitors in terms of crash
safety. Development in this area was so dramatic in the last two decades
that old Volvos cannot compete anymore with todays average cars.

I'm driving my 5th Volvo now and the main reason to drive a V70 is the
outstanding quality of the crash protection but other things like the
general quality, the comfort, the space last but not least the image of
the car are also very important.

Joerg

P.S.: Sorry for my lousy English but my mother tongue is German.

 

" Got nailed at a redlight by a speeding Mustang who just didn't see
the
light, a couple of years ago. The impact was so bad, it actually
cracked the plastic on one taillight. "


and prob totaled the mustang......

 

[ ... ]

It wasn't "a" given year, it was a bunch of them:

"American automotive fatality records, which are very complete,
recorded no fatalities in a Volvo 240 until 1993. After that year,
however, fatalities rose to 80-100 per year."

http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Volvo_200_series

For a car introduced in 1974, that's an excellent safety record.


Gary

 

I seem to recall that when I bought my new "96 850 Turbo, the salesman
said that as part of the deal, all new Volvos came with a factory
sponsored life insurance policy that paid out one million dollars to
the beneficiary of any occupant killed in a traffic accident while
properly restrained in the car.

Never looked into whether what the salesman said was true, or just
puffing.