Picked up a new DD...

[496truck]

You won't believe how much. 1990 Volvo 740 Turbo wagon, 170k miles which is nothing for these old cars, heated leather seats, sunroof. It's a 1 owner car, bought new at the dealership I work for. Only serviced/repaired here or at a local garage that is a Volvo specialist. The PO gave me a huge stack of repair slips going back to day 1.

This car was retired from their regular duty some years ago when they bought a newer XC70 but the wife really liked this car, more than her 2004. The husband drove it a few times a week and used it for house errands and such all while keeping it maintained and repaired as needed.

So, the story goes, earlier this past summer the wife comes in with the car to pick something up and mentions in conversation they were thinking about selling by the end of this year. Of course I say to keep me in mind. Couple months later (couple weeks ago now) the husband comes in to ask if I was still interested. Yup. He starts giving me the lowdown, "Ya know, the A/C doesn't work, the headliner is sagging, it has nicks and scratches, but drives good and averages 24 MPGs". He says "If everything was perfect I'd think it was worth $1000. Seeing it is what it is, I'll take $600."

I couldn't get the cash out fast enough. Actually, the cash was in the bank, and he wasn't ready to sell right then and there anyways. But, here we are, a couple weeks later and I have a new daily driver. That ought to save some wear and tear on the K5 and let me fix some things on it because I haven't been able to take it out of commission for a few days. Sweet.

 

[onetonbb74]

right on, I had an 87 740 GLE non-turbo, non-wagon, loaded with heated leather seats, sunroof, etc. with 200k on the clock, that was in 98...the tranny finally died about one month after I got it. Go figure...Great cars, averaged 20 mpg every tank from day one when my pops bought it. Didn't even use a full quart of oil between changes...

 

[munepit]

The glass is worth $600.00. Score!!!!!!

 

[swettysblazer]

Nice, Brian! You sure seem to like those Volvo's....

 

[diesel4me]

That was a good score--you cant buy a used car anywhere here now,like at the auctions or even one someone left at a junkyard that wasn't "junk" but they just had to dispose of it--anything with a title that runs decent and has a working tranny and brakes goes for a grand easily!..my friend sells used cars and he says finding one at the auction that dont have a bad motor or tranny,or one without a dozen engine codes is about impossible now...many had the catalitic converters missing also..

The Volvos are a good car,one of my late friends owned a few old 140 models from the 70's..one I had to weld the unibody up where it rusted,but the thing ran like a swiss watch,got good mpg and was very reliable..it had a few quirks,one was the distributor rotor liked to ceawl up on the shaft and eventually it would slip out of the keyway and it would start backfiring and stall..he tried different rotors ,the Bosch one did it least often--finally he used some epoxy to glue it in place and it never acted up again...I remember him rigging a ball valve up to the idle air bypass on it rather than buy the right one for it (if one could be found for a 73 that is!)..he beat the car pretty hard and like a Chevy,the harder he drove it the better it ran...

A lot of people here like the Volvo wagons,I see lots of them around...but not at my friends repair shop,they seem to run forever with little maintenence,any they get to re-sell go quickly and they usually dont have to knock much off the price ,if anything..people know they are worth it..

You'll definately save some gas money,but it stinks that putting it on the road will probably come close to the price you paid for it...thats what is keeping my 85 Suburban off the road--I'd like to swap the plates off my car to it and get some use from it,seeing I dont drive my car in the winter ,but I dont have 75 bucks for a title,25 more to swap the plates,and it'll be at least 150 bucks to pay the sales tax...and the drive to Pawtucket RI to my insurance co!..its a ripoff,having to pay so much to put a used car on the road ,especially if you dont use it all that much..

 

[496truck]

I like them because I have access to them, I work at a Volvo dealer. The older ones are definitely better then the new ones too (we have FoMoCo to thank for that). The old ones are simple, basic cars, built before Ford got their hands in there and are easy and cheap to repair. Very similar to our old GMs in that respect. They even use the same old gov bomb rear lockers.

Yeah, it cost me $220 for tax, title and reg, and about $300 to insure it for the year. I can easily get a year or two out of this car, if not more. Filling up the K5 every 4 days at $70 a tank vs filling this car once a week at $40.... this car is definitely worth it. Now, if I can just keep my heavy right foot under control....