1986 Volvo 240 DL review from North America

Recently the Heater blower motor has failed.

Three of the floor boards underneath the car are completley rusted out.

AC does not work.

One of the heated seats not working.

This is the first Volvo I have ever owned and has been pretty dependable so far.

The previous owner brought the car new and was the only owner and always had the car dealer serviced and had all the maintenance records when I bought the car.

Overall the 240 model is a decent car, but well underpowered for being such a heavy car. The transmission seems to shift well and smooth and handling is very touchy on wet and snowy conditions and being rear wheel drive does not help. The thing that upsets me the most is that I did not know the underneath was so rusted and it is going to cost me a lot of money to have repaired. Also running cost is very high on these cars and to have just the blower motor fixed is a $750.00 job from the dealer of course. When I look at the engine compartment it does not seem difficult to work on these cars so I am still puzzled on why they are so expensive to have fixed. I assume this is because since Volvo's are expensive to begin with everyone and including the dealerships charge outrageous pricing because people have the money and pay it. I brought a 1988 Dodge Colt to drive around since it is small and cheap to maintain and plan on fixing what needs fixed on the Volvo and then selling it or drive it around for a little while since they are suppose to have a history of lasting forever and since mine has been dealer serviced and has low miles it may be worth keeping. The inside is also in very good condition except for cracks in the dash which I have found was a common thing on these models.

I would add if you want a Volvo then just be prepared to spend money when they need repaired or try and get one of the newer models with a warranty left on them.