General Comments:
This was my father-in-law's car that he bought new. Dad was not much on maintenance, other than changing the oil. I bought it from him for $1000 and it had a rotted out exhaust, non-working radio, torn headliner, non-working AC, door panels that had fallen off or were falling off, original brake fluid still in the lines, four mismatched tires, awful alignment & wheel balance, original spare tire - you get the idea.
Given all that, I drove it home and it got 30 mpg at a constant 60 mph on the freeway. Did I mention it's a wagon? I had a local Volvo mechanic do the above long-neglected maintenance, and the car has not missed a beat since. It's a very comfy car with wide seats (butt warmer still works) and floats down the highway. My mechanic said if you keep oil and water in these engines, they'll last longer than you'll want the car. I think he's probably right. This car's engine still has no leaks under it. The leather seats are not torn or ripped, the padding underneath is still in good shape, and it can carry a lot of stuff with the rear seats folded down. The manual sun roof means I don't have to worry about that motor going out, and the power windows still work as well.
I would not hesitate to drive this car anywhere, and even though it doesn't have an airbag, since it's a Volvo and built like a tank, I'm not worried about coming out on the short end of the stick should I be in an accident.
22nd Oct 2009, 18:20
One update. I sold this car last week (to a buddy no less) for $2000 after putting about $3500 into it since I've had it, among other things. Updated the brakes from the crappy Bendix ones and also replaced the entire exhaust. Everything worked except the A/C and it still got 27 mpg on the hwy if I kept the speed down. When I sold it the odometer had 189000 on it. So, I took my $2000 and bought a '90 740 GLE Turbo wagon. Love these cars.