Any Advice?
 

Hello all, new member here.
Until a few years ago I was a committed Volvo driver - 340, 240 saloon, 240 estate, 850, V70 then another v70 across three decades. Then I moved over to vw Transporter as we needed a van - shame Volvo don't make vans!

Anyway, that's a bit of background. New situation is my son wants a v cheap/ scrap car to work on and learn about mechanics, and will want a road-worthy car for driving once he passes his test.
Yesterday we hit a compromise car that ticks both boxes, having looked over a friend's car - a Volvo 240, preferably estate (so he can camp in the back - I used to do that lots when I was younger).
They look easier to work on than lots of newer cars (easier, certainly not easy for me, I know next to nothing about mechanics), lots of room around the engine etc. plus they look to be a decent investment. We both love them.

But then I looked at MPG on-line, and it seems people are getting around 20mpg?! I'm sure I used to get around 30 mpg from my 240 (I think it was a GLE) auto on average.
Sooo - two questions.

Am I right thinking they'd be good for him to learn about mechanics on?;
and what is a realistically achievable average mpg in a 240, and specifically, which one should we be looking for to get most mpg?

Any advice very much appreciated.
Chris

Hi 'Chris152'

A 24X will make an excellent car for your lad on which to 'learn the ropes'.

MPG will vary with many factors, not least driving style. Back in the day, our '75 244DL 2.1 Auto could only manage 22 overall. Extremes were from 16-18 around town to 24-25 on a run. Our similar spec '81 car was was about 10% better overall and topped 30 when driving in Sweden. My '84 245GLT, 2.3 MOD car was much more economical, regularly returning high twenties.

So it is impossible to say, really. One possibility might be to look for (or convert to) a car running on LPG, but he would need to do a lot of miles to recover the up-front costs.

Having said that, is fuel consumption that important? At 3000 MPY, the difference between 20 and 30MPG is 50 gallons or about £300 at today's prices. Balancing that, he will have the benefit of a solid, reliable, comfortable and safe car that will very likely appreciate in value and cost less to insure than his mate's Corsa!

I would say go for it!

Regards, John.

I agree a Volvo 240 would be good for a young guy to learn about the really simple mechanics of what goes on, but a 240 specifically, no. The 740 or 940 have the same engine and gearbox etc, and are readily more available (more elbow space under the bonnet too) and not subject to the massive increase in price. Also, much more room in the boot for camping in the back (can fit Ikea double mattress for extra comfort, I camped in the back of mine for 2 weeks touring Germany)

As for learning mechanics, with the redblock engines (240, 740, 940) you'll top out pretty quickly to be honest. I bought a 940 which was going to be scrapped to fix up - took me about 2 weeks, although I have a lot of experience. So your son is gonna know the ins-and-outs of the car in maybe a year or two. Plus, they don't make cars like that anymore.

I'd say, yeah, go for it, but don't expect the puzzle to last that long.

Example 740

As for MPH - I get 16mpg in my 850 T5, 18 in my 960 and 20 in my 940, all automatics. Got a friend who has a new Mercedes diesel bluetec, advertised at 75-80mpg combined or something, he gets about 38 in reality, so MPG is a load of crap anyway.

240/740/940 has plenty space and capacity for an electric motor conversion and a large battery pack in the future as well

As for LPG conversion, i wouldn't bother. Oil companies are phasing out supply.

Hi Chris

Sadly I am no longer a 240 owner, but...

Agree with all said about learning mechanics and ease of work and also availability and simplicity of 740/940

However, 740 and 940 are marginally more complex, less sought after, and personally I'd argue less interesting - consider how long the 240 was in production for! I would also suggest that a 240 will hold its value better than the later cars - for now anyway

Fuel consumption: I had a 1991 manual 2.3 and on a long journeys regularly managed nearly 40 mpg. As others have said, mpg is massively dependent on driving style and skill. It is also true that if your son's mileage isn't huge whether his car does 30 mpg or 40 mpg isn't hugely important. I guess what is true is the nature of the journeys he is going to do and where you live (Vale of Glams I see...). Being quite a hefty car, a 240 is never going to be good around town, whereas on more open roads using top gear and the engines natural and easy torque, the MPG will be proportionately better

Good luck with it. Nick

The 240 is a good choice (I have the ’88 2Ltr Estate) couldn’t be easier to service as it is free of complications like computers- micro switches- engine management systems that have to plugged in or done by the garage: ~ parts are reasonable & most things can be repaired at home. As mentioned in other posts you will have an appreciating asset if that is what you want. Fuel costs are all relative but if serviced correctly and driven wisely then you go with style at reasonable costs! Buy the best you can- sooner than later- I have had mine for about three years now and prices have moved up in a short space of time. All told a recommended vehicle that should tick most if not all the boxes you require, Good Luck. Bob

Similar advice to what the others have said but whether you go for a 240, 740 or 940, get one with fuel injection, preferably L-Jetronic, LH-Jetronic or Motronic as they will be more fuel efficient and generally less troublesome than carbs or K-Jetronic although most K-Jets are very reliable too.

No fancy computers are needed to sort out problems on them either!

Also don't be tempted by the so called "economy versions" with the smaller engines, they aren't suited to the heavy bodyshell and will reward you with poor performance, heavy fuel consumption and increased/premature engine wear.

Get the 2.3 in whichever model you go for and you get reasonable performance (lively if it's the high pressure turbo but a youngster may struggle to insure a turbo) and economy. The 7/9xx ranges are both just starting to come up in value as well (unlike the 24x which started climibing some time back) so there's a good chance you could buy a "fixer-upper" for a few hundred quid, sort out its little foibles all the while your lad will be learning and end up with a car that is worth more than it owes you and is still going up. :thumbs_up:

The volvo 240 used to do between 25 and 28 mpg average however you drove unless the journeys were very long then you might make 30 mpg .
I wouldn't worry too much about that , i havent examined a 240 for 15 years , i would think there could be rust problems these days unless you are lucky ..

Thanks so much for all the replies - loads to start thinking about there. I think it has to be a 240, something about the style of them that we both like - even if the 7s and 9s might have plusses that we'd lose out on.

Insurance is a real issue these days, so I think turbo will be out of the question and we'll be looking for something that's cheaper, but hopefully not underpowered (and fuel injection comment taken on board). Getting my head around how insurance works is beyond me, though.

Trying to get decent mpg will be a good challenge for him - tuning as well as possible, driving carefully. And I think if we can find the right car, loss of some money on petrol (he won't be doing anything like high mileage) might be offset by the overall investment in a beautiful car that's going to appreciate with both work and time.

I know he's trawling the net as we write, and he's following this thread - we really appreciate your comments and, once we find the right car, will be back to bother you with endless questions, no doubt! :rolleyes:

Insurance is a law unto itself with no rhyme or reason to the average man in the street.

Good luck with whatever you choose anyway! :thumbs_up: