Where have all the 700/900 owners gone ?

[Paul Ireland]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

Hi Paul.

Good to hear from you; this is a great forum with many helpful and knowledgeable members - I see you're in West Virginia.
Regarding fuel economy, you don't say under what conditions you are getting your 19mpg.
But from what I recall a US gallon is 6 pints whereas a UK gallon is 8 - based on this fact your economy doesn't sound too bad.
Just be thankful that you don't pay what we pay for fuel/gas - the equivalent of 9 dollars a gallon!
Assume you're paying about $3.50 a gallon?
The key to the best economy you're going to get is (a) ensure that the car is running at it's optimum - give it a good service. And (b) adopt your driving style to the characteristics of the car.
My 745GL is similiar spec to yours (except I have a carb rather tan fuel injection). I can get around 38mpg at a steady speed (65mph) on a highway, on country roads I don't know - I haven't calculated it.

Prufrock.

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately here in the states a gallon is also 8 pints, so that doesn't work out as favorably. You were spot on with the current prices as I believe I paid $3.55/gal last time I filled up. As you may know, West Virginia's slogan is "The Mountain State" so there are quite a few hills and few straight roads on which to maintain a set speed. The 19mpg I mentioned was with mixed driving, mostly city with some interstate travel. I would hope to get something in the 20-25mpg range at least. I'm still in the process of tuning (plugs, wires, dist.cap & rotor, etc.) so I'll let you know as things improve. Thanks again.
Paul

[arcturus]

This one has gone to Portugal.940. 93 GLE auto + 960.I expect to get at least another ten years out of it.

[mrmeringo]

Here's my 740,Just passed its MoT with no Advisories,Finally running aok now after running like a bag of s***e since the day after i bought it,I am keeping it as bog standard,Hopefully i will have it for a good few years now.

[tim030654]

Originally Posted by Paul Ireland

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately here in the states a gallon is also 8 pints, so that doesn't work out as favorably. You were spot on with the current prices as I believe I paid $3.55/gal last time I filled up. As you may know, West Virginia's slogan is "The Mountain State" so there are quite a few hills and few straight roads on which to maintain a set speed. The 19mpg I mentioned was with mixed driving, mostly city with some interstate travel. I would hope to get something in the 20-25mpg range at least. I'm still in the process of tuning (plugs, wires, dist.cap & rotor, etc.) so I'll let you know as things improve. Thanks again.
Paul

Paul - although there are 8 pints to a US gallon, a US pint is smaller than a UK one - by a factor of 0.833 - so your 19mpg is about 23mpg to a British gallon. Overall I get about 28mpg from my 1989 2.0 litre 740 Estate - and can get 32+mpg if I keep it to at about 60mph.

[Prufrock]

Originally Posted by tim030654

Paul - although there are 8 pints to a US gallon, a US pint is smaller than a UK one - by a factor of 0.833 - so your 19mpg is about 23mpg to a British gallon. Overall I get about 28mpg from my 1989 2.0 litre 740 Estate - and can get 32+mpg if I keep it to at about 60mph.

When I lived in the US their gallons were always smaller...which is why Paul's reply confused me.

I always got far better mpg from my American cars in the UK than the road tests revealed over there!

At 60mph in my 745 (B230K/AW) I'll get around 38mpg - engine at 2000rpm.

Prufrock.

[stephend]

Still trundling around happily, and lugging loads up and down to Scotland on a regular basis. Just had a service and a new brake caliper. Oh, and a new number plate light: no expense spared.

[CTCNetwork]

Hi,

Originally Posted by tim030654

Paul - although there are 8 pints to a US gallon, a US pint is smaller than a UK one - by a factor of 0.833 - so your 19mpg is about 23mpg to a British gallon.

Yes, a US pint is 15 fluid ounces compared to the 20 fluid ounces in an english/british/imperial pint. That's in old money by the way!


As for whether I am here or not? I'm omnipresent!!

Des. . .

[minesa240x3]

Yep I'm still here,therefore I am?
I'm really six owners but three active will do.Maybe there all gone as quite a few of us have more than one?

Regards Brian.

[Prufrock]

Originally Posted by mrmeringo

Here's my 740,Just passed its MoT with no Advisories,Finally running aok now after running like a bag of s***e since the day after i bought it,I am keeping it as bog standard,Hopefully i will have it for a good few years now.

Hope you do keep it Tommy.

I felt guilty when I sold it to Billy, it was so nice then (bought from it's long term - 18yrs - owner).

Glad you've got it back in fine fettle.

See you at the BKV?

Prufrock.

[systeman]

Just got rid of my 940 turbo diesel estate. Had it for about 16 years and was sorry to let it go. Strange how you stop thinking of a car as a lump of metal with an engine and wheels and start looking at it in a different light - like its a part of you you can't let go.

Anyway, the engine started to clap out 'again', second time in ten years, and needed another rebuild. At 240,000 miles it was time to put it to sleep.

Now I've just bought a late 1993 940 Wentworth Estate (petrol) off eBay with 140000 miles on the clock - six previous owners but who cares. The dealer add said leather seats, radio etc. Went all the way from London to Preston to look at it - guess what, no leather seats and no radio and the intreior smelled like the inside of camels arse. The rear light clusters were all cracked and taped together and hardley any of the lights worked. But it had potential.

I sorted it out with the guy so it was drivable and was surprised how well it drove - compared to the diesel.

As luck would have it, the intreior was the same as the other one, so I swapped them over - seats, door cards etc. Swappped all the lights over and tailgate rams, also the tailgate panel and a couple of rubber door seals.

Nearly finished - Booked it in for a full service with my loyal Swedish auto guys and gave them freedom to swap over anything mechanical that was better on the old one - such as the rear Nivomats and some front ball joints etc. They also changed the rear main oil seal, done some work on the turbo and put in some new pipe work.

Now I'm well happy. I've gor a car that cost me £900, a bit over the top on eBay, and just over £1000 for all the other work. Where can you buy such a good, well built estate car these days - they don't even make new ones with the same room or as strong, and I can't beleive the amount of power it has.

Oh, the camels arse bit, I sorted that out with a complete interior valet - did it myself as I'm in the carpet cleaning game.

Now for the bodywork - minor scratches and nothing really to worry about - I'll attempt it myself and may even consider a professional respray. When I've finished and even if it's cost me say £4500, I've got a brand new car.

Do I like Volvo, or what?

By the way, I don't mind giving the thumbs up to a business when they go out of their way to do a fantastic job - So I would recommend looking up Swedish Motors in Walthamstow, London. Paul and Terry are top notch, the best. 0 2 0 8 5 2 3 5 2 3 7