Spend Money On Keeping A High-Miler On The Road, Or...?

[m0bzy]

Old before new every time , I had a fairly new Alfa 156 that looked great and cornered like nothing I have ever owned , but every MOT/service produced a bill that made my eyes water. After selling the Alfa for next to nothing and many regrets I spotted my V90 on Ebay, advertised as a V6 ??. I put a low bid on with the intention of upping it nearer to the end of the auction .Forgot all about it until I was notified I had won it , for £350.Now three years later it is still used every day , it has cost me three services and three MOT's without advisory's , two new tyres and a set of brakes, oh and a battery. It will soon need at least part of the exhaust replacing and has just notched up 190000 miles. If I needed to drive to the north of Scotland to-night , I would use the V90 confident that it would get there and back with nothing more than a few gallons of best grade petrol.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Backhill1

Very interesting thread as we can have fairly new cars that have no rust and are genuinely in good condition but a simple amber triangle "engine system service light" could potentially make a repair unviable. That and when you factor that Dealers or a good Indy will be the only ones able to fix so you are looking at circa £100 an hour.
I myself had spent approx. £5.5K in 5 years on my (56) V70D5 and 70K miles (90-160K) that's almost 13p per mile which is almost comparable to fuel costs.

I think most fans of the Older cars have skipped 10 years to where they could be repaired and components were considered "service" items. If we consider a petrol vehicle from the 80's you would have lots of parts that should be serviced regularly and if so the vehicle would be reliable (plugs / point / distributor cap etc.) also there were many adjustable items that were actually done and not just "Visually Checked" hand brake etc.
Take a Diesel from the same era that had to be robust and reliable as they were generally only bought by high milers. Injectors changed at say 60K for £15 a pop and injection pump at say 120-180K at say £300 that and glow plugs and a timer and you had nothing else to go wrong fundamentally.

So now we have all these components that we didn't have in the past, computers EGR, DPF, MAP, 4C suspension etc etc.

There does not appear to be access to cheep parts either now like there used to be where you went to the Scrappy with a box of tools and took what you needed for nominal cost.

So as far as being green I think we will have a range of cars now that approaching 10 years old will be very difficult to keep on the road and make financial sense.

I have just decided to buy new for various reasons, it has a 5 year warranty and 3 years maintenance also I intend to keep it for a long time as I will have it from new.
But what I found astonishing was that the cost of nearly new cars is astronomical. They appear to have went up in Value. Making the cost very comparable when you consider the finance incentives with new vehicles.

I would dearly love a 240GLT or a 740/60 and one day I hope to have one and im sure it will be easier to fix and maintain but my only fear is that like my defender you spend all your time on it and it constantly needs something?

Agree with previous posts once you start welding or rust sets in its time to let go.

Are people genuinely getting from service interval- interval without popping the bonnet for anything other than checks?

Hmm are you thinking a 240 ( Or any other volvo from the 80's to 2004 is inferior to a modern car regarding reliability perhaps ?

Not a bit of it , the quality of the components was the very very best, unmatched today , Leather never wore out , Bosch everywhere and when it wasnt good enough for volvo it was made to volvo specification , for example the distributor cap and rotor are Bosch yes , so was a Ford Siera's But the volvo specification bosch had a special laquer inside the cap and on the rotor arm which resisted tracking it had a shiny finish which defines it . The ford ones were matt finish . Just one example .. It would probably cost £50000 to make and sell a 940 or 240 today because of it's quality ..

The 240 was a serious quality motor car , not a banger , managing directors owned them , doing as much hard work or more than todays say XC60 , racking up 100000 miles in 2 or 3 years all over the country and abroad on business and never faltering , Often towing too which they did with ease just like todays volvos , there is no reason what so ever why it wouldnt do it today as long as it hadnt been neglected , the only disadvantage is that it would use a bit more fuel Than an XC60 .

I was working on these "old" volvos throughout their entire lifespan which was from 1974 to 1992 breakdowns were almost unheard of , there are many more volvos breaking down now than there were then trust me .

[Prufrock]

I fleet managed 700s (and 240s) for A Volvo joint venture, and knew many companies running 740s for sales representatives and 760s for directors.

I also recall one chauffeur hire company who's cars covered intergalactic mileages over very short periods of time...they were highly regarded by drivers and passengers alike. They were maintained in-house and were liked by technicians for their simplicity and durability.

One or two of those managers (now retired) I am still in touch with, and to this day they have nothing but good things to say about the 700 series.

Jon.
700/900 Register Keeper VOC.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

I fleet managed 700s (and 240s) for A Volvo joint venture, and knew many companies running 740s for sales representatives and 760s for directors.

I also recall one chauffeur hire company who's cars covered intergalactic mileages over very short periods of time...they were highly regarded by drivers and passengers alike. They were maintained in-house and were liked by technicians for their simplicity and durability.

One or two of those managers (now retired) I am still in touch with, and to this day they have nothing but good things to say about the 700 series.

Jon.
700/900 Register Keeper VOC.

I will vouch for that too , volvos were more expensive than rovers and other "luxury" cars at the time and most were owned by business people .

I remember a 1974 164 TE £5300 new which was owned by the boss of a fashion shop in London , he lived in cardiff , he made 2 trips each working day up to London and back , The M4 was virtualy deserted then and speed cameras were not a problem he only took about 90 minutes to get there . The car had done well over 200000 miles of completely trouble free journeys , it was serviced every 3 weeks if i remember right . IT was eventualy writtem off on the severn bridge when he fell asleep at the wheel . it woke him up and he walked away , yes they did that back in the 1970's too after big accidents .

[Phaedrus68]

I guess I'm not as clued in to the Volvo brand as many on here are - before getting my V70 in 2011, owning a Volvo had never even pipped on my radar as a prospect. I've always considered Volvo to be a luxury brand.

And I really like my V70. I'm always chuffed when I sit into it, and think, "this is actually mine!" For the better part of the last four years, I've done a weekly commute of 500 miles - 250 on Monday, 250 on Friday, 2/3 motorway, 1/3 ****ty back-roads - and I couldn't imagine a car to better my V70 for that trip.

Very interested to read about quality changing over the years - what happened? What year would be considered the last year that the "better-built" Volvos were made?

[Blue 8]

I like a car i can maintain myself to me condition is paramount, mileage and age on the other hand I couldn't really careless about, as long as it post 1990 and comfortable got a certain amount of luxury to it and mint and of course free of finance I'm happy.

[Prufrock]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus68

Very interested to read about quality changing over the years - what happened? What year would be considered the last year that the "better-built" Volvos were made?

Without getting into too much detail, my view (despite owning a V70P2 from near new) is that Volvo quality declined when front wheel drive was widely adopted; Volvo also lost a key differentiator in the market.

Durability is a"global"issue in that all cars are relatively complex and subject to numerous failures - simple cars (e.g classic rear wheel drive Volvos) are by their very nature more durable.

Volvo, during the 740 period, would boast in marketing literature that their cars had a lifespan of 20.5 years - no manufacturer today would dare make a boast like that. The boast was justified and Volvo were rightly proud, which is why so many classic rwd Volvos still serve their owners well: some into their 3rd decade - like my two 740s, soon to be in their 4th!

Jon.
700/900 Register Keeper VOC.

[Blue 8]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

Without getting into too much detail, my view (despite owning a V70P2 from near new) is that Volvo quality declined when front wheel drive was widely adopted; Volvo also lost a key differentiator in the market.

Durability is a"global"issue in that all cars are relatively complex and subject to numerous failures - simple cars (e.g classic rear wheel drive Volvos) are by their very nature more durable.

Volvo, during the 740 period, would boast in marketing literature that their cars had a lifespan of 20.5 years - no manufacturer today would dare make a boast like that. The boast was justified and Volvo were rightly proud, which is why so many classic rwd Volvos still serve their owners well: some into their 3rd decade - like my two 740s, soon to be in their 4th!

Jon.
700/900 Register Keeper VOC.

Not sure I agree with you here, 850's are FWD and very well built.

I'd be more inclined to say black badge to blue in my honest opinion.

[Prufrock]

[QUOTE=Blue 8;1904434]Not sure I agree with you here, 850's are FWD and very well built.QUOTE]

Ok to disagree, many did not agree with Galileo when he suggested the earth was a sphere and orbited the sun!

Of course I know 850s are fwd, well built why, and relative to what? My V70P2 is not as well built as my 745...

Jon.
700/900 Register Keeper VOC.

[TurnipSpeed]

I believe( rightly or wrongly!) that the blue badge denoted when Ford started to supply parts for Volvos after the merger?
I had a V70 diesel for a few weeks, but I hated it!
Flimsy plastics, too complicated(compared to my 940!).
I did buy an 850 2.5 20v, and loved the driving experience( handling, economy, engine note!).
This had 200,000 on the clock, and going strong, but again what put me off was complexity( dodgy lcd dash, tailgate struts, suspension).
It was well-built, though, and my head was turned only by another 940gle for £480!
I'm in love again.
This time it's for keeps.