Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

The Volvo 240 Wagon

Photo by Salt Water New England
The Way Cars Should Be.

26 comments:

  1. I'm showing my age, but my affection for the Volvo 240 (and 940) wagons is increasing. I was looking for one to buy and it seems most of these cars still on the road are located in Princeton New Jersey and Vermont, and aren't for sale...

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  2. A proven workhorse, that just keeps going! We love ours! Cheers!

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  3. I still own the "ageless" 240DL Sedan I bought new back in Chicago in 1989, and won't ever part with it. And you're right - most people don't sell their 240s.

    A few years ago, I replaced a good deal of the original mechanical parts: a new engine (used with much less mileage - Volvo doesn't make this type anymore), new fuel pumps, steering, new fuel injection system, brakes, etc. I spent probably about five times the Blue Book Value of the car - as was pointed out to me - but it was worth it to save it even though it's rarely driven. The car was always garaged so the body is still in good shape. 240s forever.

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  4. My first Volvo wagon was a 145, then a 240, then XC70, followed by an XC90 (2005) and now an XC90 (2016). The 240 was a great car.., until it wasn't.

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  5. There are the predictable Pacific Rim made cars on the streets of Beirut.
    Then there are 1980’s vintage Mercedes and old Volvos, lots of them.

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  6. The King of the Road. Virtue on Wheels.

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  7. There was a time when all of my parents’ friends drove these. (My folks drove Toyotas) My brother had a diesel for a time which he loved. His best mate tinkered with them and air cooled VW’s. I tried buying one once when I was about 17 but the owner sold it before I could return from the bank!
    -JM, VA

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  8. Had a silver wagon in the mid-80s. Miss it.

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  9. We had a 245 for eighteen years and unknown mileage. We bought it new, but it was replaced with a used 740 wagon, which unfortunately did not last as long. I drove a V40 for a number of years and our daughter still has an S60. It's entirely possible that those Volvo are what led me to this blog, but more likely the Land-Rover photos.

    While the 240 was good, even great, for what it was meant for, it certainly isn't what all cars should be. I have a long list of other cars that were all quite different and mostly un-Volvo-like, but only a few of which I actually ever owned. Some were as practical as the Volvo wagon, others were, well, just cars that I wanted to own, like the two Rover sedans. Some, like the Peugeots, went off the market before I had a chance to buy one. One, a Bristol, which I saw in a used car lot, were so rare that few have even heard of them. But twice I got to drive a Citroën, which is probably as far as I should have gone in that direction.

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  10. An industrial-strength car!

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  11. Currently have 1992 Volvo 240 DL Wagon with 289M miles preceded by 1983 Volvo 240 GL Wagon Roof Rack & 3rd Seat. They are nicknamed as a "Brick". Substance over style. Most owners have the Bentley Manuals & work on them or reference specific blogs such as Brickboard. Main issue is age & finding parts. You have to be creative. I find that Voluparts in Ga has a great inventory & know the vehicle. Have a good Volvo mechanic who knows 240's....I tell him my diagnosis & proposed fix..we usually agree. You better know that car. Keep a book in glove compartment detailing all maintenance from purchase to current date.
    Do not rely on receipts. Bring that book out, no one is going to question you. Yep, I am a shade tree mechanic..49, 55, 65, Chevy's , 66 Mustang ,65 Lemans, 84 Grand Wagoneer, Various Suburban's, 99 528it, 11 528i.
    Being an engineer, I don't have too many arguments.
    Best vehicle today is a Riceburner , Toyota Land Cruiser bar none. Ranks up with 240. Certainly happy with mine. FYI...no rear sticker on mine

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  12. I had a 1982 240 Diesel sedan that I purchased when it was 2-3 years old. It lasted quite a few years until it rusted out due to the heavy salting our streets get in the winter.

    The past few cars I have driven are the poor man's Volvo, Subaru's.

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  13. The 240 is a wonderful car but unsuitable as a reliable everyday vehicle. I wonder what current car compares to it.

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  14. We own two Volvos now, and I would love to guy a good second-hand XC70, but I HATED my parent's 1983 240DL wagon. It was such a rattletrap, and body role was awful. But, it was solid . . . .

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    1. The DL wagon had two faults. At least ours did. For one thing, it went through a lot of mufflers and tailpipes. I think the problem may have been the way they were suspended. Ours also started rusting out behind the rear tires, if I remember correctly, and the rusting probably may have hastened the frequent tailpipe and muffler replacements.

      At the time we bought that Volvo, the only other car I considered was a Peugeot 504 wagon. How that might have turned out, we'll never know. But Peugeot left the US market soon after that.

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    2. Audi A4/Allroad or Q5 would be comparable

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  15. True workhorse! My brother, sister, and I had one in the late 80’s thru 90’s. Drove thousands of I95 miles from Boston to DC in all types of weather - college bound! What a beast, college stickered rear windscreen, carried more collegiate crap one could imagine. We currently own three Volvos of varying types, however, I would buy a 240 wagon in a heartbeat. Just can’t find the anywhere!

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  16. Sigh. I really miss my old 244DL in monkey vomit green. A sedan, but a wonderful car with surprising pick-up on the interstates. Sadly a cracked engine block and a grad student's finances put an end to that relationship. But what a wonderful few years we had.

    Kind Regards,

    Heinz-Ulrich

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  17. Volvos have improved tremendously since the 240 series. My first Volvo was a 1986 240 DL wagon. I loved it, but was disappointed in its handling in the snow. I subsequently owned a 1994 940 wagon, a 1999 xc70, and a 2005 xc 70. The 2005 was the best of the lot, but the Volvo dealer left my town, so in 2015 I replaced it with a Lexus NX300h. I miss lots of things about the Volvo, but I have to say my maintenance costs are a lot lower now, and the Lexus front wheel drive is as good as the Volvo's all wheel drive in inclement weather.

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  18. Age sixteen, driving to a sailing regatta from Cape Cod to Northeast Harbor, Maine: us kids fooling around in the back seat of a 240 trying to see how many grapes we could get in our mouths. One kid started tickling another as we went through a toll booth and the one with her mouth full of grapes 'projectile-spit' them out into the coin collection bin.

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  19. My father had a Volvo, just like this one. He passed away in 1995, we sold the car, I should have kept it. The glove box would fly open every time we went over a bump.

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  20. We had a Volvo 240, well maintained. The camshaft froze in the cylinder head. I haven't owned a Volvo since.

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  21. A good friend in high school bought a used burgundy red Volvo 264 in 1981, which was my first experience with a Volvo. I was in the back seat when we were hit hard by a Ford pickup truck on ice during a snowy evening in Cold Spring Harbor, NY. I was so thankful that car was built like a tank because we all walked away from the accident unscathed.

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  22. The first Volvo I ever rode in was the predecessor of the 245, which I think was a 220. It was owned by one of the more interesting people I became acquainted with in college. We started the same year and even with me taking three years off to serve in the army, I still managed to graduate before him. He also owned a long wheelbase Land-Rover, which made him all that more interesting. However, he claimed that his Dodge pickup truck was the more practical vehicle of all of them.

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  23. I love these cars. I earned my license in a Volvo just like this one. (I say earned because driving did not come naturally to me!) My mother let me drive solo to the ferry in Woods Hole that summer via 495 in that car. No destination other than Martha’s Vineyard could have forced me to drive on the highway before then. I overcame my fear of driving and highways in that car. I have a XC90 now but it’s nothing like that tank!

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