On the look out for an older estate car, considering an old Merc or perhaps a Volvo 960/V90.

I know the W123/124 Mercs reputation but I'm not so sure of the old straight six Volvo's, just wondered if anyone on here had any knowledge of them.

Any good or best avoided?

 

the 3 litre in these will see you needing a petrol tanker behind you. If you want an old volvo, get a 740 / 940. These are bombproof. I have owned many over the past 4 years. The one 740 estate cost me £100, it did everything i threw at it, helped people move house, did le mans 3 years in a row, and the only time its ever really let me down, was when the ignition amp went just outside calais last year! And then in November 09, i crashed it on a damp bend and ended up through a fenced area and hedge!

The car bore the brunt of the impact, and my plan was to fix it as it was LPGed and super cheap to run! but then i decided to relise my dream and finally get an S2000! My volvo had heated tan leather seats, electric mirrors and windows all round, heated rear window, 2.3 litre 4 pot redblock engine. it really was like an old truck.

I still have my 740GL saloon, which has the best service history of any car ive ever owned (even details when the bulb holders for the day running lights were changed!). The interior is still like new and certainly doesn't look like its 190,000 miles. The heated seats still work, the electric windows and mirrors still work, the car drives as tight as a drum. The price for this beast? £120 back in Jan 09! And again, not one problem all year.

This might not be what you wanted to hear if your looking for a volvo with a bit more power, but for truely bulletproof, reliable, cheap motoring, the older 7/9 series 4 cylinders cannot be beaten! My 2 volvo's are the best cars ive ever owned for the money.

At the time, I was gutted to crash my 740 estate, it really was a car i bonded with, and i was going to keep it forever!! just one damp corner on a notorious road ive driven for years, caught me out, and that was that.
Needless to say, I love my S2000, and will be keeping it for the forseeable, along with my beater 740. These 2 cars are like chalk and cheese, but both truely amazing in their own ways

 

he just sold his vxr8


crazy, man

 

The 960 was one of the first truly decent cars Volvo ever made (they were pretty shit for years). Engine is lovely. It really was an alternative to the germans, for once.

Repair costs and that fuel tanker will result in the blues though.

 

Thanks for all the tips/advice.

Not too concerned about fuel consumption, it will only be doing around 5K miles per year, and as Mr Soulcrew points out I'm used to spending money on petrol.

Is there any difference between the 960 and V90 or did they simply change the name to line up with the V70?

V90's seem to be very rare.

 

Volvo couldn't really compete image-wise with the received-wisdomness of the germans by then. So yes, almost as rare as a Honda Legend, for similar reasons.

The V90 is really a rename; later 960s had a huge facelift (virtually an all-new chassis underneath!) with proper IRS & the lovely straight-six.

Early 960s were still a bit crap.

 

So worth getting as new as possible.

I'll keep my eyes open and see what turns up, I imagine the problem will be trying to find a decent unabused one.

 

I'm quite tempted by an older Volvo V70 myself, you can pick up a non inter-galactic mileage S - W reg for 2ish K. Awesome load carriers.

 

not really. Newer ones are not a patch on the older ones. We have owned 850 / 70 series volvo's and the older 7/940's. the older ones pee all over the newer ones for reliability. Less to go wrong.

7/940's are very very simple to fix if and when they do go wrong!

 

New but not so new, it will be a RWD one, in saying that I'm willing to look at anything at the right price.

I test drove a V70 T5 a couple of years back, I remember liking it apart from the woeful turning circle.

I really don't want to be spending more than £1500 if possible.