Wanted Tell Me About: Volvo 740

[Sigmund Fraud]

I also think that the 850 and early V70 retained the core features of earlier Volvos - they were certainly over-engineered (just take a look at their gearbox bearings !) and favoured practicality and comfort rather than style and performance.

 

In a similar way to SAAB, later models gradually lost their character, possibly due to sharing far too many components with their parent company's cars.

 

I've never driven an 850, but the V70s I've driven had really nose-heavy handling. They're probably far safer for the uninitiated, but the 700/900 cars are far, far more [PH] chuckable [/PH] than their size would suggest and great for a [PH] dab of oppo [/PH].

[Guest Hooli]

850s & the square (phase one?) V70s felt like Volvos to me, the later cars don't, nor did the S/V40s.

[Lacquer Peel]

I've never driven an 850, but the V70s I've driven had really nose-heavy handling. They're probably far safer for the uninitiated, but the 700/900 cars are far, far more [PH] chuckable [/PH] than their size would suggest and great for a [PH] dab of oppo [/PH].

 

I find the 850/x70 chuckable with excellent steering, but the ride is quite lumpy - the seats make up for it.

 

The RWD ones are chuckable but there isn't much feedback and they flop around, safe and fine to drive quickly but not very enjoyable.

[MikeR]

I could do a donut in the snow with my RWD 240 !!!  , it also took out the odd wheelie bin and tried to knock over a lamp post which put a small dent in the back  bumper , took me longer to put the radio back  in the dash which shot out towards the back seat !!!  .. fun car and useful

[danthecapriman]

The 850 I had, I picked up cheap. Really cheap actually as the owner thought the head gasket had failed so he just wanted it gone.

Now, on those engines the dip stick tube is right on the front of the engine so when it's hot sometimes condensation builds up inside the dip stick tube, the condensation mixes with oil residue and coats the tube and dip stick with rancid mayonnaise! It looks exactly like HG failure.

 

I took it home, it drove spot on and flew along. No issues there. I checked it over just to make sure and there was sod all wrong with it! I cleaned it up, serviced it and put it in for test. Only failed on a split rack boot!

After that my mate fell in love with it so he bought it off me and did shit loads of miles in it before the fuel economy started getting too much. He sold it to a mate of his who had it about a month before he blew the auto box up!

No fault of the car but he drove it incredibly hard and kept red lining it and doing wheel spins (he was a dick!) and moaned like fuck when it inevitably broke. Shame really as it was a really nice car, only had 140k odd miles on it too so was barely even run in really.

He replaced it with an 850GLT saloon manual and fucked that up too.

[MikeR]

one good mod to put in is a crap catcher , it stops the flame trap getting blocked up , and if you are careful a readily avb container which can take a vacuum

 

its scary what is collects !!!

 

 

[rantingYoof]

Nowt quite like the loading bay of a Volvo with the right colour combination...

 

 

 

[MikeR]

another use for a Volvo  , just for camping ,   so I am told ....

 

[Lacquer Peel]

Yo ghosty

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-740-2-4TD-Auto-Estate-113-000-Miles-/172796684555

[Ghosty]

I've seen that - there's a 2.3 GLE listed under 'exhaust manifolds' I've got my eye on as well. I managed to find an off-eBay ad for it too so if it doesn't sell again I could be able to lowball the seller.

Diesel isn't my first choice especially with that OMGRATLUK rocker cover (well it is VAG), and low spec (do high spec diesels exist?). Mileage is good though so it's worth considering at least.

[Lacquer Peel]

Yes, bo11ox had a diesel 764 that was quite plush. Another issue with the base spec is it's the non-intercooled diesel.

TADTS @ the rusty valve cover.

 

I'd insist on a diesel for the noise, sounds much better than a petrol 'four'.

 

[danthecapriman]

I've seen that - there's a 2.3 GLE listed under 'exhaust manifolds' I've got my eye on as well. I managed to find an off-eBay ad for it too so if it doesn't sell again I could be able to lowball the seller.

Diesel isn't my first choice especially with that OMGRATLUK rocker cover (well it is VAG), and low spec (do high spec diesels exist?). Mileage is good though so it's worth considering at least.

I'm not a fan of diesel either, stinking things!

But I'd have a diesel 740! They do sound good.

If spec puts you off, you could easily up spec a diesel using bits of dead GLE petrol cars. Wouldn't be hard and none of it should be hard to find either if you know where to look. I'd imagine doing a good job of this would leave you with a pretty desirable car at the end, and all of it is a simple bolt in job.

 

A set of GLE alloys, and leather/velour seats would make a big difference straight away.

[Ghosty]

Another reason not to get an 850, V70 etc has occurred to me - engine management. Don't want one you could attach an insurance black box to.

 

We all know that Volvos are good for moon miles and then some, but can some of you put that in writing? I'm trying to get hard facts down to shut Old Man up as for some reason he's infringing on my decisions and wants one with less than 100k on it. I don't have white room money (and don't want that shiny a car!)...

[danthecapriman]

If you want one with sub 100k miles you'll be lucky to even find one! I was lucky, mines got 93k but most of them have well over 100k on them by now. They're just that sort of car.

 

High miles doesn't matter on these though. They can take it with ease and basic checks will sort out any potential duffers!

My old saloon went with over 210k on the clock. It's still going now...

My boss had a facelift 740 2.3 with 350k on th clock and that was fine too.

 

Seriously, these cars, it's not worth worrying about mileage at all. I'd buy one on spec/condition regardless of mileage.

[Ghosty]

Just what I needed to hear I know they go forever, I'm just trying to kick the old man out of a delusion (refuses any car based solely on mileage over ~90k).

[rantingYoof]

My V70 was bought by a family trading up from a 2.0 245 estate (?). It had 250k on it.

 

Recently someone on the Volvo Facebook page posted a photo of their V70 derv going past 350k.

 

It took an hour for the thread to become littered with various petrol and diesel models over 300k.

 

But in reality, good maintenance will still be essential for covering moon miles. Your argument to the father should be on the basis of lower mileage cars suffering 'lack of use' issues and that your lower than average annual mileage will compensate for pre-existing high miles.

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Shep Shepherd]

I'm not a fan of diesel either, stinking things!

But I'd have a diesel 740! They do sound good.

If spec puts you off, you could easily up spec a diesel using bits of dead GLE petrol cars. Wouldn't be hard and none of it should be hard to find either if you know where to look. I'd imagine doing a good job of this would leave you with a pretty desirable car at the end, and all of it is a simple bolt in job.

 

A set of GLE alloys, and leather/velour seats would make a big difference straight away.

 

Volvo 700/900 turbodiesels are the only diesel cars that I'd ever want to own. Amazing things! 

[Shep Shepherd]

Another reason not to get an 850, V70 etc has occurred to me - engine management. Don't want one you could attach an insurance black box to.

 

We all know that Volvos are good for moon miles and then some, but can some of you put that in writing? I'm trying to get hard facts down to shut Old Man up as for some reason he's infringing on my decisions and wants one with less than 100k on it. I don't have white room money (and don't want that shiny a car!)...

 

The Volvo has done 235,000 miles on its original engine and transmission:

 

 

It has never been welded and still looks fairly decent, despite being kept outside all its life:

 

 

The defence counsel rests its case.

[danthecapriman]

If you look on my thread about mine, look how much work it needed to see the road again. And that's on a low mileage car. Lack of use does more damage than lots of use.

 

Check this out https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/miles.php

 

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/highmileage/model_display.php

 

Look how old all the highest mileage cars are! All classic models! The rest of the list is pretty impressive too.

 

Here's another one with a video of a 700 going over the 980K mark!

https://highmileclub.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/1988-volvo-740-gle-with-one-million-miles/

[Shep Shepherd]

The Volvo has the 'bronze' high mileage award for reaching 150,000 miles; you can see the blue circular Volvo High Mileage Club sticker in its windscreen in the above photo. It will get the 'silver' award if/when it reaches the 300,000 mile mark ^^

[danthecapriman]

The Volvo has the 'bronze' high mileage award for covering over 150,000 miles; you can see the blue circular Volvo High Mileage Club sticker in its windscreen in the above photo. It will get the 'silver' award if/when it reaches the 300,000 mile mark ^^

Sadly I don't think I'll ever use mine enough to get to that sort of mileage.

[Shep Shepherd]

The car's mileage would have been even higher if I hadn't retired it from daily use in favour of a 1997 V70 in spring 2008

[danthecapriman]

The car's mileage would have been even higher if I hadn't retired it from daily use in favour of a 1997 V70 in spring 2008

It's a company van and my job that keeps my cars mileages down.

I've got to take the van home so I can go straight to work and my standby once a week so I never use my own car for commuting.

I did use my saloon 740 and before that my 244 as dailys year round though before I got my current job.

[Six-cylinder]

This 1990 740 GLE auto could be made available if it was of interest to you.

[overrun]

I used to own a 940 turbo.

 

 

[bub2006]

Another reason not to get an 850, V70 etc has occurred to me - engine management. Don't want one you could attach an insurance black box to.

 

We all know that Volvos are good for moon miles and then some, but can some of you put that in writing? I'm trying to get hard facts down to shut Old Man up as for some reason he's infringing on my decisions and wants one with less than 100k on it. I don't have white room money (and don't want that shiny a car!)...

I've had black box insurance before. No connection to ecu,basically just a GPS tracker box thato plugged in to the cig lighter.

[overrun]

I've had black box insurance before. No connection to ecu,basically just a GPS tracker box thato plugged in to the cig lighter.

This. (Not that I have had one.)

[Lacquer Peel]

Just what I needed to hear I know they go forever, I'm just trying to kick the old man out of a delusion (refuses any car based solely on mileage over ~90k).

Did your HGF Rover have low miles when you bought it? Low mileage is no guarantee of a looked after, mechanically sound car.

The 200k 945 TD I bought from Richard was better in a lot of ways than the sub-100k 944 TD I bought after.

[Guest Hooli]

Talking of black box insurance, I don't believe it's a valid way of recording safe driving.

 

A system that punishes you for actually accelerating is just going to encourage the sort of idiot who pulls out in front of you, stares in the mirror at you trying to avoid them & then toddles off at no more than 47.2mph along a NSL.

[overrun]

Talking of black box insurance, I don't believe it's a valid way of recording safe driving.

 

A system that punishes you for actually accelerating is just going to encourage the sort of idiot who pulls out in front of you, stares in the mirror at you trying to avoid them & then toddles off at no more than 47.2mph along a NSL.

That Aviva 'drive safe' app from the telly adverts makes me think the same.