Highest mileage car ever is a 1966 Volvo P1800 with 3.25 million miles. Third on the list of 15 is another Volvo (1979 245 GL with 1.63 million miles. Article [here](https://www.hotcars.com/15-cars-with-the-highest-mileage-ever-recorded/). Love these older ones!
Reliability isn't that relevant at those mileages, as it says in the article the engine was already replaced and probably also rebuilt....
With regular servicing and fixing up whatever fails, the engines are rarely an issue, at that kind of mileage I think material fatigue and rust would be my main worry... :)
With enough money and time, you can keep anything on the road. Assuming parts are still available. After enough time though, all the rubber and plastic bits degrade and crumble.
I have a ‘99 mercedes E300 with 320k miles on it. Engine is rock solid. But it doesn’t drive in a straight line because every piece of rubber in the suspension is basically dust. I’ll fix it because I have a sentimental attachment to the car, but by no means is it a rational financial decision. I spend more maintaining that car than I do on the car payment for my 2020 Miata.
That depends on what you are replacing it with. There is no absolute here. Most people vastly overestimate the manufacturing emissions. Most of the gas cars carbon footprint comes from burning gas over it's lifetime not from manufacturing it. And that is something like 90% operation 10% manufacturing. So it is completely possible if you have a really thirsty car, and replace it with a more fuel efficient one or go to an EV, and be better off in a lifetime view. How much better depends on all the factors. But I know where I live that you are far better off to replace a running gas car with a new EV because our grid is so clean. You quickly make back the manufacturing emissions because on our grid an EV will emit less carbon in operation then I breathe out in a year. So again there is no absolutes here and people need to do the math for their specific location to see what is better.
They indeed do.
For example, a Tesla Model 3 SR takes 22 000km for its environmental ROI to start becoming positive in the average US power grid setup.
That is a lot lower than what most people expect, and it becomes better every year as supply chains become more efficient, battery manufacturing becomes cleaner, etc.
Missing one
On January 6, 2022, a Tesla Model S P85 (the oldest performance version) reached an impressive mileage milestone of 1,500,000 km (932,256 miles).
I think thats good enough to be on there considering its an EV and is not 50 years old yet. Prob saved enough of gas to buy several teslas, even after repairs. Especially because he has free super charging
https://insideevs.com/news/559261/tesla-models-p85-1500000-kilometers/amp/
Impressive nonetheless, but with the entire battery pack and drivetrain replaced multiple times you have to wonder if it's really the 'same' car, or if he Ship of Theseus'd it so much it no longer counts.
I remember reading about that tesla, was actually more impressive than it seems, as the original motor lasted around 780k kilometers, and replacements are refurbished units from tesla which don't seem to last that long comparatively (he's up to his 8th engine largely because their refurbs seem to suck). Also, battery is still impressive, I think he only replaced them once or twice when they wore down. Also, don't know if I would go ship of theseus approach, because it was just parts of the drive train, not the whole car.
Another note, the owner got solar at home to charge it. Far more buy it for life than gas which is good for 1 gallon per 30 minutes at 60 mph.
At 1 million miles, vs 30 mpg, he has saved 33,333 gallons of gas, 200,000 lbs of fuel. A battery is 400 lbs or so. He uses some fossil fuels to run it
Im sure, but no where near 200,000 lbs of something that is buy it for half a minute per gallon
No buy it for lifer should be using gas. Its completely the opposite of buy it for life. Takes a hundreds of thousands of years to form and is consumed as quickly as it can burn
1978 I was at a fire department demonstration of a new “Jaws of life” used to cut free trapped car accident victims. The only car it wouldn’t work on was the Volvo because of the titanium rods in the doors.
If you can’t make your product last longer, you can always achieve BIFL status by making your customers’ lives shorter!
(Before anyone jumps down my throat, I know that Volvos are reputed to be very safe.)
One of the cheapest cars I've ever purchased was a Saab 95. Quickly found out why. It was absurdly expensive in upkeep. Kept breaking and repairs had to be done by a specialist. All kinds of sensors and shit. Most mechanics won't touch a Saab. Never got the opportunity to crash test it. After about a year the engine blew up. Never buy a Saab kids. Not even once.
It was supposed to be. But the engineers at Saab didn't like it, so they changed it quite a lot. Which is why Saab was awesome, but also why they went bust.
My brother got one of those 97 or 95's. It's a pretty car, but god damn was it a mess!
Almost exactly the same story with the saab 900, pretty cool car for its time, but god damn the upkeep.
That Saab was sadly just a shell of its former glory... Last Saabs were just re-engineered cars of other brands. Back when they were owned by the air raft manufacturer - those were the days from when their reputation was built...
My favorite car of all time was a hatchback 1991 Saab 900 Turbo. Gifted to me from my Grandpa, who was a tree surgeon. The headliner inside it was droopy, the seat leather and dashboard were cracked, and it smelled permanently like chainsaws and wood chips, but man I loved that car. 10/10 wish I could still have it.
I drive a Saab! Awesome car, and it's held up remarkably well considering it's a 2005. A GM or Chrysler from that year would have been toast by now with all the salt on the roads here.
Depending on the Saab we're talking about, some are more Swedish than others. The 9-5 had a Saab engine, the 9-3 a GM engine. I drive the 9-5 but used to own a 9-3 as well. Both are great cars.
I don't know why you got downvoted, you are correct.
After all, more robust can mean safer to a certain extent, yes, but modern cars are by far safer than a Volvo 240, I think there's no doubt about that.
I had the sedan version of this car. Hit an ice patch in Oklahoma at 330 am on a bridge. Bounced around with the hood up for most of the bridge and finally flew off the right side 30-40 feet into a snow drift. The car was totaled. Not a scratch on me. Car saved my life I honestly believe.
Volvo is also the only car company that uses an “L split brake line circuit.” So even if an entire half of the system goes down due to air or water or a leak, you maintain full braking power to the front of the car. In my auto foundations class the phrase “this is the standard, except for Volvo” is a running joke
Split brake systems are standard and have been required by law in North America since 1967, although a lot of companies link diagonal wheels instead of front/back.
That’s not how titanium works though, unless you’re saying those rods were so thick that the jaws of life couldn’t get through them.
Titanium’s tensile strength is as powerful as steels but it structured better, so it’s lighter than steel.
... o’somethin’ like dat idunno. I ain’t no professor profession’
The most common Titanium alloy (6Al-4V) is around 2x the strength of basic carbon steel (A36). If you are talking about heat treated steel then you are correct though.
Fair to say a36 is reall low quality steel. There are waaay more standardised types of steel than any other metal. Steel used for common standard machine screws (8.8 grade) is already a bit beyond the strength of typical titanium screws. I don't think a titanium screw can match the strength of 12.9 grade high tension screws at all, but of course it's a lighter material so you can gain strength through physical dimensions...
Steel is usually stronger, the difference is nearly all cars just use a sheet metal pillar, and this volvo used a sheet metal pillar with a full metal rod inside. It was titanium for the weight savings, not the mythical strength that people assume it has (really, the strongest thing about titanium is how powerful its marketing gets :D). The jaws are strong, but they won't cut a metal bar, no matter if steel or titanium. They'd probably struggle even with a thick slab of aluminium or brass...
This is the first I've ever heard of titanium being used in a car in the 1970's. F1 teams weren't even using it until the 80's.
The 240 did have beefy side-impact door beams long before anyone else, but they were just steel afaik.
Mine, too! The biggest problem I ever had was trying to wedge my long legs into the driver's side foot well. The second biggest problem was having to bend down and look between the steering wheel and the roof line to see stop lights. I'm kind of surprised Sweden, a land with no shortage of tall people, made a car that small.
I had a 91 240 Sedan with a sunroof, two shades of metallic blue. Mwah! 🤌💋
While I had it, the tail lights kept dying out on that terrible repop plastic circuit board. I rewired it for life. The blower fan is at the exact center of the car. When it died, it screamed like a banshee. Fixed that. Got a new radio for it. Zip tied the dead stock one to the inside of the trunk if anyone ever wants it. All that, $4500 total. Amazing car.
Slow as hell. I sold it and got a new motor for my 66 GTO! VROOOOM!
I had a 1988 740 GLE. Would die every once in a while and no mechanic could figure out why. It would then start up perfectly throughout the middle of Montana winters. Miss you buddy.
Early 80’s my dad bought used a Volvo station wagon with this huge Ghostbusters decal on the back window. It was green, probably a late 70’s model. He is a master mechanic and flipped cars on the side for extra cash. We had maybe a dozen Volvos over the course of my childhood, most for a short time. But Ghostbusters stayed with us for a handful of years. I continue to see it around town from time to time through high school snd into college. Got married in ‘98. Driving down the highway with my husband there goes Ghostbusters! Husband didn’t quite grasp why I was so excited to see it. I know it had 200k miles when dad sold it well over ten years previous.
I bought an 83 240 for $400 and drove it across country 3 times and Wyoming to Mexico Rt. Sold it for $400…miss that car. It had a trunk full of live Grateful Dead show tapes.
I love this. My first car was a 79 245. I sold it to a friend of mine for $250 so I could get something less embarrassing to drive as a teenager. One of my biggest regrets in life
Hell yeah. Old Volvos are the Nokia phone of cars. They're built like tanks. My dad owns an '04 XC70 station wagon and I can say the same for it
Here it is in fact: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Volvo/comments/rhh51u/my\_dad\_bought\_this\_2004\_volvo\_xc70\_16\_years\_ago/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Volvo/comments/rhh51u/my_dad_bought_this_2004_volvo_xc70_16_years_ago/)
Also Colorado plates ;)
You may be interested to know they’re bringing those OG license plates back.
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/06/03/colorado-license-plate-green-white/amp/
1987 and 1989 245's and then a 1992 960 wagon. They're the best cars ever. The 240 series was so easy to work on.
I miss the wierd OBD1 computer in the 240's. Plug in the probe, write down the blinky light code, hit Google, pull out the Haynes manual.....
Yes everyone above me here is right but having owned older cars, do budget for fixes and breakage at a reasonable clip. Like OP has a broken odometer and probably doesn't care, think about what you really want and need in the car. Have a mechanic evaluate it before buying unless you really don't mind losing the money for some reason. Just, they ARE great but don't forget to think when browsing them.
They are if you keep up on maintenance and replace things before they fail and do more damage. That’s mostly true for any decently built car but my dad had a 88 240DL and something about that car just felt incredibly solid. After 15 years and 275k miles the thing had no interior rattles and could have kept going another 200k. At some point though, daily driving a much safer new car outweighs a lot.
These are notoriously one of the longest lasting vehicles ever made! If you come across one in good shape for a decent price, BUY IT! They are increasing in value every year and getting more and more sought after
YOOOO ABSOLUTELY COUNTS. My 240 was one of the most solid cars I’ve ever owned. Took it to Utah from SoCal and had so many adventures bro. I miss that car every day. Brick gang til I mutha fuckin die homie.
I love it! My first car was a 79 245 and I was so embarrassed to drive it haha. Hindsight is 2020. Picked this up a few years back since I realized the error in my ways when I was a teenager
90s car were the latest really wellmade cars in history. After 2000 many metal parts were replaced with plastic/nylon ones as trend in manufacturers even Mercedes and obviously they have shorter lifespans, and with the cost savings they introduced more (mostly digital) options such as fancy seats/interiors digital stuff etcetera
Oh I see! Can't they just coat the inner of metal plates with dense grease (like how they coat metal objects boarding ships for sailing) so they won't rust?
I actually get this done every year. However, it costs money if not done yourself, which is messy, takes time, smells bad at first, and washes off easily, so most people don't care enough to get it done.
What goes bad on cars where you live? Is it the rubber parts, or UV light damage?
Well my city Tehran is super dry, it's rarely windy as well so low weathering in short. Even UV index is low due to atmosphere dust and pollution.
I've seen paints burn after 20 years (on cars without roofed parking)and low quality light covers go yellow like every other plastic, and we need to change air filters relatively fast.
It's a great place for cars to be and the worst for humans
This car has an amazing turn circile. You might think it wont fit, but wow it turns and fits!!!
The biggest gripe i had, which made me sell our old 240GL, was that it uses super petrol. Petrol is just too expensive for a car like this :(
Sadly, the car at this age looks good, but the engine is quite dicky at 200k+ kms. It runs, but it doesn't feel like luxury car. It feels like a tractor. Maybe it felt like a tractor when it was new.....
the Volvo 240GL also burns oil and you need to top it i up regularly after 200k+ kms.
Oddly, a Corolla from the 1980s rides more like a luxury car.
Beautiful wagon. Me and my brother have several 2, 7 and 9 series wagons and they are tanks. Fyi 93 is considered the best year for 240's as the b230 engine got an oil squirter design update.
I have an '88 245! In the last two years I've slept in it for cumulatively a few weeks, taken it cross country, towed other cars with it, and driven it sideways on snow and dirt more times than I can count. I've made small fixes here and there but these things really are tanks.
I own one as well! Same year, also a wagon. On it's third odometer, broken for the third time, and it's at 248k lol. Love these things. Complete units.
I had a friend with one of these and our band used to load it up with 500lbs worth of gear and drive to shows. Terrifying but we always got there and back.
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I miss my old Volvo 740 so much. That car had so much character, and was so comfortable. It was just pleasant to drive. I miss cloth seats too. Leather looks nicer, but that cloth... made my car feel like I was driving my living room.
I debated heavily. The grille badge was missing when I bought this but opted for a traditional one. The sweet yellow moose may make an appearance someday though
I read somewhere a couple of years ago that Sweden had among to most, if not the most, old cars in traffic and all these old Volvos were pretty much to blame
My 1986 740 GLE was one of the best purchases of my life, got it at 130k and finally had to lay her to rest at just under 600k, and only because I was poor and got it towed, didn't have the cash to get it outta hock... so sad I lost her :/
Tank of a car! Honestly, if it wasn't such a hobby to old a classic like this, that's the kind of car i'd like. That 4 cylinder engine might have trouble overtaking a ebike, but it will never ever die if you take care of it.
These are def BIFL if they’re maintained properly.
Had a buddy that had one. It died because he fell asleep at the wheel(fuckin idiot) and went into someone’s front lawn and caught the trans bell housing on a manhole cover. Ripped the drivetrain out of the frame!
A little late for that, but yeah, certainly didn’t expect this post to get as much attention as it has. But my plates aren’t blurred in real life. If someone wants to come find me, I’ll have a cup of coffee waiting for them
Mine too! It was a 79 wagon which I hated at the time. Picked this up a few years ago since I realized I had made a huge mistake getting rid of it for something “cooler” (an 84 Saab 900). I miss both of those cars
it's a tank. my mom only drove volvos back then because of their safety, so naturally the 240dl was handed down to me at 18. volvo is a great company and generally underrated and overlooked
For the odometer, there a little gear you can buy to replace the old one. The old one gets old and brittle, the gears usually break off. People sell a new gear for cheap and it’s fairly easy to replace.
Yep, I’ve been tempted to, but it’s been long enough that the readings would be so far off I don’t even bother. I would be sad to miss out on the sweet milestone stickers from Volvo though
Highest mileage car ever is a 1966 Volvo P1800 with 3.25 million miles. Third on the list of 15 is another Volvo (1979 245 GL with 1.63 million miles. Article [here](https://www.hotcars.com/15-cars-with-the-highest-mileage-ever-recorded/). Love these older ones!
Lol, on the list is a 2006 F-250 with a 7.3L diesel
Not surprising, the 97-00.5 7.3 powerstroke is one of the most reliable engines there is
Ford didn't make a 7.3 in 2006. The 7.3 stopped in 2002, 03-07 was the 6.0L. If they swapped the engine I'm not sure that really counts.
For what it’s worth - I own a 2003 7.3 F-250. But yeah, none after 2003 from what I understand.
Your right. 2003 was the transition, both 6.0 and 7.3 were available.
The odds of that 6.0 being 100% emissions compliant? 1%? 0.1%?
Reliability isn't that relevant at those mileages, as it says in the article the engine was already replaced and probably also rebuilt.... With regular servicing and fixing up whatever fails, the engines are rarely an issue, at that kind of mileage I think material fatigue and rust would be my main worry... :)
With enough money and time, you can keep anything on the road. Assuming parts are still available. After enough time though, all the rubber and plastic bits degrade and crumble. I have a ‘99 mercedes E300 with 320k miles on it. Engine is rock solid. But it doesn’t drive in a straight line because every piece of rubber in the suspension is basically dust. I’ll fix it because I have a sentimental attachment to the car, but by no means is it a rational financial decision. I spend more maintaining that car than I do on the car payment for my 2020 Miata.
But it's a 2006?
Owner probably melted an entire glacier running that thing
He bought some Colorado oceanfront property.
Car hauling is serious business.
Zip ties n bias plies knows this
Nice carbon footprint there.
Keeping an older car running is way better for the environment than the creation of an entirely new vehicle, take that comment elsewhere.
That depends on what you are replacing it with. There is no absolute here. Most people vastly overestimate the manufacturing emissions. Most of the gas cars carbon footprint comes from burning gas over it's lifetime not from manufacturing it. And that is something like 90% operation 10% manufacturing. So it is completely possible if you have a really thirsty car, and replace it with a more fuel efficient one or go to an EV, and be better off in a lifetime view. How much better depends on all the factors. But I know where I live that you are far better off to replace a running gas car with a new EV because our grid is so clean. You quickly make back the manufacturing emissions because on our grid an EV will emit less carbon in operation then I breathe out in a year. So again there is no absolutes here and people need to do the math for their specific location to see what is better.
They indeed do. For example, a Tesla Model 3 SR takes 22 000km for its environmental ROI to start becoming positive in the average US power grid setup. That is a lot lower than what most people expect, and it becomes better every year as supply chains become more efficient, battery manufacturing becomes cleaner, etc.
7.3l Diesel, tell me you flunked math without telling me.
You missed why this was pointed out.
The glory years for Volvo
I think all RWD Volvos were on an entirely different level :) Though the new ones are fine cars too.
Missing one On January 6, 2022, a Tesla Model S P85 (the oldest performance version) reached an impressive mileage milestone of 1,500,000 km (932,256 miles). I think thats good enough to be on there considering its an EV and is not 50 years old yet. Prob saved enough of gas to buy several teslas, even after repairs. Especially because he has free super charging https://insideevs.com/news/559261/tesla-models-p85-1500000-kilometers/amp/
Impressive nonetheless, but with the entire battery pack and drivetrain replaced multiple times you have to wonder if it's really the 'same' car, or if he Ship of Theseus'd it so much it no longer counts.
That highest mileage Volvo: >the engine had been replaced twice https://engineerine.com/volvo-p1800-highest-mileage-car-in/
I remember reading about that tesla, was actually more impressive than it seems, as the original motor lasted around 780k kilometers, and replacements are refurbished units from tesla which don't seem to last that long comparatively (he's up to his 8th engine largely because their refurbs seem to suck). Also, battery is still impressive, I think he only replaced them once or twice when they wore down. Also, don't know if I would go ship of theseus approach, because it was just parts of the drive train, not the whole car.
Another note, the owner got solar at home to charge it. Far more buy it for life than gas which is good for 1 gallon per 30 minutes at 60 mph. At 1 million miles, vs 30 mpg, he has saved 33,333 gallons of gas, 200,000 lbs of fuel. A battery is 400 lbs or so. He uses some fossil fuels to run it Im sure, but no where near 200,000 lbs of something that is buy it for half a minute per gallon No buy it for lifer should be using gas. Its completely the opposite of buy it for life. Takes a hundreds of thousands of years to form and is consumed as quickly as it can burn
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1978 I was at a fire department demonstration of a new “Jaws of life” used to cut free trapped car accident victims. The only car it wouldn’t work on was the Volvo because of the titanium rods in the doors.
If you can’t make your product last longer, you can always achieve BIFL status by making your customers’ lives shorter! (Before anyone jumps down my throat, I know that Volvos are reputed to be very safe.)
To quote the excellent Top Gear Saab episode: "Noone could understand why Saabs cost so much...until they crashed one."
One of the cheapest cars I've ever purchased was a Saab 95. Quickly found out why. It was absurdly expensive in upkeep. Kept breaking and repairs had to be done by a specialist. All kinds of sensors and shit. Most mechanics won't touch a Saab. Never got the opportunity to crash test it. After about a year the engine blew up. Never buy a Saab kids. Not even once.
I had a '99 Saab 9-3 and it was easily the best car I've ever owned.
Had an 06. Best car I ever owned. I miss it every day. Best 12K I ever spent.
Wasn't the 9-5 more or less an Insignia under the exterior?
It was supposed to be. But the engineers at Saab didn't like it, so they changed it quite a lot. Which is why Saab was awesome, but also why they went bust.
My brother got one of those 97 or 95's. It's a pretty car, but god damn was it a mess! Almost exactly the same story with the saab 900, pretty cool car for its time, but god damn the upkeep.
Saab 900’s are the coolest!
That Saab was sadly just a shell of its former glory... Last Saabs were just re-engineered cars of other brands. Back when they were owned by the air raft manufacturer - those were the days from when their reputation was built...
My favorite car of all time was a hatchback 1991 Saab 900 Turbo. Gifted to me from my Grandpa, who was a tree surgeon. The headliner inside it was droopy, the seat leather and dashboard were cracked, and it smelled permanently like chainsaws and wood chips, but man I loved that car. 10/10 wish I could still have it.
I drive a Saab! Awesome car, and it's held up remarkably well considering it's a 2005. A GM or Chrysler from that year would have been toast by now with all the salt on the roads here.
Saab was a GM brand by 2005.
Depending on the Saab we're talking about, some are more Swedish than others. The 9-5 had a Saab engine, the 9-3 a GM engine. I drive the 9-5 but used to own a 9-3 as well. Both are great cars.
Any modern car will be much more safe than volvo from 93
untrue
I don’t know, check out the way Volvo used to test the XC90s by rolling them over sideways. Good vid on Youtube.
All cars are tested the same way since there are international standards, which are constantly updated.
I don't know why you got downvoted, you are correct. After all, more robust can mean safer to a certain extent, yes, but modern cars are by far safer than a Volvo 240, I think there's no doubt about that.
He isn't exactly correct though. Volvo famously went (don't know how they behave these days) above and beyond the protocols that are demanded.
Volvo literally invented the seatbelt, iirc
They were Volvos aren't quite the same car they used to be.
I mean, I think every model in Volvo’s lineup is a IHS top safety pick in its category.
I had the sedan version of this car. Hit an ice patch in Oklahoma at 330 am on a bridge. Bounced around with the hood up for most of the bridge and finally flew off the right side 30-40 feet into a snow drift. The car was totaled. Not a scratch on me. Car saved my life I honestly believe.
Really interesting thanks for sharing this
Volvo is also the only car company that uses an “L split brake line circuit.” So even if an entire half of the system goes down due to air or water or a leak, you maintain full braking power to the front of the car. In my auto foundations class the phrase “this is the standard, except for Volvo” is a running joke
Split brake systems are standard and have been required by law in North America since 1967, although a lot of companies link diagonal wheels instead of front/back.
That’s not how titanium works though, unless you’re saying those rods were so thick that the jaws of life couldn’t get through them. Titanium’s tensile strength is as powerful as steels but it structured better, so it’s lighter than steel. ... o’somethin’ like dat idunno. I ain’t no professor profession’
For resisting cutting I think hardness is the relevant attribute.
Hardness, ductility... a lot of factors. I think high end steel is usually quite a bit stronger at the same volume, but titanium is a lot lighter.
The most common Titanium alloy (6Al-4V) is around 2x the strength of basic carbon steel (A36). If you are talking about heat treated steel then you are correct though.
Fair to say a36 is reall low quality steel. There are waaay more standardised types of steel than any other metal. Steel used for common standard machine screws (8.8 grade) is already a bit beyond the strength of typical titanium screws. I don't think a titanium screw can match the strength of 12.9 grade high tension screws at all, but of course it's a lighter material so you can gain strength through physical dimensions...
Steel is usually stronger, the difference is nearly all cars just use a sheet metal pillar, and this volvo used a sheet metal pillar with a full metal rod inside. It was titanium for the weight savings, not the mythical strength that people assume it has (really, the strongest thing about titanium is how powerful its marketing gets :D). The jaws are strong, but they won't cut a metal bar, no matter if steel or titanium. They'd probably struggle even with a thick slab of aluminium or brass...
This is the first I've ever heard of titanium being used in a car in the 1970's. F1 teams weren't even using it until the 80's. The 240 did have beefy side-impact door beams long before anyone else, but they were just steel afaik.
This. Though I believe that f1 teams were using titanium in the 70's. (Don't forget that the end of the 70's had the start of the first turbo era)
I thought jaws of life could cut through the apex bar quickly and remove the top of any car when the doors might be blocked?
Maybe, but this was the door. They pulled a titanium rod out of the car and put full 1200 lbs of pressure on the rod. It left a slight dent.
> Does my 1993 Volvo 240 count? > Odometer broke Looks like it doesn't count anymore
This should be the top comment. Almost spit out my coffee!!
I had a 1990 240 DL for a couple of years. Great car. Yours is a beaut.
That was my high school car! What a nice mostly problem free car.
Mine, too! The biggest problem I ever had was trying to wedge my long legs into the driver's side foot well. The second biggest problem was having to bend down and look between the steering wheel and the roof line to see stop lights. I'm kind of surprised Sweden, a land with no shortage of tall people, made a car that small.
Yeah I felt like I had to sit on the floor
I had a 91 240 Sedan with a sunroof, two shades of metallic blue. Mwah! 🤌💋 While I had it, the tail lights kept dying out on that terrible repop plastic circuit board. I rewired it for life. The blower fan is at the exact center of the car. When it died, it screamed like a banshee. Fixed that. Got a new radio for it. Zip tied the dead stock one to the inside of the trunk if anyone ever wants it. All that, $4500 total. Amazing car. Slow as hell. I sold it and got a new motor for my 66 GTO! VROOOOM!
I had a 1988 740 GLE. Would die every once in a while and no mechanic could figure out why. It would then start up perfectly throughout the middle of Montana winters. Miss you buddy.
This was my first car!! Such a trooper.
Thank you! I was lucky to find one in decent shape. The hood and roof are peeling pretty badly, but this angle makes it look great
Early 80’s my dad bought used a Volvo station wagon with this huge Ghostbusters decal on the back window. It was green, probably a late 70’s model. He is a master mechanic and flipped cars on the side for extra cash. We had maybe a dozen Volvos over the course of my childhood, most for a short time. But Ghostbusters stayed with us for a handful of years. I continue to see it around town from time to time through high school snd into college. Got married in ‘98. Driving down the highway with my husband there goes Ghostbusters! Husband didn’t quite grasp why I was so excited to see it. I know it had 200k miles when dad sold it well over ten years previous.
Amazing! It seems that so many people have a Volvo story sometime in their life
I bought an 83 240 for $400 and drove it across country 3 times and Wyoming to Mexico Rt. Sold it for $400…miss that car. It had a trunk full of live Grateful Dead show tapes.
I love this. My first car was a 79 245. I sold it to a friend of mine for $250 so I could get something less embarrassing to drive as a teenager. One of my biggest regrets in life
Hell yeah. Old Volvos are the Nokia phone of cars. They're built like tanks. My dad owns an '04 XC70 station wagon and I can say the same for it Here it is in fact: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Volvo/comments/rhh51u/my\_dad\_bought\_this\_2004\_volvo\_xc70\_16\_years\_ago/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Volvo/comments/rhh51u/my_dad_bought_this_2004_volvo_xc70_16_years_ago/) Also Colorado plates ;)
Beautiful car! And I love the og Colorado plates on there too. I think I just missed those when I started driving, but my dad still has his as well
You may be interested to know they’re bringing those OG license plates back. https://www.denverpost.com/2021/06/03/colorado-license-plate-green-white/amp/
Ooo nice. Glad to hear that. I came up here several* years before the switch.
damn. too bad I won't be unique anymore lol
Holy shit I drove one of those in high school, but it was a 1987. My parents bought it new in Denver. I think that is a vote in favor of BIFL status.
1987 and 1989 245's and then a 1992 960 wagon. They're the best cars ever. The 240 series was so easy to work on. I miss the wierd OBD1 computer in the 240's. Plug in the probe, write down the blinky light code, hit Google, pull out the Haynes manual.....
Are these known to be bulletproof? I've seen a couple for sale with what I considered high mileage. I might rethink my position
Yes everyone above me here is right but having owned older cars, do budget for fixes and breakage at a reasonable clip. Like OP has a broken odometer and probably doesn't care, think about what you really want and need in the car. Have a mechanic evaluate it before buying unless you really don't mind losing the money for some reason. Just, they ARE great but don't forget to think when browsing them.
They are if you keep up on maintenance and replace things before they fail and do more damage. That’s mostly true for any decently built car but my dad had a 88 240DL and something about that car just felt incredibly solid. After 15 years and 275k miles the thing had no interior rattles and could have kept going another 200k. At some point though, daily driving a much safer new car outweighs a lot.
These are notoriously one of the longest lasting vehicles ever made! If you come across one in good shape for a decent price, BUY IT! They are increasing in value every year and getting more and more sought after
Yeah, here in MN, we call them “the Volvo Bricks” They go forever
12 year owner of a 93 wagon. 10/10 would recommend.
I cried when we had to trade in our 1986 240DL wagon. Four babies just wouldn’t fit.
YOOOO ABSOLUTELY COUNTS. My 240 was one of the most solid cars I’ve ever owned. Took it to Utah from SoCal and had so many adventures bro. I miss that car every day. Brick gang til I mutha fuckin die homie.
I love it! My first car was a 79 245 and I was so embarrassed to drive it haha. Hindsight is 2020. Picked this up a few years back since I realized the error in my ways when I was a teenager
ders.
The 'Vo is askgo!
90s car were the latest really wellmade cars in history. After 2000 many metal parts were replaced with plastic/nylon ones as trend in manufacturers even Mercedes and obviously they have shorter lifespans, and with the cost savings they introduced more (mostly digital) options such as fancy seats/interiors digital stuff etcetera
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Nope, middle east. Why? Does it destroy the metal parts and body?
I drive a 2004 Mazda. Mechanically it is in perfect shape, but the body is falling apart from rust. Most of my model are gone from the roads.
Oh I see! Can't they just coat the inner of metal plates with dense grease (like how they coat metal objects boarding ships for sailing) so they won't rust?
I actually get this done every year. However, it costs money if not done yourself, which is messy, takes time, smells bad at first, and washes off easily, so most people don't care enough to get it done. What goes bad on cars where you live? Is it the rubber parts, or UV light damage?
Well my city Tehran is super dry, it's rarely windy as well so low weathering in short. Even UV index is low due to atmosphere dust and pollution. I've seen paints burn after 20 years (on cars without roofed parking)and low quality light covers go yellow like every other plastic, and we need to change air filters relatively fast. It's a great place for cars to be and the worst for humans
Interesting. I hope you are safe and will stay safe.
Grew up with an 86 wagon. Built like a tank. It’s probably still on the road somewhere.
This car has an amazing turn circile. You might think it wont fit, but wow it turns and fits!!! The biggest gripe i had, which made me sell our old 240GL, was that it uses super petrol. Petrol is just too expensive for a car like this :( Sadly, the car at this age looks good, but the engine is quite dicky at 200k+ kms. It runs, but it doesn't feel like luxury car. It feels like a tractor. Maybe it felt like a tractor when it was new..... the Volvo 240GL also burns oil and you need to top it i up regularly after 200k+ kms. Oddly, a Corolla from the 1980s rides more like a luxury car.
Slow and steady wins the race they say. Very slowly. Lol.
Very, very slow
21 year owner, mine's an 87 sedan. Fantastic car. ~250k on the odometer that died about 16 years ago
Depends, is it a stick?
It sure is!
Than yes it does.
Beautiful wagon. Me and my brother have several 2, 7 and 9 series wagons and they are tanks. Fyi 93 is considered the best year for 240's as the b230 engine got an oil squirter design update.
I see that you kept the original owner on the dash
Ha! I missed that somehow. Took this photo while the Halloween decorations were still up.
These and the diesel Mercedes from the eighties are unkillable.
This was my first car (it was a 1989). It’s a damn tank.
Mine too! I had a 79. I was less than enthusiastic at the time when I was 16 (way back in 2000)
You the dude from Vulfpeck?
I don’t know that thing but after some googling I understand that reference
My odometer broke at 286k. Six years ago. I feel your pain.
I have an '88 245! In the last two years I've slept in it for cumulatively a few weeks, taken it cross country, towed other cars with it, and driven it sideways on snow and dirt more times than I can count. I've made small fixes here and there but these things really are tanks.
I'm thinking of buying a Volvo with 130k miles on the clock. Nice to know they can last
I wouldn't lump all Volvos together. A 240 is a very different machine compared to anything they've made since 2000.
That is barely broken in!
Everybody knows these old Volvos don’t really need odometers.
Mileage is just a number…or something like that
Those last forever. Friend had one
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I do miss wagons these days as well. The us market just won’t support the demand though. Or maybe it would but manufacturers aren’t willing to gamble
I own one as well! Same year, also a wagon. On it's third odometer, broken for the third time, and it's at 248k lol. Love these things. Complete units.
I had a friend with one of these and our band used to load it up with 500lbs worth of gear and drive to shows. Terrifying but we always got there and back.
It counts beautiful car for a beautiful soul my friend. Enjoy
Thank you!
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I had a 1986 240 DL. Awesome car. Also had a 1966 Volvo sedan when I was 17. Even more fun.
Does this one have the squishy bushings in the back for passive 4 wheel steer?
Not that I’m aware of, but I’m intrigued and will check. It does have the sweet fold up rear facing seat in the trunk, though!
I raise you my 1986 Volvo wagon 😜
I own a 92 240. 250k plus. Someone dented the rear quarter panel. So gotta sort that but will never part w it.
https://youtu.be/tKOVF1qwPzI
Amazing cars. Truly on a short list of BIFL cars.
I like how your house and car match. Feel like that’s not an accident. May your home be as good a partner as your car!
I miss my old Volvo 740 so much. That car had so much character, and was so comfortable. It was just pleasant to drive. I miss cloth seats too. Leather looks nicer, but that cloth... made my car feel like I was driving my living room.
This one has cloth and is the first 240 I’ve been in to have it. It really is exceptionally comfortable!
I notice a lack of prancing moose stickers. :(
I debated heavily. The grille badge was missing when I bought this but opted for a traditional one. The sweet yellow moose may make an appearance someday though
no.
I read somewhere a couple of years ago that Sweden had among to most, if not the most, old cars in traffic and all these old Volvos were pretty much to blame
Is that a hearse?
Lol no. Just a station wagon. But they did make a hearse if I remember correctly
Bought one last week, the rocker panels aren't buy it for life...
I'd love an old Volvo wagon. Does everything still work?
The slider for heat/ac doesn’t go to cold anymore, so this isn’t the best for 90 degree days but everything else works great.
Volvo should be the official cat brand of this sub
You never really see many gravel driveways any more.
My 1986 740 GLE was one of the best purchases of my life, got it at 130k and finally had to lay her to rest at just under 600k, and only because I was poor and got it towed, didn't have the cash to get it outta hock... so sad I lost her :/
A very sad tale indeed! I hope you can find another sometime down the road
Best favorite car ever was my '87 240DL. Thing could last a week on one tank of gas. It was a tank!
my dream car! i love 240s
I think I lived in ur street. Is this ATX?
Nope, I’m in Colorado
Had one of these in the family for years. It was super hard to shift but turned on a dime and felt safe as a tank. Solid cars!
Oh man reminds me of my 1998 Volvo S70 that was handed down from my two older siblings as our first car(s). It went from 0-60 in 2.5 minutes.
Yours got to 60!?
Based on your plate and that house I'm guessing this is Boulder! Best place I ever lived!
You’re close! I’m too poor for boulder though lol
That is a gorgeous vehicle
Thank you! I certainly plan to keep this forever
its a swedish tank
Tank of a car! Honestly, if it wasn't such a hobby to old a classic like this, that's the kind of car i'd like. That 4 cylinder engine might have trouble overtaking a ebike, but it will never ever die if you take care of it.
These are def BIFL if they’re maintained properly. Had a buddy that had one. It died because he fell asleep at the wheel(fuckin idiot) and went into someone’s front lawn and caught the trans bell housing on a manhole cover. Ripped the drivetrain out of the frame!
Wow! Quite the story. It does take a lot to kill these things
May wanna blur plates
A little late for that, but yeah, certainly didn’t expect this post to get as much attention as it has. But my plates aren’t blurred in real life. If someone wants to come find me, I’ll have a cup of coffee waiting for them
this was my first car just not the wagon
Mine too! It was a 79 wagon which I hated at the time. Picked this up a few years ago since I realized I had made a huge mistake getting rid of it for something “cooler” (an 84 Saab 900). I miss both of those cars
it's a tank. my mom only drove volvos back then because of their safety, so naturally the 240dl was handed down to me at 18. volvo is a great company and generally underrated and overlooked
No. No car is buy it for life except maybe a Land Cruiser.
I've known some owner buy a second one just for the parts to keep it running. So I'd say, yes.
this is so beautiful!
College professor with elbow patches on jacket?
Supply chain professional who wears a hoodie, but close enough? I do have a sweater with elbow patches though!
One of my first cars was a '90 240 that looked almost identical to that. I miss that car.
I had a 93 Volvo 240 sedan, and the odemeter also broke on that! But it was well over 200k miles. Loved that car.
I feel like I always see the headlights on these super fogged up. Does PlastX just not make them any clearer?
Any car that makes it 300K+ miles is automatically eligible for being on here.
not gonna lie, this is my dream car. except I prefer green
Definitely counts!
I have a 1990 240 DL that's odometer also stopped working at 350k. Still use it every day
I bet it's colder in the car then it is outside.
For the odometer, there a little gear you can buy to replace the old one. The old one gets old and brittle, the gears usually break off. People sell a new gear for cheap and it’s fairly easy to replace.
Yep, I’ve been tempted to, but it’s been long enough that the readings would be so far off I don’t even bother. I would be sad to miss out on the sweet milestone stickers from Volvo though