Advice please:
Had an offer to buy old camry estate 1989 with 100k on for £500. Very good shape for year. Do these engines and cars last as don't see many on road today. I also considered an older volvo estate maybe 740 or 940 around H, or J reg. Most have about 125,000 miles + on them. Body looks OK, are these a better bet and is say 140.000 miles on a 2.3l 940 volvo going to last or a bit too tired at that age? I know the history is very important but most have some history but rarely complete. I'm talking petrol engines here not diesels by the way. In terms of petrol engines which cars have an exellent reputation for longevity?
Thanks
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Volvo's generally have a great rep for their lastability.
My Grandad had a 240 which did over 200,000 miles, a lot of that was pottering around towns in it's later life too.
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Both of these cars are as close to indestructible as you're going to get. The main reason you don't see many old Camry estates on the road today is that there never were many Camrys in this country - which is a shame, because in the late 80s, they were very good cars.
The problem is that you cannot expect any big £500 motor to last. The mileage isn't an issue, it's the age. A five year old with 100k should have plenty of life left in it, but it doesn't take much to go wrong on a twelve or fifteen year old car to put it beyond economical repair.
If you need a big car and only have £500 to spend then you're looking at the right cars - though I'd add an 88-93 Passat to that list. However longevity for a car like this has already been achieved and while they could go on for anther five years or more, they could equally drop dead tomorrow. They're good cars but you can't expect them to last as long as one costing ten times as much.
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Got to agree - we have 2 940's in the family with 140k (1991 regn.) and 190k (1994 regn.) on the clock. Both run very well although the younger car (Wentworth) has been slightly less reliable overall than the older car. On one of my recent visits to the MOT tester I was in the queue behind an F plate? 740. When it was my turn the tester said he never found any problems with these cars and the 740 he'd just done had covered 250k!!! Apart from having some minor scratching on the front NSW, the car I've just got rid of (940 se turbo estate) was pretty much spotless inside/out and sailed through every MOT I had done on it in the 7 years I owned it.
Don't be put off a 940, they're great cars!
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Mileage is not the issue with these Volvo engines. If serviced they will outlast anything else on the road. I bought mine with 180,000 and it is still running perfectly at 293,000. The local agent knows of 2 still running with 400,000 plus.
At that age the problems will be rust - even Volvos rust in the end - and expensive repairs. It really depends on how much you can do yourself. They are easy to work on and quite straightforward mechanically.
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What you want is a Mercedes. A W123 1978-1986. Superb machines & go on for ever. (Check for water ingress & loads of rust.) If you can cope with going up to £1,000 you should be able to get a really pretty good example. There's real style to the car too.
You might get a tatty early W124 for this sort of money if you look hard enough.
They do get nicked though. I've just had my second one nicked within a month (from London).
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Bet your insurers love you eh MM? :)
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You've not had another one half-inched, have you Mapmaker? You must be spitting feathers!
ND
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Another look at the CCTV to see if its the same scroat then MM?
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In '85 I bought '83 Passat GL5 at 18,000m for £5,500, traded it at 192,000 in '95 plus £13,000 for ex-Hertz '94 Passat 2.0GL on 4,500, just traded that at 232,000m for Focus [expecting less miles p.a. now as family grown up]
That's 400,000 reliable comfortable miles from two second-hand top-of-range Passat estates in twenty yrs for less than 5p per mile depreciation - no complaints there. Well done VW.
If I had sold either at 100,000, someone would have had a real bargain!
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Thanks, ND! Spitting feathers? Crying miserably more like.
This was a really nice one too. Anyway, it means I can indulge in my new favourite hobby - buying 123s.
Didn't have time to have an immobiliser fitted... nor a tracker. Removing the rotor arm kept it on the street for a few days, but one night I didn't and..............
Not even parked in the same street as hadn't got round to moving the residents parking permit onto it, so no luck with the CCTV, RF. (Thanks by the way for your tip on getting round Bristol on Thursday morning.)
PS 'MM' I believe belongs to somebody else - and not Motorway Man (requiescat in pace).
But at £400 my previous one had done me 10p per mile; by now it would have been down to 5p per mile including oil change...
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The old Passats are real gems for anyone searching for cheap wheels. The 8V engines give excellent economy (42-50mpg on a run!) and the estates are huge inside for people and baggage. 250,000 miles is nothing unusual.
Sadly, the newer ones don't seem to be holding up so well?
Gareth
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Thanks for all your help, Oh did I mention I'm after a autobox.
I would like a Volvo but I'm a little worried about maintenance cost, what is the better engines to go foe in a 940/740 not diesel.
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Maintenance costs - well bear in mind that by definition reliable cars don't go wrong very often so not so much to worry about there. In 7 years of ownership the only thing which went wrong on my 940 was the brake servo. You're looking at an old car now so you can get it serviced via an independent and save £££££'s. Likewise any bits you need don't have to come from Vovlo. Many parts are available at very good prices from companies like eurocarparts. Also, not too many complex electronics to go wrong and cost you a fortune. My brother's Wentworth is an auto and it's not as nice to drive as my old manual but that's a personal preference isn't it. Bear in mind the auto will be significantly less fuel efficient especially in urban use.
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don't buy a merc without an auto box. The auto Mercs are superb, the manuals are virtually universally accepted to be somewhat less attractive.
When it comes to expensive repairs, you just have to buy a new one. You have to be realistic in running a sub £500 car that now and again you'll be forced to buy a 'new' one when faced with a repair bill for several thousands of pounds.
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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the subaru legacy. These can be had for around the £500 mark and should be at least as reliable as anything else for the price.
Jonathan
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Yes, I've often though of getting a Legacy, but I gather insurance & parts are expensive. Any comments from anyone, particularly for old ones at the cheaper end of the market?
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At this price bracket, you should try to source most parts from a breakers (except brakes and safety kit naturally).
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I have been looking at old Mercs on ebay.
At the prices seen, never spend money on replacement engimnes or gearboxes. Just buy another for £500!
madf
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My cousin still runs a 1988 Camry, 2.0 16v Petrol, automatic. Last time I saw it in Aug 2003 it had 197,000 on the clock and he has never had a major mechanical malfunction having owned it since it was a year old and had 13,000miles. The alternator went at about 150K, and I don't recall him mentioning other engine bits going bad. The cam cover seeps a bit of oil but nothing that requires topping up between changes. He has changed suspension bits and the odd brake drum cylinder, and the fuel gauge only works when driving over bumpy roads, but he has no complaints.
The same holds true for many other Toyota owners with cars of that era, anyone remember that Toyota pick-up from TopGear?. The newer Camrys being US built don't seem to have the same reputation.
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You're paying too much. You should be able to get them for 'free to a good home for restoration' non-runners. People are very fond of them, and will give them away rather than send them to be broken. The big killer of these 123s is rust; the mechanicals carry on for ever. So if you have a good body stick with it, and drop an engine in from elsewhere for next to nothing. The interiors get pretty tatty too after 20 years.
tinyurl.com/2ct2k - very nice
tinyurl.com/2k5qc - pretty rough
tinyurl.com/2bvwl - very rough indeed (thought about getting it as a 'decoy' car to leave in the street, as you cannot lock it!)
tinyurl.com/2mu29 - very nice
Have you seen this Subaru if that does it for you tinyurl.com/2u6qy
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