Which of those antiquemobiles were the best before they were given round styling in the 2000's?
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The 240 had rounded styling in the 1970s, continuing that of the 140 from the 60s. The present round styling - the shoulders along the top of the doors, the slight convex curve front to back, the tapering lines along the bonnet - is a retro through-back to those models.
In between came the square styles - 740, 940, which now look much more dated than the earlier ones.
As to which was best, it depends what you want. All the 4 cylinder variants were built to last, and are capable of mega mileages. My 240 is just coming up to 400,000 miles, and is a reliable everyday driver for a long commute, but I know of plenty that have done far more than that.
The 6 cylinder engines were not so robust, but gave impressive performance. Many say the 960 turbo was the ultimate, and last, real Volvo.
Someone else can comment on the 850 etc. The engines are good but no longer that good, and Volvo lost the art of making fantastically manoeuvrable cars combined with the ability to take years of overloading and abuse.
Are you thinking of buying one? Fuel consumption is not as bad as reputed (easy 30 plus per gallon), but they are cheap, easy to maintain, have plentiful original and aftermarket spares, and come ready to work.
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My mate's dad had a 1977 244DL 2.1 auto estate which he bought at three years old and scrapped last year. 517,000 miles, original engine, original gearbox (but had been rebuilt at some point) and with very little replaced outside of consumables. It was the gearbox going again, plus a fairly expensive MOT fail list (factored against its value) that killed it off. It drove to the scrappie though.
I never drove it, but went in it as a passenger a few times, and could never believe how smooth and solid it still felt. Looked quite rough though (the paint had almost faded to nothing)
Cheers
DP
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I loved my 740 GLE Estate. 2.3 petrol engine with overdrive gearbox (sometimes, could be difficult to get it to engage). Handling could be horrible but straight line performance was great.
Once carried 10 people in it in rural Wales, where coppers were thin on the ground.
Cost me £8000 at 2.5 years old, private sale, in 1990, whcih was about half its cost new.
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Had a 740 estate with a 2.0 petrol engine L reg whatever that was. Dog slow and didn't like corners but I became strangely fond of it. Also had a T5 850, very quick and addictive acceleration but didn't handle all that power very sweetly. Probably my favourite though was an 850 2.5 10v. It seemed to have the right balance of a decently powerful engine in a chassis which could handle it better than the lairier T5 setup. Nice throaty noise from those 5cyl engines too.
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Id say the 240 GLT estate. It is what Volvo was known for doing so well and the purest form of civilian tank building. There are still many around which says all you need to know about how well made it is.
The GLT had a reasonable turn of speed and leather if memory serves, so prob the best of the bunch.
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