Re: 740 vs 240 (Peoria Murph)
Hi:
As has been pointed out already, the two cars share most of their major mechanicals, so they're about even in that regard.
To me, the 740 is a much more Americanised car than the 240, as it was designed to be. Its ride is softer, its appointments less quirky. The 240 is taller, boxier, and to me at least, feels roomier inside.
Where both cars have a problem is in their interiors, with the 740 being somewhat worse than the 240. Both cars like to shed and break interior plastic. On the 240, the problems are mainly confined to the door pockets, the centre console, and the glove box door. All of these are easy fixes- you just find new pieces and replace them, which takes nothing more than a screwdriver.
The 740 is a bit trickier. The door pockets and seat-side pockets love to break, and finding good ones can be harder than finding 240 pieces. The inner tailgate trim panel on wagons likes to break its mounts, causing a rattly tailgate. IPD carries a repair kit that will fix this problem. And just about any 740 you find will need a new headliner; Volvo used a bonded-foam headliner for the first time in this car.
Replacing a 740 headliner is somewhat tricky. To begin with, Volvo used a 1/8-inch thick fabric, instead of the 1/4-inch thickness used by damn near every other carmaker. You MUST use the correct 1/8-inch thickness to get a proper result, particularly if you have a sunroof. If you use 1/4-inch material, the sunroof will bind in its tracks and not operate properly. The board to which the fabric is glued is somewhat fragile, and requires care in handling. This is no problem on wagons (just pull the board out through the tailgate), but it's a real problem on sedans, where you have to coax the board out the front door opening. Boards can be repaired; IPD has instructions on its Website. It's going to cost you real money to fix a 740 headliner; materials alone for a wagon are over $100 at IPD.
On both cars, the driver's seat is usually in pretty bad shape- after all, these are cars that are fifteen and twenty years old, or more. There's a secret to fixing them- the same upholstery is used on both driver's and passenger's seats. Since it's absolutely interchangeable, you can usually find a junkyard car with a good passenger seat to use as a donor. On my 240, I was quoted $300 to re-upholster my driver's seat. I found a donor passenger seat skin on eBay for $10, and mounted it myself. That $10 was for vinyl; expect to pay much more for a good leather skin.
Engine compartment wiring can be a problem on both; the problem was fixed by the late 1980s. It's not uncommon for an early 1980s 240 to need a whole new wiring harness, due to "biodegradable" insulation on the original wiring.
One last thought- the later the year model, the better the air-conditioning on either car. It took Volvo a little while to understand how extreme heat could get in America, as opposed to Europe; some early 1980s cars don't cool down well in very hot weather. Volvo addressed the owner complaints by the late 1980s, and later cars are pretty much as good as anything out there.
Modified by danemodsandy at 11:06 AM 6-13-2007
