Everytime i open the back doors on my DL my eye is drawn to the slope on the top of the door..and i say why?..and the answer that comes to me is..Because they could and not because they had to..hj.

If you mean the same as in the sense of having similiar engines, rear wheel drive, a three box layout and four wheels then they are the same. But the 700 series was a completely new design which is why it drives like a more modern car (than the 200 series).

The first 700 concept was not quite the estate car that the 700 later became - I'll have to watch out now as the trolls will be stirring.

Jon

Yes, my point I suppose was that they are of the same concept. The 850, for example, is very different, as is the 300 series and the 400 series.

Purely from the point of view of aesthetics, I prefer the look of the 700, especially the estate. It just seems to be an outstanding example of "form follows function": it looks right, and makes a superbly functional load-carrier.

I thought it did, by a year? (200 ended 1993, 700 ended 1992)

Yes, but I would argue, as I did in my post, that the 700 series and 900 series is the same car. But it is not important. I am happy to say that the 200 series survived the 700 series.

I agree on this. It's a technicality that the 200s outlived the 700s. The 900s gave the 700s a new lease of life in the nineties. The smooth 760 style front and dash was amazing at the time compared to my Manager's 740.

Yeah, it is almost magical to think that there was a time when the 760 arrived and you'd see it on the street and think, wow, that is a cool car. Even in Sweden were I grew up, they were quite rare.

It IS the box it came in; there are no stupid "aerodynamic" features like compound curved glass or a wrap-around tailgate like the Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer has. Anything that is smaller in cross-section than the gaping maw of the load area WILL go in whereas the Vauxhall's load bay is much smaller than it appears to be.

The 245/265 will accommodate an IKEA sofa or a 6' tall display cabinet; I know because our second 245 carried both items at different times in its life with us.

Both are pretty good designs, mechanically and aesthetically.
I like the 60s overtones of the 200. Size wise they are about right, perhaps 6" wider would have been ideal. Park one next to a modern Euroblob and it looks tiny!
A decent multicylinder engine (who said Rover V8?) would have made both cars outstanding. The PRV didn't. Nor did that VW rattler.
As for the 700s, the Reagan era styling is of its time. Ugly rear pillars on the saloon similar to those appalling downsized American cars.
I worked on them both as new cars back then. Turbos were a bit playful in the damp as I remember..
They lack the character of the 200s .Which could be said when compared to 140s, then equally to Amazons. A typical Saxon world view I suppose, the past is golden and everything since is progressively less so.

If you have either a 2 or a 7, save it, as the newer models are a different species.