"One Day My Son...
 

...you'll grow up to be like me"


I wonder if people will have the same sentimental value for the current Volvos in years to come?



Mine parked behind my neighbour's recent purchase.

Attachment 35717

I like the current Red colour being used.

I doubt it. I think they're just another fleet car to most people, the latest badge fad.

(Yours might have looked more like that colour though, over twenty years ago.)

I suppose only time can tell how many new Au^H^H BM^H^H Ja^H^H Volvos will survive electronic overequipment failures. I feel that they're likely to be getting scrapped in quantity somewhere between 7-12 years old, because of a single fault in a sealed unit that costs more to replace than the whole car will be "worth" at the time. Like most cars these days. That's if they even last that long.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with this expensive single-unit type failure. Much as I love modern cars are manufactured this way otherwise if they produced a car that would do a couple of hundred K miles and didn't rust for a couple of decades there wouldn't be much profit!

PS - JMZ - tuck those wheels in straight please! I know a couple of people who have had cars (albeit non-Volvos) have serious damage by some idiot driving past clipping a wheel that is turned outwards like that. :)

Someone reckons that the average modern car has a seven-year life span: after that it becomes uneconomic to repair it...

Front wheels should be pointing in to the kerb if facing downhill and away from it if facing uphill so that if the handbrake fails the car will roll into the kerb and not into the road.

That's if they even last that long.
 

Sealed units will cause issues for the unlicky ones that feel the need to have next years model, but with a lot of cars we on this forum will see from day to day, build qaulity can also be an issue, not as bad as BL's finest, but nearly.

How good do you feel when MOT's come and go, and the tester says 'Dont see many of these', normally followed by 'I've failed cars a quarter of this age'.

This years MOT cost me nothing other than the testing fee, when I came to pick it up it was parked between a 56 plate C200 Merc with really crusty rear arches (I mean dry dock stuff) and a 07 plate Clio that had peppered sills, as I'm friendly with my tester I asked about the cars and both had failed, for the reasons mentioned, the Merc had sharp edges (rear arches) and the Clio had rust too close to a jacking point (Sill), both cars of 5 years old or less, failing due to bodywork who would have thought it!!!

Newer cars will also cause owners a problem when they have aged, a mate of mine had a ding with an Audi TT about 18 months ago, his Escort van was ok, but the TT needed 3K of work done to it, half of that was just for the rear bumper, so imagine a TT owner in say 7 years time 3K for a ding to a 7K car it looks quite close to being uneconomical to repair, in nearly the same way owners of real cars are close to being written off because they need a headlight an a slap of filler on a wing.

I like sticking with cars I understand, no real electronics, nothing to cause any real headaches, bodywork that rarely lets you down. the way motoring should be.

Just my 2's worth

Scott

wheels parking ...
 

Ah!
...I had actually reversed into the space, hence the wheel position, there was another car behind when i parked ...and Loki, exactly, as you can see from the pic there is a slight incline and better safe than sorry!

I cant remember where I read it but Im sure I saw a quote that said Volvo built the 240 to last an average of 19.3years.

Well thats true for most of them! If it wasnt for the banger racers there would be even more about.

I have never owned a FWD modern volvo but when I see them about I don't even think of them as that boxy but good shape. Volvo look like any other car brand:broken_heart:

I have a 22 year old volvo 240 thats still going strong, will we say the same when the new cars are as old?

I would love volvo to do an upgraded 240:thumbs_up:

When all the RWD volvos are no longer/ too expensive because they are rare/ collectable what will I drive?

James:thumbs_up:

JMZ, and I thought we really had something. We could have made it. But with parking like that! ;-)
Totally, leave the wheels angled toward the curb, but this is a situation where it's better to be obtuse.
Ha.

Yeah, I don't know. I think there'll always be 'classic' cars. And 'old' cars. I wouldn't consider the 240 to be either at the minute. They're older than most would go for, so they're kind-of-rare. (I'm talking of course about 'standard' 240's and the like, not obscure models etc.)

But at some point in their lives, cars become rare. It happened with the 'T' Ford, it happened with Rollers it's (in my opinion) happening now with 240's. They're building a fan base, and are becoming rare. It'll happen with things like the Vauxhall Nova and then the Ford Focus will be a classic... Hard to believe now but it'll happen.

What will be interesting will be when electric powered vehicles take over. Yes, it'll be many years from now, but at the turning point between oil and 'E' there'll be a huge breakdown of what is saved and what is lost.
I love my 240, and would hope to keep one forever. But if tomorrow oil was no longer available as readily as it is now, I know I wouldn't run one. Yes I would probably lock it away somewhere and keep it as a 'classic'. But I'm an enthusiast (in my own way). But that's me. (the 240 is my dream car, sad but true. Easy to please.)
For huge swathes of people a car is a car. And even for those who love their cars, space will be too much of an issue. Loads will be lost.

God, this got deep...
Er, where can I plug my 240 in?