Newbie Investigating Cars - Looking at Turbo Volvos, performance sedan?

adrianpike said:

200 guys are grumpy because their cars are loud, unreliable, and uncomfortable, and 7/900 guys are grumpy because they're mistaken for their mother.

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My 242 is quiet, reliable and EXTREMELY comfortable. I would take my seats and driving position over any 700/900. As my buddy Zac, I swear he is about to fall asleep in the passenger seat everytime I drive him to and from work.

Some would say there is minimal difference in opinion between 200 guys and 700/900 guys. Nothing like the RWD vs FWD. It's all what you like. Go look at a nice 200 and drive it. Then look at a nice 7/900 and drive it. I LOVE my 242 and also like my buddies 940.

Just check some stuff out, shop around.

adrianpike said:

Did I hit a nerve, mom?

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mom? the hell?

pick up a cheap 240 and see how you like it!(under $500 allday on ebay and elsewhere) they move right along with few mods.

Damn, the 240 is still pretty big, I saw one at a stoplight. I thought that it was a 7/9 series until I saw the 240 number.

They're very long, but quite narrow.
My 242 just about takes up the same length of a garage as the old man's current-model Nissan Maxima; which is a cavernous car by comparison. The Maxima is probably a foot wider though, and it doesn't have all that extra space, particulary up front but at the rear too, for crumple-zone. Car manufacturers were still learning about that stuff in the 70's, these days crumple-zones crumple in odd directions or into vehicle components, whereas in 240's the crumple zones are kinda open air.
If you look under the bonnet ('hood') of a 240, the engine-bay is really long; and there's a fair bit if dead-air in front of that bay too. It's the reason you can fit a big-block in there without needing any cutting (although due to the fact that they're not wide cars, I imagine you'd have to use quite tight headers).

I doubt a 700 or 900 is appreciably longer than a 200; just wider. They also lowered the seating position a bit; you sit more "in" and less "on" a 700/900 than a 200.

BDKR said:

Cleary, some of your chortling is simply 200 vs 700/900 racket.




For Mysticle31:

While the 780's are cool, 200's aren't that heavy (certainly lighter then most modern family sedans and coupes and 700's and 900's as well), came with 4 piston calipers in the front (as opposed to 2 piston floating calipers), and actually have a racing heritage and championship (Group A) to boast as well. They are good, simple, robust designs that make a great peformance platform.

And getting into the 13's with LH 2.4 is cake.

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but they're fugly and have small engine bays.

OP said:

Plus OEM has a certain quality, they spend alot of money to make everything fit right. That being said, I don't want to go hog wild with mods either. I’m limiting myself to bolt ons, chips, intake work, exhaust work, maybe cams if good for daily..etc.

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240T is out then. Packaging with full weight and A/C sucks in a 240T.
Sounds like one of those HIDEOUS 747 k-car sedans is just the ticket. Poik bought one of those things for $300 with a mostly all straight body (needed a hood basically) and is about $1500 all in for a decent DD 14 second car. No A/C, but I assume it'd be easy enough to fix what was there. Volvo and A/C are sort of mutually exclusive ideas, even bone stock. 700s also suck with the windows down compared to a 140/240, but at least one can have A/C and a turbo car easy enough.

Since you only want to have a comfy DD that goes in a straight line with some cornering use, fix the garbage gearbox and torque rods in the 700 and you should have a good cheap fairly comfy hideous car inside and out.

If you actually want to do something useful with the car like drive it on gravel, snow or auto-x or whatever, go find a 240.

adrianpike said:

200 guys are grumpy because their cars are loud, unreliable, and uncomfortable, and 7/900 guys are grumpy because they're mistaken for their mother.

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Funny, this sounds alot like a Ford/Chevy debate LOL. Go with what ya like man, everyone else be damned.

I dont think people think my car is a old mans or a old lady's car. Too low and mean.

Look, the people on these broads love their volvo's to a fault, myself included. We are willing to put time and money that we don't have into these cars to make them more fun to drive. But let's face it. You're looking for something cheap and easy and you mentioned a Maxiam. Just go with that. They're fun cars, easy to mod, and cheap. Hell a 95' SE runs a 15.6@98mph stock and you can pick one up on CL for $4000. You're not going to get that out of a red block without some work.
I mean no disrespect I'm just adding my 2 cents.

Not that I don't love my Volvo, but having had most of the usual suspects in the old euro car world at one point or another. I think you want about a 90 model 5spd BMW 325i. Then you want exhaust, cam, suspension goods, then you want to learn to push it. Then maybe later you want a turbo, which is getting to be easy anymore. I think then you'd have what you want.
Nothing has measured up really since I sold mine to be honest. It was a damn fine car with a lot of performance out of the box, though not especially straight line.

Not that you can't make a Volvo fast as you want, I love mine and have some mild plans for it. Good luck in your search, go drive cars, talking is only so much of a substitute.