Advice on buying a 740 GL wagon

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Geronimo - 20 Jun 2005 04:31 GMT

I am looking into buying a 1990 740 GLE wagon listed on Ebay. The
dealership in NJ says it appears immaculately maintained, and the
photos look good. It has 185K miles. The Kelly BB says the value
from a dealership is abt $5K, from and individual, about $3300. the
reserve price is unknown. Anyone have an idea how high I should bid
on it? My brother picked up a 1992 Volvo GL wagon for $3000, but it
was an individual. and the AC didn't work. On this one they claim
everything is functional.
My other concern is how many miles are these engines good for? 185
K is a lot of miles! I know it won't last as long as a diesel would,
but they are tough reliable engines.

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James Sweet - 20 Jun 2005 04:36 GMT

> I am looking into buying a 1990 740 GLE wagon listed on Ebay. The
> dealership in NJ says it appears immaculately maintained, and the
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> K is a lot of miles! I know it won't last as long as a diesel would,
> but they are tough reliable engines.

Volvo 4 cylinder engines are famous for being very long lived, if it's well
maintained the engine should be the least of your worries, 185k is just
about broke in, they regularly go for 300K or more. If only Volvo had used
Diesels that were as well made as their gasoline engines.

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Geronimo - 20 Jun 2005 04:50 GMT

I should add a couple of things. It is a GLE model, not just GL...and
it has 2.4 L engine. From nadaguides.com, this, I think, means it is
the 16-valve engine. I think the 16-valve engine has interference
type-valves, which is bad news when the timing belt breaks. Also, the
eBay ad says nothing about it having turbo. I am a little concerned
that it might be very sluggish/underpowered without a turbo.
Nadaguides.com shows average retail price of $3000, but I think that
it is not factoring in a deduction for high mileage (under the
mileage column at the bottom, it just shows "N/A").

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James Sweet - 20 Jun 2005 05:11 GMT

> I should add a couple of things. It is a GLE model, not just GL...and
> it has 2.4 L engine. From nadaguides.com, this, I think, means it is
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> it is not factoring in a deduction for high mileage (under the
> mileage column at the bottom, it just shows "N/A").

2.4L? I think even the 16V engines were 2.3 but I could be wrong. 16V
engines are nice, you *do* have to keep up on timing belt maintenance, but
you should do that anyway. They're also quite powerful, nearly as much so as
the turbo, but less low end grunt. Even the standard 8v 2.3L is reasonable,
with an automatic they're a little sluggish but with a manual they're not
bad at all, particularly if you drop in a VX or K camshaft. It's all a
tradeoff of power, fuel economy and maintenance effort but all of the 4
cylinder engines are quite well made.

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Peter $Remove one i and theRemove$ - 20 Jun 2005 18:37 GMT

A GLE has the 4-cylinder 16-valve engine. There were some problems with
these leaking oil at the bearings so look for excessive dripping. The engine
is not all that powerful when hooked up to an automatic. My 740 GLE was a
slug in fact. But, my 745 Turbo was much much quicker and longer lived. If
it is a regular GL 4-cylinder (or the turbo) it will last longer than the
GLE 16-valve.

My neighbor just sold his '94 740GL wagoon in very good condition (no
turbo,no leather) for $3,400. It had 125k on it. It is not even at its half
life.

Pete
'98 V70GT
'99 V70 XC90

>I am looking into buying a 1990 740 GLE wagon listed on Ebay. The
> dealership in NJ says it appears immaculately maintained, and the
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> K is a lot of miles! I know it won't last as long as a diesel would,
> but they are tough reliable engines.

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