Volvo 740 maintenance costs

[afton]

I'm going to inspect a 1988 Volvo 740 GL tomorrow,
the ad says he's the second owner, has a full log book and
the car has been serviced regularly every 6 months.

The car exterior and interior looks good from the pics,
and the listed price is A$3000 (=~US$2700) so I'm pretty keen.
But the thing that I'm worried is the maintenance cost, I know
that maintaining an European car would be more expensive than
a Japanese car, so my question is how much in dollar terms
have you spent on your Volvo yearly?

[sseir39]

That is tough to answer, especially in a nearly 20 year old car. Once you get the car in near perfect shape then you can perhaps get a better estimate. Really depends on what you find as you go and old cars do continue to have new problems develop. Fortunately these cars tend to be easy to fix and parts, new and used, are available at a reasonable price.

[wojeepster]

my 88 240 has been a hell of a lot cheaper to maintain than my mazda miata..... In the 13years I have owned it I have replaced just in regular maint the timing belt 4x, brake pads about the same, ignition switch, oxygen sensor, struts 3 times, air mass sensor, outer front wheel bearings 2 times(my driving i'm afraid) fuel filter 3x, front bushings, rear bushings, exhaust, fuel pump relay, in tank prepump (i just thought it was time to change with 280,000 miles...for the most part regular maint. The only things that really broke were the fuel pump relay, and the electrical part of ign switch and the air mass sensor (got two used for $20 each)

[Kmaniac in California USA]

The cost of maintenance depends a great deal on whether or not you can do most of it yourself. If you are mechanic-dependent, your wallet will suffer, especially if your mechanic tries to take advantage of you or just makes their living changing parts, good or not.

I purchased my 740 three years ago from a private owner. It had 202,000 miles and I paid only $1,000. Over the past three years, I have put another $2,000 in maintenance and repairs, including a new exhaust system, one set of tires and two new fuel pumps (both pumps at once, not one pump twice). Except for the tires and exhaust, I did all the work myself. The previous owner had the car maintained by an independent (and some say reputable) Volvo garage in the "Peoples Republic of Berkeley", California. They paid this garage more for work in the three years previous to my purchase than I have paid for everything since, including a $1,600 bill for four-wheel brakes, full tune up and water pump just seven months before I bought it. After working on this car, I discovered that although the garage was good at installing parts, they couldn't find their own posterior with both hands at high-noon on a sunny day when it came to troubleshooting. I now have 230,000 on the clock and it still runs strong.

Anyway, good luck with your decision.

[flynscot]

Short answer from my brief, so far, 740 ownership experience:

Yep they're cheap to maintain. Parts are reasonable, and if you can do your own work, so much the better. If this car truly has been well maintained, you're probably in good shape, but it is an old car so things will wear out.

Check out FCPgroton.com, eeuroparts.com, or ipdusa.com to get an idea about parts cost.

Alot of what you spend depends largely on your ablitity to prioritize any repair issues. If you're anal-retentive (like me), you'll want to fix every little thing that goes wrong. Really, reliability and safety items should always be done first, followed by convenience and cosmetic items. This seem obvious, but it's easy to get wrapped up in projects.

$2700 US seems a bit high for even a very-well-maintained 740, however. I paid considerably less for my very-well-maintained one-owner '90 model with 130K on the clock, and have put about $700 into it in the last 6 months-- some of that necessary, most of it not, but it's for my own peace of mind.