There has always been a fair amount of crossover between folks interested in Volvo and Mercedes. Quite a wave back in the 1990s when Volvo went down the FWD road and many people who had been Volvo stalwarts for years became disillusioned and jumped ship to Benz and BMW.

The Volvo diesel models were never sold in great numbers in Canada, except for some reason in our midwest. This resulted in them being seen as oddball cars even by the dealers, most of which never got comfortable working on them -- ditto most indie shops.

Many people said the 240 diesels were underpowered. I drove two and don't agree... anyone who said that never drove a US-spec B21f automatic (a particularly anemic 4-cyl. gas spec model).

The 240 was/is a terrific car for Canadian winters. One car magazine said it was the best RWD ever made, for driving in snow, and I agree. Even on my tank of a w116 I needed four winter tires to equal the Volvo's stability with only all-season tires in winter.

I am actually sniffing around for a 240 series to use as a winter car right now. Unfortunately they were the equal of old Mercedes for rust, so they aren't easy to find around here anymore.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22