Of course, like most of us I am governed by budget and as retro motors get increasingly expensive I have to narrow the spectrum a bit!!!
I'm being turned on by Volvo 740 wagons at the moment as they are temptingly cheap (compare them to the price of a Mercedes wagon!!!) and I think they look pretty good...
But what should I look for when buying and what can be done once I have one in my keep?!
Please advise...!!!
A Mercedes Wagon will also cruise way better than a 740 as well
. A 290k W123 300D was a nicer drive than both of the 740s I owned besides the lack of speed ; it just wafted down all of the roads had had nice roadmanners. The 740s were a bit 'meh'. Some of the S Class cars can still be picked up relatively cheaply though from that era:).That said, the running gear is superb in the 740s and can do massive mileages with the right maintenance.
IMO if I were looking for one I would look out for rust where baggy798 said along with the headlining; I'd also look at the front chassis legs where they go near the suspension.
740s are not horrendous on fuel either in the larger engines. I used to see around 35MPG from the 2.3i Auto 740 when I went around Europe, with dollywobbler seeing similar figures. The 2.0 EFi however was worse @30mpg - it was loaded up with 5 aboard though for that run and doing close to 100mph before the hills on private roads - it really struggled that much to climb them with it being a full car.
As with anything I wouldn't bother about getting one with low mileage ; history and maintenance counts for far more at this age and I am assuming your budget as well. While the lower mileage 2.0 EFi manual was tidier it did not drive as nice or as swiftly as the 2.3i Auto, bar its shuddering autobox.
