I've had many 240s, a 740, and an 850 -- all of these cars non-turbo. My son has a turbo 760. The non-turbo 850 is almost as fast as the turbo 760. The 850 handles much better. The contrast between the 850 and your 240 wagon will be surprising and fun.

I imagine the Audi will also be fun, but: check with your insurance carrier. When I priced insurance for Audi vs. Volvo, the Audi would have been almost twice the cost of insuring the Volvo! Audi parts were even more expensive than Volvo parts -- hard as that might be to imagine.

That said, neither the 850 nor the Audi will be as reliable or long-lived as the 240. My '81 240 has over 328,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. My wife's '94 850 engine died a horrible death at 180,000 miles. Same attention to regularly scheduled maintenance for both cars, both driven mostly freeway miles (my 240 does about 1/3 more miles than hers: longer commute).

My in-laws drive an S-80. Very slick, very fast, very sexy. But it won't last as long as my 240 and has more non-essential electrical parts to break.

My opinion: find a good 240 or 740/760 turbo with manual transmission, put a good paint job on it, and have safe, affordable fun.

-- Bruce
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-- Bruce / '82 244 (315k miles!), '86 745, '87 760Ti, '94 854