Hi again:
I think I might have asked this question before, but know it is no longer hypothetical. Here's the situation...My current daily driver is a '95 Mitsubishi Mirage with 304,000 miles. Thye only things other than regular maintenance it has needed is one water pump and both rear wheel bearings/hubs. Everything else is original, the clutch, exhaust, all of it. But it is finally going, (funny it is leaking a stream of oil from between the head and the block, but has no other head gasket problems).

My dilemma is do I buy a new car, (probably a Mazda 3), or do I put $$ into making my '72 142 into my daily driver. I already have rebuilt the brakes and suspension completely and am thinking of doing a vpd street perfomance motor rebuild for the motor. The OD trans and rest of the driveline is OK. Body/interior is good, with just a little rust in the quarters.

I am in sales and drive about 30,000+ a year, so it would be year round car.

Of course, I could go new and still do the Volvo more slowly, (a lot of $$ on cars though) and then not have to drive it year round, bu tthen I would be missing it's charms and foibles alot. and ps. I do have a 1980 Maserati for fun in the good weather.
What's everyones opinion?

Back in my days as a career man as a professional driver (pizza delivery), I always drove old Volvos, and did about 40-50k miles per year. But I knew the cars rather intimitely and could fix almost anything roadside or at least in an hour or less. ANd there was nothing that could happen to the car (short of a wreck perhaps) that I couldn't get fixed within 24 hours. Including complete engine or transmission or front end or rear end swaps. I did 'em all.

I also had the spare parts to do such work on hand. My car and I also rarely strayed more than 10 miles from home.

Were I you, I'd go with a new car too. Or perhaps a slightly used couple year old better car for less money than a cheaper new car. Sounds to me like you don't want to be breaking down, and I wouldn't either were I you. The Volvo would likely be up to the task, but it's still a nearly 35 year old car. It will be more finicky, and you'll tire of it more quickly driving it daily.

Steve also makes an excellent point about tax credits. I think you'd do well in that regard with a new(er) car.
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-Matt I ♥ my ♂

You're in Sales, so you should be itemizing your tax return. You can't depreciate a 30-year-old car; even Uncle Sam is smarter than to accept that! :-)

Sit down with whoever does your taxes and work a few what-if's and see how much you can save with a new car. Figure the point of diminishing returns and plan to buy another new car at that time, regardless of the condition of your daily driver.

Your payments can remain fixed, so you can budget for them and know your outlay in advance and you'll always have a good warranty in place (Mitsubishi gave me a bumper-to-bumper, 10 years/100,000 miles for $6 a month - their actual cost.)

Beyond thinking about driving a car into the ground before you trade it in, think ahead and keep relatively new wheels under you without spending any more money each month.

And, NO, I wouldn't try to use your Volvo as your work car. Once in a while is OK, but you don't want to HAVE to rely on it, and it would quickly lose its 'fun factor' if you have to drive it all those miles. Keep your Volvo for special occasions, and as a stress-reliever you can go out to the garage to fiddle with and get away from the family for a few hours when you need to.

Or, come over and wrench on my Volvo...I have a big list of things to do!

Steve

If you start with a solid 140, you could make a wonderful, modern,
safe and reliable car for not a huge amount of money.


If the car has no rust, good paint, a rebuilt suspension/brakes,
rebuilt motor with a modern ignition, rebuilt modern fuel injection,
working air conditioning, quality interior, and a new T5 transmission
and such, it could be considered to be a modern, reliable car. Such
a car would be safe(ish) in an accident, classy looking, reliable as
can be, and probably no more expensive than a modern economy car.

Of course, that said, you'll never be able to get a loan to spend
$17,000 to do this. You'd have to do the work yourself or pay in cash
as you have someone else do the work. There would be no warrenty,
you'd never be able to insure it for what it would cost to replace,
you wouldn't be able to write the depreciation off in your taxes, and
putting the whole thing together would take a solid year. You'd also
be on your own for spares and repairs.

My wife and I just bought a new toyota corolla. The car is amazing.
It is huge, gets 41mpg on the freeway, and everything in it works. I
don't feel bad about using it up while I enjoy my other cars when I
drive them from time to time.

chris

My daily driver is a '71 144S with twin Strombergs. It goes well, and if one carb fails then I should be able to get home with only the other. But for me, driving to work is only 2 miles. I can walk if I have to. My wife, on the other hand, has to drive 20 miles to work. So of cause I got her something more modern. She's driving an S40. But it's a '97 2L non-turbo model which was not available in the US (we are in New Zealand). The turbo models are very expensive to repair.

If you have rebuilt everything and the car is solid, I would stick with the 142. Especially if you fit MegaSquirt electronic FI. That will give great reliability and better fuel economy. Something like the S40 is boring to drive. I've enjoyed it the first few times, but now I fall asleep. My only concern with the 142 would be the wear (not reliability) of 30 000mi per year.

Just my 2 cents, but I'd use another car as a daily beater. Don't get me wrong, my 144 is in mint condition, and I'd fire the that thing right up and take off into the sunset anytime, any day. Its mighty reliable, but it still requires attention from time to time, something which I don't have time for on a daily basis. If a problem arises, at least I have the luxury of fixing it at my own leisure.
My daily driver is a newer Mitsubishi Galant, and my job also requires me to travel a lot. Besides the better fuel economy and that attractive warranty, these newer cars these days require almost nothing more than gas and oil change if not abused, until of course, when they start to age and fall apart. And if anything goes wrong with it, I'll always have my ole faithful as a backup. Occasionally, when I get the itch, I drive the 144 to work.
Given how much I have had invested restoring my 144, including a premium paint job, I am not ready to drive it daily and subject it to all the wear and tear of a daily driver. Its a car I only drive during my vacations and weekends, where I can enjoy it to the max.
Then again, I have a buddy whose sole mode of transportation is an immaculate 73 144 and he drives it to work and everywhere all year round. Of course, he also own and operates a garage specializing in pushrod Volvos...
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...and the bricks keep on rolling

Having had a '68 144s for a daily driver for 12 yrs, I would not do it again. It required too much careful attention/ maintenance to drive it 30k mi per yr, something which a late model 240 does not. I put 385k miles on that 144 in those 12 yrs, and spent gobbs of time on maintenance. In contrast, the past 10 yrs I put a combined 260k miles on two 245's, and spent money on nice mods, not service.
I would drive a 240 without any fear of breakdown and feel great that I simply wouldn't need to do anything else except gas, oil & a wash. Don't get me wrong about the 140, I love them and look forward to another someday, but you can't beat a post '85 240 as a daily driver.
I also am independantly employed as a consultant, and use my V70 as a business vehicle with tax write-off. When it all is done, the V70 is very affordable compared to using another car with lesser/older value as an expensed deduction.
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'89 245 sportwagon, destroyed by hit & run driver, RIP. '04 V70 2.5 T Sportwagon, 12k mi and '91 245 5-speed, 209k mi, replaced the '89