Hi All,

Looking for advice on an ad I saw for a 240 sedan. Seller says she's the original owner and has only put on 100K miles on the car. Says it's in very good condition but is only asking for $2800. I'm going to take a look at it and take pics. If visual inspection is as advertised, I will have a pre-purchase inspection done. What should I ask the mechanic to look for on a 1988? Is her asking price suspiciously low or right on for that year and mileage. I know it's tough to say w/o seeing pics or prior to inspection but if you can tell me what your gut feels, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

I'm probably the only one here who thinks so, but I think the price is too high. I bought a '91 740 turbo M46 three years ago for $2500. Yes, the '88 240 is supposedly a good year, but I'll bet that even with a decent maintenance history, you're going to spend a good chunk of change after you buy that car doing belts, hoses, fluids, flame trap, timing belt, seals, etc, etc. I'd be happy to sell you my '87 245 for half of that $2800. Of course, it's got a few more miles on it, and the body has some rust here and there, but mechanically it's up to snuff and then some.
--
Mike W., '79 242GT (project car), '85 245DL (daily driver 1), '87 245 DL (daily driver 2), '90 244DL (project car), '91 744T (daily driver 3), '92 245DL (parts car), '94 944T (wifemobile), Largo, FL

Sounds like a good car for a reasonable price. I would want to see maintenence records. You can correlate those records and dates with mileage to get some feel for the actual mileage. If everything checks out, it appears you have stumbled into a winner.

I drive an '88 myself and i love it, it's supposed to be one of the best years for the 240. On what some have said... I believe you can check to see if the odometer has been repaired by checking a seal back there somewhere (behind the dash, couldn't tell you where, it's been a while since i heard about this). Anyhow, the color is different on a replacement, you can tell if the instrument cluster has been removed and repaired at some point (like mine, lol). Umm...if you're around the Durham, NC area i can tell you a good mechanic to have check out the car, but it sounds like a good deal, decent price too.

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1988 240DL 157K(?)

Milage actually counts less than maintainance, even then maintainace records can only mean so much....
I bought my 88 244 with 240k a month ago after long looking, clean, no rust, a little lose trim and a couple broken lenses...for $850 and a stack of maintainace records. However after going over the car the ppl doing the maintaince were suspect... I won't trust anything they did...
for instance
receipt for new amm 9 mo old... found out late in diagnosing a rough idle and poor cold start that it was bad...
receipt for sway bar links... 1 yr old, when I put a turbo bar on the front I discovered that they replaced 1 set of bushings.
receipt for timing belt... 2 yrs old, and I found that they put the crank gear beveled washer on backwards and the front of the belt is getting chewed up..
the replaced the power steering pump, and it wasent mounted correctly...
they replaced the radiator and told him the volvo plastic one was all that was available...


when they saw this PO coming they went cha ching! I feel sorry for the guy... he is a really nice guy, just too trusting. I understand why he sold it, every time he walked in it cost him $500!
All in all its a GREAT car! and I love it! but am not through with the fine tooth comb...


Also there are alot of parts (rubber, wire) that just go with age regardless of miles...

For that price, I would be reeeeeel picky on interior stuff and try to get the price down...
just my 2 cents

Hard to say without specifics. Makes a difference if its 15 years were in Detroit or Phoenix. 100K makes me suspect odometer failure, as that's only 7000 miles a year.

But - if everything works, the oil service has been kept up to date, and there's no rust, $2800 is not exorbitant. Too high for just a beater car, though.

Now that I switched dog training clubs, I only put about 10K on a car annually - and that is with me AND my husband driving it daily and on weekends. If it was just me, it would probably be closer to 7K - if that.

Martha

> 7000 miles a year
.
This mileage might be valid - it's still about 20 miles/day on
average. The owner may have commuted by public transport or on
foot most of the time, so the car might have been used for shopping
and occasional weekend trips. An urban car might actually be best
in that regard - it would be less likely to have been used for
short stop-and-go commutes and more likely to have been used for
longer trips.
.
-b.