I was in a trout fishin derby last weekend on the Cape here in Ma. One of the boys brought his two seater Chevy truck and one brought his new Jeep Liberty. Needless to say none of these would be big enough to hold the four of us (over 200 pounds each) and all of our fishin gear. Good thing I brought my trusty old 89 245 wagon along! It is in pretty good shape for a 16 year old with over 276K miles on the clock. We had a nice ride out to Wellfleet and when we took a side road to the pond I was a little scared of the road as it was all sand and I was thinking we would get stuck. My buddies were amazed that the old girl could do a road that most four wheelers would have a work out to make it thru! We dragged a bit underneath but made it thru! Got over 20 MPG on the trip as well! Been thinking of selling the old girl as I just bought the wife another 92 745 and we realy don't need two wagons but I just can't seem to let her go... Oh well, I hope you all enjoy my Brick story... Once again these cars amaze me!!! I guess I'll think again about selling it when the clock turns over 300K!!!!
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Volvos4me4ever 1989 245 274K miles still going strong, 1992 745 Turbo 110K miles real nice!

Go right ahead and keep her way past 300K miles.
My '86 245 got darn close to 400K,
commuting 800 mi./week before I handed it over to my son.
It still runs, but is sidelined due to a coolant leak of unknown source.


Here's a story -
Son tells me - "Go down by the lake - drive over those rocks.
Everyone does it!"
So I drive down over the boulders (like an idiot).
She won't go UP over the boulders.
It's dark out now.
Auto tranny spun, didn't engage 1st due to steep grade of boulder.
Told son and very large friend
to sit on rear edge of cargo bed with lid up.
Revved engine, tranny grabbed at high rpms, got over boulder.


In the last 100K mi. it did need a bunch of expensive work that I couldn't do myself - rear trailing arm bushings, dog bone bushings, the brake line distribution block, center bearing & support & tranny rear rubber seal, and oh, yes, I'm embarrassed to admit, a head gasket. Blew a hole directly from Cyl #1 to Cyl. #2. Possibly due to a warped head from a coolant leak at busted plastic radiator hose-fitting 3 years earlier. Still love that car!

I used to take my old '80 (and now, my '84) 240 down all sorts of campground roads, not just sandy but muddy as well, in addition to having rocks and tree roots as other obstacles. Only relevent modification is that both cars have Volvo overload spring/shocks in the rear -- doesn't really raise the rear, but just keeps it from sagging with a lot in the trunk. Never had a problem that a little planning (as in where to position the wheels) couldn't handle.

But all the more credit goes to YOU, because starting with the '86 models (I've got two '93's myself, so I know), the cars have about two inches less overhang ground clearance. It's not so bad with a level road (maybe that's all you faced?), but if there are dips in it, it's more troublesome. It's not that the rear axle is lower (same size tires), but the body is -- these newer cars have so much junk under the front and rear (fore and aft of the front cross-member and rear axle, respectively) that there's much more of what offroaders call overhang. This keeps you from going through a dip -- at the bottom, you hit the front overhand, and then as the car levels you hit the rear overhang.

You can see it clearly, with two cars side by side (e.g., my '84 or old '80 beside my '93) -- the difference in overhang ground clearance of these cars is startling.

But glad to hear you enjoy your car off as well as on the road!
Regards.