If you say the words “turbo” and “wagon,” almost any gearhead will instantly say “Volvo” in the next breath. The Swedish company once built an impressive marketing campaign around the idea of building a wagon that was both fast and safe, and leaned in heavily on the irony that a – gasp! – wagon could do such things. Oh, the pearl clutching that likely ensued amongst people who thought the only cars that could be fast had two doors and two seats. Although Volvo has sadly changed significantly since that time, the following for clean turbo wagons is still quite strong, and this 1984 245 listed here on craigslist may be one of the nicest ones on the market today. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Curvette for the find.
Of course, vehicles that are sufficiently quirky and that appeal to enthusiasts do not necessarily have high price tags attached to them, but this one does: the seller is asking $39,500 for this Volvo, which may cause some of you to choke on your Skittles. The wagon in question is equipped with an automatic transmission and shows 97,000 miles, both of which were a surprise to me when I pondered what could make this a $40,000 purchase. You see, the most desirable 245 Turbos would likely have some combination of very low miles and the preferred manual transmission, and this fine specimen has neither.
It does, however, have a long history of maintenance and upkeep according to the write-up, which certainly counts for something. And the cosmetics are just outstanding for a car of this age and with close to 100,000 miles, so someone undoubtedly loved it. You also have to love how in addition to simply making a wagon that was built for speed, Volvo didn’t stop there. They added the additional gauge cluster at the center of the dash and the racy Virgo alloy wheels. The front air dam was also a nice touch, and it created one of the most memorable ad campaigns of all time when stacking the stodgy wagon against the top sports cars of the era – and noting the Volvo could keep up with them.
That engine bay really is spectacular, and perhaps that’s what the seller wants us to consider – the details of this Volvo, which transmit a level of obsession that could scare some of you. I mean, it doesn’t look like a single hose or vacuum line is out of place. The turbocharged 2.1-liter B21FT 4-cylinder engine pushed out a respectable 127 horsepower and 150 lb-ft of torque, which isn’t bad but it won’t blow you away these days, especially with the automatic. When looking for comps, I see a manual wagon like this one sold for $15,000 at the end of 2024, which was ostensibly a better time to sell a car like this. So, is this one worth $40,000, based on condition alone?
This is one of the nicest ones I have seen in quite awhile but worth over $40k? I don’t think so, maybe lower $20’s.
Volvo enthusiasts are, how shall I put this nicely, notoriously frugal. I don’t see this thing even hitting 20k, unless he finds the guy who actually bought it new and has to have it back.
Frugal?
Thanks, been called worse.
Ex of the 70s (ms Bloomquist) wanted an Amazon and I’ve had at least one ever since.
That is a super nice wagon.That being said 0-60 in 11 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 18.5 seconds. Interestingly you could get a dealer installed intercooler kit
I see an intercooler in this car. I think 84-85 240Ts were all intercooled for us market.
More boost, free flowing exhaust really wake these cars up.
I hate lag.
Rallye, you are correct on the intercooler. I even have one like this on the turbo Ranger I’m building.
Nice one, but the seats look like vinyl and the Turbos came with leather GL interiors, so it may have had some refurbishment in the past. The automatic is a deal breaker, and at that price it should be pristine with lower miles and documented history from new.
Not all Turbos came with “all leather” seats. My turbo had leather sides with cloth inserts.
My 242 t was silver with blue velour. Most all the 245Ts that I’ve seen had leather.
These seats v would be leather.
I’ve had Volvo wagons for over 40 years, from 122 s to my current V70 Rdesign. Like others have said this is waaay overpriced. This one is not the unicorn the seller thinks. Unfortunately this is what has happened in the european resale market.
These days a price like this isn’t going fly at all. Friend has a beautiful 1800 for sale for $15,000 and it just won’t sell. Must be a Volvo thing.
How do I get a hold of your friend? I’m looking for a 1800, Thanks
Car is in Sebring, FL.
Yup, see my comment below. It IS a Volvo thing. Buyers beware.
You’d think the seller would fix the A/C for that price.
lofty price for a 40 plus year old driver. id consider it if the price was half. simply overpriced. good luck to the seller.
I’d think long and hard before taking the plunge on this. Some years back, I bought an 850R wagon for 5k, thinking I got a great deal. When I went to sell it after doing considerable deferred maintenance (tires, brakes, shocks, struts, timing belt, fluids, cosmetics, a few IPD mods, etc.) I got $3,500 for it and it was one of the most trying and annoying car sales I’ve ever gone through.
Volvo enthusiasts are a very special breed. In general (and I know I’m stereotyping here but I have my opinions lol), they are very cheap and think they are way smarter than you. Before buying this at even 10-15k, I’d make darn sure I wanted it for the long haul and to use it up, because it’s NOT an investment – even less so than most cars, which are terrible investments in and of themselves. Volvos take this into a whole new dimension.
That’s because it was an 850 Volvo. Having been a Volvo service manager when 850s came out. I have first have experience with these poor excuses for Volvos. You couldn’t give me one of those junkers.
The comments about your typical Volvo owners are pretty much spot on. I was a service manager at a BMW, Oldsmobile, Volvo dealer. (Quite the disparity huh?) The dealership was rated by the factory from the customer satisfaction index (CSI) derived from the questionnaires sent to the customers after the sale and after each service visit. We were a top rated dealership with both BMW and Oldsmobile. (2 completely diverse set of people) And with Volvo we were rated at one of the top ten in the nation for “fix it right the first time”. But could never finish any higher than slightly below average in the nation. We finally gave up trying to cater to them and just treat them like all our other customers and our overall scores fell even more. But, this was in the late ’90s when the Volvo 850 and front wheel drive Volvos were the thing. Needless to say, the quality of those cars was sadly not even close to the 240/740 cars that proceeded them. So my impression was the “bad marks” were actually against the car and not the dealership. I would never in a million years buy one of those Volvos newer than 1995.
This car, providing that the electrical wire insulation under the hood has not deteriorated. Will still run a long time. The automatic transmissions on the turbo cars don’t fail. And the engines go forever. The rear suspension bushings will fail. But the rest of the car will keep on rolling.
The comments about your typical Volvo owners are pretty much spot on. I was a service manager at a BMW, Oldsmobile, Volvo dealer. (Quite the disparity huh?) The dealership was rated by the factory from the customer satisfaction index (CSI) derived from the questionnaires sent to the customers after the sale and after each service visit. We were a top rated dealership with both BMW and Oldsmobile. (2 completely diverse set of people) And with Volvo we were rated at one of the top ten in the nation for “fix it right the first time”. But could never finish any higher than slightly below average in the nation. We finally gave up trying to cater to them and just treat them like all our other customers and our overall scores fell even more. But, this was in the late ’90s when the Volvo 850 and front wheel drive Volvos were the thing. Needless to say, the quality of those cars was sadly not even close to the 240/740 cars that proceeded them. So my impression was the “bad marks” were actually against the car and not the dealership. I would never in a million years buy one of those Volvos newer than 1995.
Had plenty of Volvo owners, friends, customers and never ran across the kind of folks you are describing. You guys don’t live in New York City do you?
No, maybe there’s a nice niche of them in New York City. But my experience with them was not very positive. I’m sorry. I ended up selling my 850R wagon to my painter to use as a work vehicle for 3,500 bucks. I kept dropping the price until he took it. I did not want the car to go to one of them.
the only thing i ever had that was Swedish and any good was meatballs.
My 740 turbo had non-turbo pistons AND a shaved head. Living at over 4,000 feel elevation, the engine lived fine on mig-grade fuel. Ut traveling over the .mountain to California I added octane boost. The car was a very enjoyable family rocket. Blowing away BMWs in California was a blast!
Well, nice ride. However, when you are asking 40K and then tell me the AC needs to be recharged, I laugh and move one. I think a lot of folks will do the same thing. Too bad, looks like a great wagon.
This guy sells on Bring a Trailer or at least used to all of the time. Maybe he doesn’t anymore because he wasn’t getting astronomically ridiculous sale prices that he’s clearly after. This one will be for sale for a long, long time at that asking price. LONG time. I don’t recognize the world I’m living in.
Raising the c/r that way was a big improvement for little $s.
I started messing with turbos in the 70s.
First engine i built was per the experts at the time.
Lowered c/r and it was awful.
I still have a maximum sohc head for turbo volvo. Thought it would be close to 500hp.
My race car partner had the same car sans my engine modifications and it wasn’t even a race. It was like a Z28 302 Camaro up against a 4 cylinder Nova. It was goodby/seeya! I also had a Fox body 4cyl. Mustang that I was running 17 lbs of boost. It was fun too!
Wayne
Boost is functional and lag is a drag.
It’ll be a while before I get to another Boosted car. Higher priority projects abound here.
Wayne
Boost is fun and lag is a drag.
It’ll be a while before I get to another Boosted car. Higher priority projects abound here.
Hand clutch in sn Amazon
I agree. In the case of my Turbo Mustang. An upgrade in final drive (3.54 to 3.73) made a lag issue much more livable. Also took the top end from 130mph to 142mph.