Value of 1988 340 1.7

I have been offered a 340 1.7 model of 1988 vintage. Having seen it, it is
in v.g.c and had about 40k miles on its clock. Has anyone got an idea of a
fair price for it. The vendor wants £1000, which seems rather steep to me.

I have also heard that 340s are not as reliable as 360s.


Ben Farrow

 

Not more than £400, condition is everything. Look on www.autotrader.co.uk or
the volvo owners club board www.volvoclub.org.uk 340's and 360's are far
cheaper there than that, its far to much for the age. You could buy a
740/940 Turbo for that much...

Griz

 

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is "Mr B

Offer to take it for 100ukp. That is, he pays you.

Even in v.g.c. and low miles, a 15 year old 340 would need to have
gold plated trim and once have been owned by David Beckham to be worth
that much.

There's one on eBay with two days left to run, currently standing at
51ukp.


--

Stewart Hargrave

Faster than public transport


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name

 

Yikes.

It's worth maybe half that much at best. Don't try to resell it,
though, as nobody wants to buy one. Use, then junk sort of car.

 

Very true, 1.7s are the most unreliable cars I ever came across. Some have
had good experiences but seems to be few. Low milage is needed, but to be
honest I wouldn't pay a penny for it they are not worth anything on the
market.

I've tried to sell A1 360s and couldn't shift them, luckily my sister needed
a car after writting off her husbands car (who hated Volvos's), they got 2
years and about 40K out of it and the guy loves Volvos now. Not bad for a
free car.

 

Up here (Scotland) that age/type is going for £300 ono. £50 max at auction.
And that is the usual low mileage, owned by retired bloke who has it
garaged, washes/waxes it every Sunday, and serviced by Volvo with full
service history. Usually about 70,000 on the clock. Look great but the
Renault engine seems to put people off. Plus I have heard that doing a
clutch change is a complete nightmare, but that is anecdotal for me, I
haven't had one to try.

 

You call an engine that lasts 130k (what? miles?) strong as an ox? Well,
maybe, but please do only compare it to non-Volvo engines then.

 

The owners club 'suggests' 175k miles for the B172 as a reasonable life
expectancy. As Renault's go, that's strong as an Ox ;-)

Personally even for a spanking example that's perfect I wouldn't pay more
than 300 quid. They are nice cars and very well built. However, they're at
the age where most reside on council estates and are just cheap old bangers
to most people. Can sometimes get a 'blue rinse' to part with hers that's
been owned since new with every service stamp for a couple of weeks pension.

Graham W

 

To put more nails in the coffin, 360s /B200 are a fine car even if not
maintained well and can almost always be restored to sweetness by a good
service.

The reason I don't like 1.7s is, I had severe carb problems, even tried a
scrap replacement, but it just different problems. It also had a wear lip
in the cam / distributor oil seal causing oil vapour condensation in the
distributor and the dreaded stalling at junctions problem, combine this with
quite severe oil leaks the engine is badly designed and sensitive to faults.
Dispite 6 months trying different solutions I couldn't fix it, bar renewing
the cam.

Yes it has nice torque, is quiet and alot more economical than 360s, but
that not much use if the thing won't go. I just don't think its worth the
risk on getting a duff one.

It comes under the rules as 'some people had good Ladas'.

 

Actually chaps the K referred to is MILES. Didn't think I really had to
spell this out as the posting elsewhere does refer to miles and also MPG
(not KpL), but there you are, we can not all be budding Sherlok Holmes'