Mate of mine wants to get one, going to look at a low mileage (29k) 89/F-plate 1.7 Turbo tomorrow. He's had one before and loves 'em.

I don't know much about them myself, other than mechanically a 440/460 underneath. The engine's a Renault one as used in the 5, 9, 11 & 21 although not sure the turbo one ever formed part of Renault's line-up (weren't the 9 & 11 turbos the 1.4?). Thought I'd heard they were a bit flimsy compared to other Volvo models.

Any advice welcome!

Cheers

I had one for 2 years (Black 1.7 I H reg back in 1997) Was great fun only thing is they rust on the sills, the boot is prone to leaking, the lights can be tempremental. Flimsy??? Nah solid as a rock. They are a tarted up 440 basically.

I crashed into one once! Bit of useless info for you.

Definately came off worse than the ancient VW I was driving at the time.

If your mate has had one before he should know what to look out for. There aren't many about nowadays so not sure about availability of parts second hand. The things are quite quick but don't handle very well. Should be easy to modify though.

Thanks - well we're going to have a look at it this afternoon; I'd be slightly concerned about buying a petrol turbo of that age, even if it has only done 29k.

If it's dirt cheap, it's got to be worth a look.

Use it and throw it away when it goes wrong. I'm always tempted to go mad and buy an old S Class or 7 Series. I've not done it yet though.