Where will your 300 be in ten years time?

[classicswede]

After a read with recent posts about new cars it makes me ask the question where will you 300 be in ten years time and what caqr do you see yourself driving then?

Personaly I know I will still have amazons then and probably still have the 340. The 340 is not quite the kind of volvo I was used to but beacuse it was Vicky's first propper car we do want to keep forever or at least as long as possible.

I see a number of use a pushing the 300 down to a second car now and using a bigger volvo (240,740 etc) as the daily.

Do any of you guys see your self driving around in a S60 or V70 or any of (todays new cars) in ten years time?

Lets have your thoughts

[ajdubas]

In ten years time I will be driving the following:

Mk III Toyota Supra 2.5 Twin Turbo (Import) as my daily driver
Something RWD with big V8+ engine for the weekend
Rally car, depending on my current tastes, which may very well be my volvo 340 if it survives.

OK, a bit ambitious to think those cars will be around in 10 years, but I will very certainly not find myself driving a fwd volvo. If I had to go for a new(er) car I'd have one of the following: Mazda RX8, Mk 5 Toyota Supra, New Honda Civic, possibly. Of course I'd have to take them and rip out the silly devices like traction control and power steering.

[trabitom99]

For me, a car is one of two things:

#1 a daily necessity to get me from A to B
#2 a piece of fun, which I can get attached to, either due to the car's characteristics, or because I associate it with "my yoof" (or whatever else you want to call it).

I've been driving a 300 for 14 years now, to begin with only because my girlfriend happened to inherit one and because it was the only car available to me which didn't break down every 10 seconds. For years it was our everyday transport, and had to put up with minimal care and maximum use, faithfully fulfilling #1 of my "car requirements".

7 years ago, after the first 343 flakily disintegrated under the MOT tester's hammer, I bought the car I'd always wanted - a '75 Mercedes 280 W114, a great big twin-carb 6 cylinder 160 PS cruiser, with an automatic gearchange on the steering column and space for a whole barful of students. This was kept in a garage, used only on dry, sunny days, while the second 300 (bought the same year) was thrashed around Europe packed to the roof with camping & MTB gear - albeit given a little more care & attention than the first one.

Now I've my 3rd 300, and I'm seriously considering selling my Merc 280 to free some funds to restore either this one, or (if I can find one) an early Mk1. Basically, while the 280 was being pampered and rarely left its cosy nest, the 300 was actually being used and started really growing on me. It went from being a just a workhorse to a piece of loveable equipment which I'm prepared to spend some time and effort on.

Being realistic about it, in 10 years' time, my daily driver will be something else. We're already 3 in the family and getting the 300 packed for a 4 week holiday to Romania was, let's say, a "challenge". But I'm fairly sure, a 300, maybe one of the ones I'm driving at the moment, will be fulfilling "Tom's car need #2" as a 2nd, or 3rd car, in 10 years' time.

Tom

[Ali]

Afraid as much as I hate to say it I see myself drifting (excuse the pun) away from Volvos. I don't really know whats left to do to the 360 without getting a bit more silly and impractical and I want something thats a sensible (all things are relative lol) daily driver as it annoys me that the 360 doesn't get used much.

I want something that does the skidding aswell as being a big pimp comfort wagon. Therefore its 940 or move onto something else... more than likely Nissan or Toyota

Or if I had the time...strengthen the drivetrain and D5 in a 360 mmmmm 50mpg and quick as shit

Chaser mmmm

People probably won't like it but fairly discreet, practical and 1JZ so standard internals are good for 600bhp+ with good manual box's taking 1000bhp

There's just nothing in the Volvo range that does it for me anymore as far as excitement goes Having said that if I was going for a company type rep-mobile it'd be Volvo...

I reckon 300s are just going to keep going up in price though, MJ's bound to have a goldmine!

[340GLT]

Personally i can see mine being locked away in a garage. My uncle has a mint mk1 golf campaign that he has had for 15 years i think.
Adam

[kaos]

im hopefully going to buy my dream car the porsche 944 in a few years with anyluck and my 340 will be up for sale next year i expect.

so far its cost me nothing well next to nothing £20 for a new releasefork and bell housing, and tomorrow morning i'll find out how much the exhaust problem is going to cost. but i'd love another 340 and probably go over board and stick a big nissan lump in there eg SR20DET, with enough time and money, just for that sleeper car.


but damn enjoyable cars to drive. and i'll surly miss it.

[Chris_C]

Good question Dai. Tbh, I also doubt I'll be dailying them, but hey, can but see. It really depends on how much driveway space I have at the time I think. Kar I won't get rid off, the damn thing has grown on me too much, if I was going to get rid I would have done so 12months ago. Fake, well, who'd buy it. Current theory is Kar will be dailey, and Fake will get caged, and set up for doing rallies proper.

Thing is, with what I want to do with Kar, it'll be a useless daily, so I'll get something else, which will prolly be a Lex soarer with current views. So I'll end up with 3 cars, which as long as I have the space will be fine, just need to start earning the money

None of this will happen till after I finish the course though, but 10 years... Hopefully I'll be in Cardwell Manor by then, so multistory garage, marble carving of me, Kate and the labrador at the bottom of the driveway, definately with me having a monocle and a staff... Now... just need to earn my fortune in the middle

[petefarrell360]

Very good question and oddly one I was thinking about in a round about sort of way on the way home tonight! I don't think I could change to anything else easily. Nothing ticks the boxes in quite the same way. I think I'll still have all the 300's, definitely the 360 and the vario. It'll probably be upgrading and playing with bits and pieces that'll keep me interested. I wouldn't mind a nice 960 as a daily driver, or a Monaro would be a good RWD laugh. Currently running three vehicles is mad, soon to be four if I get my arse into gear, but the fleet will probably grow, I doubt I'll ever get rid of any!

Pete

[SteveP]

I would hope I still have the 360, there seems little point in selling it on and I like it too much... but it's certainly getting a bit annoying to be using as a daily driver... As it stands it'll be gradually restored and used when the weather isn't going to take its toll on the bodywork!

[meintag]

Wow, 10 years... Hardly I can see what I'll drive the next year !

Currently I've 3 cars, the 360 and a pair of mk2 golfs, a 16v for show/cruising use and a diesel for daily driver... I've had a Polo G40 too until a month ago and the experience tell me that running 4 cars is a mistake ( I'm 23 years old and I've to work a lot for running all )

Buuuuut, I can't live without messing with pieces of steel... Plans for a near future are to buy a 940 turbo SW for daily and travel with it ( surfing, snowboarding... Someone know about the bed propierties of a 940 wagon ?! haha ), selling the mk2 D I guess... I want to buy a VW aircooled too ASAP, a typ3 notchback or squareback to mess with

Maybe my garage next year be:

A 940 turbo station wagon
The 360 to have fun with it
The Golf Mk2 16v
A Typ3 notchback

Who knows 10 years ahead !!

Greetz from Spain !!

[Ronnie]

At the moment I live in the city - and having a hatchback is pretty imperetive I think. I was thinking recently about my current criteria for a car:

Rear Wheel Drive
Hatchback
Able to fit a sofa in the back
At least 100bhp
Capable of cruising at 100mph (not becaue I do, just because it can)
Safe
Economical
Cheap

The 360 ticks all of those - except for economy, and safety is not going to be up there with modern NCAP rated cars, but pretty good for its age. I think the only other car available now that fulfills these criteria would be a diesel BMW 1 series. But that's not cheap at todays prices and I'm not sure about the sofa...

In the future my choice of car will depend on how many cars I can afford to run, and how much garage space I'll have to keep them in. The 360 is a great all-rounder, but to be honest I'd prefer a number of specialist vehicles for specific tasks.

In the future I'd like a big beemer - probably a 7 if there's enough petrol left in the world to run it. And I've always wanted a Porsche 928 to go with it, and maybe a landy for the winter since I'll be back in the highlands in 10 years time. But then I agree with ajdubas about the RX8... And Dai about the Amazon... Let's face it - we could never have too many cars

[Fuse]

I'll still have my GLT and hopefully I have started my ultimate MK1 project too..

I don't see my self driving a new Volvo, there are no interesting models for me currently, mostly because all of them lack RWD.

I might have some daily driver too though, but most likely it's also a Volvo, though 635CSi would be nice also.. It would be good if I would have some car to drive around during the winter season, because road salt sucks and I don't like to use the GLT when there are loads of salt on the road..

Of course it all depends about the money.

[Nick C]

... at the bottom of the driveway...

Would that be a long, gravel driveway with several un-necessary long sweeping bends in it?

I have a fairly long list of cars I want to own, so hopefully by 10 years time I'll have got through a few of them! (and if possible, still have most of them in the excessively large garage!)

[classicswede]

Wow,

I am realy pleased that this has got veryone talking. It is very hard to think what will happen in ten years time but most of us do have ideas as to where we would like to be. I'm sure for all of us here our car plays a big part in our life. For me I love my cars (well most of them) even to t he point we I was with my dad when he nearly crashed is amazon I was worried about him damagingthe car beyond repair. When Vicky first crashed the 340 she was well pissed with me because I seemed more worried about the car than her!

For me personaly I can't imagine myself having a car newer than the 240! My ideal car for daily use would be a Amazon estate or maybe a PV duet! That is what ticks all the boxes for me - style, performance, handling, reliable, strong, practical, capable of monster miles and most improtantly RWD.

In the real world that may not be possible due to likely family commitments cash ect so what about newer cars. I cant see modern day cars been reliable when the are 15 - 20 years old. With such complex wiring and control systems I doubt they will survive to that age without major work dispensing the car of the crap that is not needed. Also with so few of these cars likely to be on teh road what about spare parts - where will they come from? At least 90%+ or amazon parts are availabel all these years on!

So far very interesting reading

[Chris_C]

Thing with amazon parts though Dai is loads of third parties have picked up the ball, most "classics" have a lot of company's make bits for them.

Tbh, I don't think the electronics side of new cars is whats needed to worry about, it's the fact that they are all designed to crush on impact. Great safety feature yes, but puts it out of the possiblilty of repair. Look how many classics running now have been write-offs. Air bags would also be a worry to me after xxx years. Electronics wise the sensors between cars are in theory very similar, as are the ECU's, so it would probably end up being common to swap to a current common one (in the same way that imp's upgrade to XR2 brakes a few years ago etc)