I've got a question for current and past owners of 740 or 760 turbodiesel with automatic transmission.

My aunt across the country has had one since it was about 4 years old. She has kept the car since my uncle died in 1993 but rarely uses it. She has already told me that she is leaving the car to me and suggested that I might want to take the car from her garage so that I don't have to make last minute arrangements to collect it from her estate, when the time comes. And she also wants me to save money now that gasoline prices have gone through the roof.

I spoke to her mechanic about the car. He retired a few years ago and said he has only kept about 10-15 customers, just 'cause he doesn't have the heart to send them to anybody else. I think he does not want his hands to get too clean.

I told him what was going on and I needed to get a better idea of the condition before I fly out there with the idea of driving this car cross-country. He picked up the car from her place, took a compression test and I was pretty impressed. 77,000 miles, mostly sitting and it has between 430 - 460 psi. That sure sounds good to me. He said he put in new glow plugs and rear belt about 3 years ago when it wouldn't start one cold day... right around the time he sold his shop. As far as he knows, it's the original front belt and there's no way I'll try driving that car 4000 miles on a 22 year old timing belt. The old guy said he still has his tools and would help me do the job, but he is even less up to doing it now than he was a few years ago.

So... I have to make a decision about spending a few days to get the car in shape, or paying somebody lots of money to replace the t-belt, hoses, etc. just so I can drive the car back, or simply finding a buyer nearby. She doesn't have to know and I'm not so sure she'd be insulted if I do sell it.

Years ago, a friend had a similar car with a 4 speed stick that had pretty good acceleration. I have also driven a 240 non-turbo diesel automatic and it was horrible. I could imagine a Chevette towing a boat beating it off the line. Mercedes 300D that I drove a few times was so-so, but I do not remember if it had turbo or not. The bottom line is that I'm concerned about going through all that time/expense/travel to find out I do not like using the car.

So, the question for any drivers of turbodiesel automatic Volvos is; how satisfactory or unsatisfactory is the acceleration in city or suburban type driving? Does it keep up with traffic or do people go around you and give dirty looks (or the finger)?

Mileage in strictly city/local driving? on a trip?

My decision to take vacation time, go out there and do this vs. just selling it, is going to be based on what you guys have to say. I'll look for replies on my RWD posting.

And thanks for taking time to reply.