still not convinced, i think your arguement is a bout modern car design trends...you didnt see any 140's with leaking evapaorator cores...cos they didnt have them.....now ABS failures on 240's...no abs etc...

more toys means more to go wrong...but and its a big but, they also had ahorter maintenance schedules (higher basic running costs) wer less fuel efficient, were less safe etc....also they were probably better maintained...

its swings and round abouts...

i guess back then dealers also hade mechanics that knew what they were doing...now sadly lacking in my experience (try 3 TIMES the torque on an 850 drain plug it should have.....)

and my expereince is based on a mixture of 144/245/744/745/945/850 based cars...

wont argue the 144 in particualr was very well put together and you could fix it with a scredriver and a peice of chewing gum....the 850 is litle more complex than the 940 and very similar to work on IMHO - any way my 940 went for a Mitsi Delica...now theres good basic engineering for you (makes a volvo chasis look like a toy! and the engine makes a b230 look complex!) i can crawl under it from side to side without ramps... - mind you undersealing it takes about 20 hours!