Hmmm, I cannot think of any modern affordable family car which has real character like a 240 does. The 240 is clearly engineered to get a particular set of tasks done without pretense. The very lack of fashion sense or designitis lifts the result above the commonplace. There is an absolute lack of pretense about a 240. It is a car which plainly is a car. It isn't pretending to be anything. It doesn't try to make it's driver feel macho like an Escalade does and it doesn't make a person look instantly sexy.

The very simplicity and straightforwardness of a 240 is what sets it apart. It is not a car for people who need to have their vehicles prop up fragile egos. In it's size and power class the 240 was typically overpriced in it's day, yet they live on in huge numbers and are a certifiable cult classic today.

What new car being made today fills the same niche? The Toyota Corolla is a no nonsense vehicle of good quality and no pretense, but it is a bit too down-market to really have the special something.

Some other cars from the past with soul include most Jaguars up into the early 1970s, classic MGs and Triumphs, early BMWs and a goodly number of Fiats, Alfa-Romeos, Renaults and Citroens from the 1960s and 1970s. Many of GM's vehicles of the 1960s have that something special as well. The original Oldsmobile Toronado just oozes with class and there were probably never better full size american sedans than the GMs of 1970-1972. None of these choices have the lack of pretense for which a 240 stands out.

Somehow Volvo lost the magic starting with the 740. 740s look like something which could have had a GM brand name on them in the 1980s.

If I owned a automotive factory in China or India I would set out to make a 110% sized 240 and use those bones to also build a rugged small commercial delivery van (in the spirit of the old Volvo 210 deliveries) and a small pickup truck. Sell 'em for under $20k and build em well. Watch the orders come rolling in!

There is a market for good basic vehicles and none of the fashion conscious MBA types in modern business want to build such things!