Every thing is relative. I am 63 years old and have been a car nut all my life. I have owned a lot of cars (56 MGA, 58 VW bug, 55 Thunderbird, 63 Studebaker Avanti, 69 Z28 Camaro, 74 Datsun 260 Z,) were some of the most enjoyable. Presently I have 4 cars, the Datsun Z and 3 Volvos ( 83 244 intercooled turbo, 87 244, and 90 244). I have fallen in love with 240s for a number of intangible(as opposed to monetary)reasons. So many were made and they were steadily improved each year (no planned obsolescence). The design and engineering is fairly straight forward which makes them a dream for the DIY guy. There is an abundance of inexpensive parts available on ebay, BB,TB, etc. The people who participate in these online line forums are extremely generous with their extraordinary knowledge of these vehicles. If your car is not idling right you can take it to the shop and pay $300 for a new idle air control valve + $200 labor, or you can go online, get detailed instructions, spend an hour cleaning and lubing the old valve and be back on the road with an extra $500 to purchase that B234F 16 valve head listed on ebay. These are versatile vehicles, you can tune them to get 30 mpg, or you can mod them to embarrass most so called new sport sedans, either between red lights or on the twistys. The crumple zones make a good suit of armor to protect you from a road full of drivers who lack either the hand eye coordination or the intellect to use a clutch. A well maintained 240 will never get any cheaper, in fact they will probably increase in value as more of the rational people decide that they are not wort the repair costs and send them to the crusher (case in point, wish I still had the 55 Bird, the Avanti, or the Z28) I am retired and I get a sense of accomplishment by successfully designing and installing a cold air induction system. If I didn't have my Volvos to tinker with every day I would probably just sit on my but watching the crap on TV, get fat and out of shape, and end up in a nursing home with no drivers license. My cars would sit and rust because none of my kids can shift the gears. Thank God for my Volvos.
Bill Arrington