Steve,

I think you'll love the 240. I have a 92 240 wagon that I've had for 17 years, and now has 360k miles on it. It has been everywhere and keeps going strong, with occasional blips. I wouldn't hesitate to drive it from south Florida to Seattle.

I second what the others have said. These cars are so simple and easy to maintain. If it does have AC problems it's easy to convert them to 134a. I did mine on a Saturday. One thing that is somewhat laborious to work on is the blower motor. Listen very closely to the way it sounds, bearing noise, squeals, etc.

Before you buy it, run codes diagnostics under the hood to find any potential things that might be going on with it, even if it's running fairly well. If someone hasn't cleared the codes it might show recent problems.

When you turn the key to position 3, listen when the fuel pump starts for squeals, vibration, etc.

Also, I would find one that's rust free. Everything else is easy to deal with, but rust is rust and isn't going to get any better without real work. There are a lot of them available and worth the premium over the long haul.

Good luck and congrats, Jim