I've had my '88 240 wagon for the past 3 months and my gas mileage is alot lower than I've expected - around 21 mpg. This is just driving back and forth to work. Under the same conditions my old BMW 325e, I pulled in around 28-30mpg with aggressive driving. Is this typical of these vehicles or should I look into this further (o2 sensor, etc.) Thanks for the replies.

The '88 240 does not have an OBD in its computer.

Thar mileage may be normal. What sort of drive do you have to work? City, highway? How far? Does the car have a chance to warm up? Is there lots of stop and go? What sort of driver are you, you mention aggressive driving? I've no experience with a BMW so I can't comment on that. What is the weight comparison between the two cars? Volvos are around 3000lb. Volvos have many good qualities but really high gas mileage is not one of them. I've had several 240s and none of them averaged over 30 mpg on the highway, most were around 20 to 25 mpg.

What transmission does the car have? If it's an automatic, the mileage sounds about right. My daughter's '84 with automatic gets about 22mpg in mixed driving and 19mpg in stop and go. My '88 with the 5 speed usually got 25 to 27mpg in mixed driving.

It would be worth your while to give a good tune up, plugs, cap, rotor. Check the ignition wires. Keep about 34 psi in tires. Check to see no calipers are dragging. Test the action of the O2 sensor. Try a search in this board (bottom of this page) using gas mileage as the topic and you'll get lots more information.

My 240 is an automatic, and my drive is on a 2 lane road with no stop and go traffic. It is somewhat hilly, but in comparison with my other car I can't understand why the mileage is so poor. 240's don't exactly have alot of power. My 325e is a lighter car but I also have 2 more cylinders and I tend to drive it alot harder. If 21 mpg is typical of these cars I don't think I can keep it. By the way, the plugs, wires, cap and rotor, and all filters have been changed in the last few months. The miles are high 245k but it burns no oil and runs very smoothly. I have also flushed out the transmission with new oil and changed pads and rotors. If the calipers were dragging I believe I would have noticed unless all four were dragging or at least the 2 front or the 2 rear. Thanks.

People buy and keep cars for many different reasons. I started buying Volvos in the mid-eighties after I saw how poor the crash protection was on some other makes. I've not been disappointed with Volvo's crash protection in two accidents in the family. In the years since I've started with Volvo other makes have improved their safety features quite a lot so I could get equal or better safety with several makes.

I continue with the Volvos with the red-block engine because I can maintain and repair them pretty well now. I know many of their quirks and can deal with them. That is not to say there aren't makes which are equally reliable, crash safe, and maybe have better gas mileage.

If gas mileage on your commute is your first criterion, you may be happier with another make, Honda Civic maybe?

Your mileage is perhaps a bit low, but not atypical. I had an '87 245 auto for years, and it got around 22 mpg in mixed urban driving, maybe 24-25 in sustained highway cruising. The manual transmission cars don't do a great deal better; maybe 23 around town, 26 or 27 on the higway. The Volvo red block engine is basically a tractor motor, the basic design is probably at least 40 years old. It's heavy, and it's dragging around a heavy car. If your '88 is rust free and you decide not to keep it, I'm sure you'll find quite a number of takers on this board! (myself included)
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Mike W., six Volvos (four that run), Largo, FL

Have you checked your OBD codes lately? If you get 2-3-1 it means fuel system compensating for rich or lean mixture (either at load or at idle) and that may narrow things down (vacuum leak, bad fuel pressure, etc.) Generally your O2 sensor won't be bad until your OBD says so (2-1-2) faulty signal from O2 sensor... I just had the same problem... A good carbon cleaning, a new O2 sensor, new cap/rotor, it felt like new!

Best of luck!

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Spencer 1992 244 190K