My car was stolen last year and a friend gave me a 1989 740 GL and I'm hooked! This is the first Volvo I've owned and I like too many things about owning a Volvo to list. Anyway, because the car spent most of its life ungaraged and driving on salt-filled roads the undercarriage has a significant amount of rust (the body is in great shape). Because of this I don't want to dedicate a large amount of time or money into it. I now live in San Diego so I would like to purchase a California, rust-free, Volvo to maintain and care for over the next handful of years; and hopefully further.

My question is... is there any particular model and year that is considered the best for Volvo? I'm thinking of an older Volvo; I can't afford a new car and I want something with comparable room under the hood to my 89 GL so I can work on it myself. Any ideas or tips?