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One of the safest cars _for its time_. In a catastrophic collision, the 240 is not nearly as safe as a new car. 240 are fine in full frontal and full rear collisions, especially the later ones with a drivers airbag. Come in from the side, or do an offset at speed, not so nice. Even the 940 is bad in an offset crash.
My father, a cheapskate lawyer, drives a 1981 Chrysler LeBaron coupe as his daily driver. Slant 6, drum brakes and gi-normous leaf springs in the rear, voodoo carburetor (which nobody can fix), vague steering, appalling visibility, and apparently no brake proportioning valve. Certainly an under-designed rear suspension, as it'll hop around like a mexican jumping bean in an emergency stop or on rough pavement. THIS was the 240's competition: malaise-era domestic deathtraps. If my grandmother had not garaged the car for its first 16 years (and 20K miles) the one piece of safety equipment this car came with would have kicked in by now: self-destruction thru rust, removing these monstrosities from the highways in a timely manner.
A 15 minute test drive in old detroit iron will remind you why "predictable handling" was a trait worthy of prominence in Volvo's advertising in the 1970's.
John
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1989 245 233K / 1993 945 127K
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