We have had many Volvo's over the past 15 years (see list below) and all are still on the road as far as we know. Generally we only sell one if a real nice low miler comes along. Rust is usually the biggest issue in Canada. If the rest of the body is good everything else on a Volvo is pretty much bolt-on.

Economics is always good. In our case - even if the engine, transmission & differential were to fail at once we could easily find a lower-mileage 240 parts car and have our mechanic swap components for a total cost of under $1500 Cdn ($800 US). The cost of running an older 240 for a year is less than 3-4 payments on a newer car.

Here's what we have had:

1972 145 wagon - rusty but sold it with 440,000 km.
1982 245 DL wagon (the blue whale), sold it with 512,000 km 3.5 years ago and it is still on the road.
1976 245 DL wagon, odometer quit at 200,000 km in about 1982(about 400,000 now?) I bought it for $1000. Drove it two years pretty cheaply an sold it for $1600.
1979 244 GL - 340,000 km. Bought it cheap, drove it for a year without trouble, sold it to a friend who still drives it.

We currently have: 1882 245 GL, 310,000 km (bought it with 180k)- very strong car still - no oil use.
1980 242 GT - 360,000 km. my fun restoration car. new paint, Hallsjo bodykit, IPD suspension.
1987 760 Turbo - 175,000 km. Solid & quick.

Kevin