Hi Tippi,
I have refurbished lots of abused old Volvos into regular everyday reliable cars. It can take quite a bit of money if you don't do your own work. However, as you have seen you can get good results for all the work involved. You have
to have each and every electrical/hydraulic/mechanical system checked over.
Once you have the car in fully functioning order. Then you can do things to increase the longetivity. Things like dielectric grease and sealed fuse holders for connections in the engine compartment help prevent unnecessary electrical problems. Having a good working knowledge of your car will go a long way to
helping things last. It would be great to get a repair manual and read it. But, let me tell you this. Just reading the owners manual will help you understand things alot. It shows you how to change lamps, check fluids. Good basic maintenence info. Let me know if you need info on buying an owners manual for
your year.

Most of the 240s I've refurbished cost between $300-$1200. They usually take about a total of $2k-$3k to refurbish and check all the systems on the car. Of course I'm not counting my labor but that does include the car. If you look around and see that you need to spend a few thousand fully fixing up a car. I believe you will see that you end up paying whether you buy new, used or whatever. It's just the cost associated with buying and driving that kind of car. In my experience you will always have to end up spending the $2-$3 on
a Volvo if you don't do your own work. But if you take care of all the systems
on the car first few months of ownership then the cost will be amortized over the long term ownership and the work will turn to mostly always maintenence instead of major repairs. This would always be cheaper than a new car because your initial outlay is much less. It takes a different kind of person that values the time they need to invest in having a safe reliable car. I've personally never owned a Volvo with less than 100k miles. The latest one I just bought is an 89 244DL with 223k miles.
Hope this helps you. Wish you well.
Dave 82 242ti