It’s pretty easy to set a price ceiling when you’re shopping for a car. But what about a price floor? Is it worth cross-shopping a much cheaper car? That’s what we’re investigating today. We’ve got a Volvo that seems like a pretty decent deal, and a Mitsubishi that’s so cheap it might be too good to be true.
Yesterday, we looked at a couple of nice old-person cars, about a decade apart in age. The voting was pretty close, about a 55-45 split, in favor of the Buick. The Chrysler won quite a few fans by virtue of being newer and presumably safer, but the Park Avenue’s old-school charm won the day.
I’d go for the Buick as well, I think, precisely because it’s older. I already know my way around it. If you’re doing the repair and maintenance work yourself, like I do, simplicity and user-friendliness counts for a lot. I’m sure I could do whatever I needed to on that Concorde, but ’80s/90s GM products just feel like old friends to me.
If your budget for a car is, say, $3,000, chances are you’re going to walk right up to that line, and maybe even look at a few cars over it. It makes sense; spend more money, get more car. But there’s always a spot to enter a bottom end of the range, too. What do you set that to? $2,000? $1,500? Lower? Is it worth even bothering looking at cheaper cars?
Of course it is. Most cars down in that price range are going to be junk, but there are a few hidden gems. And why spend more money if you don’t have to? So let’s look at a decent three-grand car, and one for half as much, and see whether it makes sense to spend more.
1996 Volvo 850 – $2,850
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter OHC inline 5, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Dearborn, MI
Odometer reading: 150,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Old Volvos generally make really good used cars. They’re built like tanks, and usually have more safety stuff than their contemporaries. The old 240 series used to be a good bet, but they’ve started to climb in value, and the good ones are getting snapped up by collectors. Its replacement, the 850, doesn’t have nearly the following, and probably will stay cheap for a while yet.
Granted, the 850 is driven by what some consider the “wrong” wheels, and it doesn’t have the famous “red block” engine that is so prized by Volvo enthusiasts, but what it has is pretty good. The 850 uses a transversely-mounted five-cylinder engine, and in this case, an Aisin four-speed automatic. It’s durable stuff; I’ve seen these cars with twice as many miles as this one has. It has a bunch of new parts, and the seller says it runs and drives well.
Volvos aren’t really luxury cars, but you can option them up to be pretty fancy, and this one looks like it has quite a few boxes checked. It has power leather seats, keyless entry, and more. The seats are cracked in places, but still comfy-looking. One thing that does need some attention is the air conditioning; the condenser has a crack in it and needs replacing. Hey, at least they didn’t try to say it just needs recharging.
It looks good outside, except for a ding in the trunk lid in the back. The trunk still opens and shuts all right, so it’s purely a cosmetic issue. The black plastic strips on the bumpers are fading to gray, as they all seem to. But I don’t see any signs of rust. I mean, it is a Michigan car, so you’d be wise to look underneath, but from the top it looks damn good.
1998 Mitsubishi Galant ES – $1,400
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4-liter OHC inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Richland, WA
Odometer reading: 201,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Mitsubishi Galant is one of those “Oh, right” cars. The Toyota Camry and Honda Accord so completely overshadowed it that it’s sometimes easy to forget the Galant even exists until you see one. But from everything I’ve heard, they’re good cars. I’ve had a couple of friends who owned Galants, and had good luck with them. And there’s an upside to being completely overshadowed by Toyota and Honda: you’ll pay a whole lot less for a Galant than you will a Camry or Accord.
US-market Galants were built in the Diamond-Star Motors plant in Normal, Illinois, alongside Eclipses and Eagle Talons. Only one engine was available, a 2.4 liter four-cylinder, with either a single or a double overhead camshaft setup. This being an ES model, it has the SOHC engine. It runs and drives great, the seller says, but that’s all they say. No, really – that’s it. “Runs and drives great, reliable, good on gas.” That’s the entire ad.
It has over 200,000 miles on it, and it shows in the interior condition. It’s not torn up or anything, but there’s a lot of wear. Being an ES, it has power windows and locks, and probably cruise control and stuff like that. But of course, there’s no telling how much of it still works until you try.
Outside, it’s missing some clearcoat, but it’s straight, and it should be rust-free, being a Washington car. Good color, too. We didn’t know how good we had it in the ’90s with all the teal cars, not to mention all the other color choices.
So what do you think? Is the Volvo twice as much car as the Galant? Is the lack of information in the Galant ad enough of a red flag to make it a no-go? Or is it the bargain of the year?
I have the same 2.4 SOHC engine that is in that Galant, in my Stratus Coupe, and it’s been one of the most reliable cars I’ve ever owned; it’s up to 180+K these days.
I love my Mitsu’s but the 850 always reminds me of the W124’s and I love those too. Volvo it is this time!
Volvo 240s are pretty damn old now and not going to be as reliable as they once were. Also, unless it’s a lament of the move to FWD when they finally had enough power to matter, I don’t get the fascination with RWD in 240s—they were dog slow and not particularly fun to drive or encouraging of hard driving, so nobody but a teenager with one back when they were cheap is sliding them around in anything but snow with bad tires and RWD has more drivetrain loss than a FWD transaxle.
I owned a 96 850 back when i was a kid – was the first car i bought myself. It was the spicier 850R, but it was a good car. Id go Volvo
I prefer the Volvo but snow belt cars aren’t high on my list. Mitsubishi this time.
Took the Volvo.
I had a long term rental S70 (which was simply a facelift to the 850).
It was an excellent drive and eventually resulted in a V70 purchase for the family.
The engine bay is wonderfully laid out in an ode to Swedish simplicity. (Swedes must have learned their lesson after they went overboard designing the Vasa).
In all honesty…if Volvo had a similar car on the market today (no touch screens) I would seriously consider this.
Points for bringing up marine architecture history!
I love older Volvos (I own two) and even the non-sporty base 850 like this one is a good car. But TBH, though it’s cleanish, this one worries me a bit with the underside of the dash hanging off, the AC needing repair, and of course I don’t like the paper-thin cracked leather on the seats (which is the exact same color/condition of the paper-thin cracked leather in one of mine). Also: it comes from a part of the country with winter weather, and thus road salt has to be considered.
But I chose the Galant instead. I never wanted one, let alone lusted for one, but it is Japanese, generic, naturally aspirated, and looks to be in decent shape. It gives me a very ‘is car’ vibe, and I dig that.
Had the 850 been a wagon, of course I’d have selected that instead.
Galant by virtue of the location and the fact it’s reasonably priced. I’d be willing to bet you’ll get quite a bit of value out of it for $1400
You say you don’t know any dissatisfied Volvo owners? We bought a 740 turbo wagon in 1990. My wife loved the look and we had little kids at the time.
The car came from the factory with half of the brakes non-functional. The computer died. My wife tried to put it in reverse in a parking lot and the shifter came off in her hand. The rear crumple zone was in the area of the back facing 3rd row seat where our kids insisted on sitting so they could make faces at the cars behind when we were stopped at a light.
For some reason, that was the only car we ever got suckered into buying an extended warranty. I think it paid off $11,000 in early nineties dollars after the car warranty ran out in the 5 years we owned it.
I did learn why Volvos are so safe. It’s hard to be killed in a car that won’t start.
wut