I might consider, depending on age, engine/transmission, price etc. I've considered them for sure...not my first pick, but might not be a bad option if the price is right. If you wouldn't mind asking, that would be great Craig!

Hmmmmm. I think I just bought a car. I think I'm in shock. Looks like that 740 wasn't entirely sold after all....

That thur's a pretty nice car...

So you got to drive it? Your thoughts? Thanks for your help in picking it up!

It's a nice solid stock car. No annoying rattles or unusual noises. Paint is shiny. Interior is really nice. It cost $1000 more than I paid for my car and, apart from the SE body kit on my car, it's easily worth it. You'll be happy...

Awesome. Glad to hear it. I'm dying to have a look at it right now.
Do you remember if there were factory floor mats? Also, are any of the windows tinted?

The mats are the factory plastic trays, including the hatch, and under the hatch are some carpeted ones. All the side and the rear windows are tinted.

Oh man. Awesome. Great news! I was hoping I wouldn't have to do tinting. The trays are a definite good thing too.

Jim, I saw your post. PM me if you want to talk. I had no idea you were interested in this car.

So??? Pics, impressions, burnout videos...

Hahahah!! I wish there was enough power to do a burnout!

Truthfully, I haven't felt like posting a lot since getting the car, as honestly, I haven't been that stoked on it. And I feel bad for that. I am so grateful to Matt for helping me get the car. And there's nothing wrong with it per se. It looks AMAZING. I spent 3 hours on Sunday detailing it, and another couple the other night. I got a new windshield put in on Tuesday, but the new windshield is scratched, so the car has to go back to the shop next week. Insurance inspection is on Friday. The windshield guy couldn't believe the condition the car was in and how nice it looked.

But.....so far, I'm just not stoked. Just being honest. It's really really bumming me out. Part of it is me, I know that. It takes me a while to get used to new things. But I've driven 700's enough in my life that I thought I'd get into it. So far I haven't. The main problem is, the ride isn't great. On the highway its fine, but in town I feel like a 17 year old with a JDM car on cut springs. It looks good. But the more I drive it, the more unhappy I am with the ride. Matt and I agreed that the shocks need to be done, so that will be step one. If that doesn't improve things, I'll be ditching the springs. What I loved about the Smurf was the ability to go anywhere, especially in winter. This car won't do that at this point.

There's other things too....the transmission always grinds going into reverse, and I can't stand how the arm rest is in the way for gear changes. Your wrist is always at this weird angle for shifting. And the car feels big to me. Really big.

So I feel like shit complaining, but that's where I'm at right now. If you put a nice 240 in front of me and asked me to trade, I'd do it in a flash. That said, the car isn't mind blowing in power, but it is deceivingly fast at times. Doubling the speed limit is not hard. It's just so smooth and undramatic, it leaves me feeling underwhelmed. But that's because it isn't making a lot of noise or being a handful, which I'm not used to!

I was thinking real hard last week about grabbing a cheap flight out of Great Falls to Phoenix and grabbing a real nice 92 245 that was up on Tbrix. Only had 132K mi (supposedly for real) and of course no rust, biggest issue was a dent in the rear quarter that looked like it would pop out fairly easy. It was an autotragic which is always a bummer, but looked very clean. It sold local in a couple of days, asking price was $2400.

I thought I would get it and see if you were tempted, if not I would have fit it in the fleet or maybe flipped it. Fortunately I came to my senses as it would have been 2 marathon days of driving to get home which would have done me in for sure.

So instead I drove to Redcliff and picked up a 1989 244, m47, A/C, PW but no cruise (huh??) with zero rust. It has a few issues to deal with, of course, but it was so clean for an 89 I couldn't leave it. It's partly Craig's fault as this car will become Lisa's and her car (the burgundy 244 you rode in to PnP) goes to my daughter to get her out of a Suzuki Swift, which is where Craig comes in. We were talking cars a couple of years ago and I mentioned the Swift and he gave me a look that said his daughter wouldn't be in a little car like that. Anyway, we are back up to 1/2 a dozen Volvo's (if you count the parts car which really needs to go now) so I'll be going on Dr. Phil soon...

Sorry you're not thrilled with the 745, when I drove mine home it was like driving a waterbed. Couldn't believe that lady had her daughter driving it like that, it was truly not safe.

I understand all of your concerns, Gregger. Totally valid! Most of them are fixable - the armrest is a snap, the shocks & struts are a little money but would fix things up considerably. The ride will go from stiff & bouncy to just stiff, which is probably not what you're after at this point though. Dampers and springs would make it feel like a new car, for better or for worse as Jim suggested.

Making it feel smaller will be tough, though. You'll have to grow into it, for real. It has been said that you sit in a 740 and you sit ON a 240, and I think that's quite a valid statement. It's physically not much larger than a 240 (if any) but the body of the 240 seems smaller - it's those big bumpers sticking out that you've got to watch out for.

Making it a little snappier would help too. That heavy flywheel is a big part of the smoothness illusion, so's the quiet exhaust and tiny turbo. Messing with all that could ruin the car, though, kind of like the way the springs & shocks are - if you're going to start messing with the power/noise, you'd better turn it into a sportswagon!

The transmission grinding into reverse - does it happen EVERY TIME, or just when you rush it? Pop it into 2nd before selecting reverse - does that help? I had a similar problem in my 740, and it turned out to be the pilot bearing, but I suspected it could be that larger clutch with it's higher momentum than the smaller 8.5" clutches that I was used to. With the hydraulic clutch the friction is much more progressive than the cable clutch, but it's up pretty high so I'd assume that when you're on the floor the clutch is more likely to be completely disengaged.

Anyway, don't worry about me. If you don't like the car you don't like the car. If you mess with a few things and you just can't get into it, I'm sure you'll have no trouble selling it. I'd probably consider buying it myself.

I'm not swapping you for the 242 no matter how much my wife coveted the dog gate in that thing. I think you have to get yourself into the mindset that this is a car and that's it. It's not a project (sure it's as pretty as a 7 series can be (baring the 780)) - but treat it like the toaster it was meant to be.

So my vote (should I be so bold?) is to just leave it the hell alone. Drive it, clean it, put fuel and oil in it and think wistfully about the oil puking out of the spark plug holes in the Smurf. Awesome 245's are in your future (or so a fortune cookie once said), patience.

What Matt said, I've only done the HD's on my wagon and it's a love/hate relationship, they're staying for now but there are days... If this car is meant to be a DD I definitely would stay stockish, I did all poly bushings, iPd exhaust (not that radical) TC's (not that stiff), turbo bars etc. on Lisa's car and sometimes it feels a little coarse to me. The wagon has the HD's and I have Athal's turbo, a 3" turbo back exhaust, chipped ECU/EZK, 25 mm bars, some poly bushes etc. etc. on the way, there's no going back now and I have accepted that this car is going to be rough around the edges.

As for your shifting issues, like Matt said, I had the same thing with our old 740. Shifting in to 1st -neutral clutch in/out then reverse helped. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to change the oil too as it probably hasn't been done in awhile/ever? I also noticed in the pics that you have a 940 armrest which is considered an upgrade over the thin/hard 740 armrest. You could always go back to stock as I never had the arm angle issue shifting you described in our old 740.

As mentioned you shouldn't have any problems selling this car for what you paid if it really annoys you, and you find what you really want. That said I would really appreciate ROFR if you decide to let it go.

Too bad you couldn't have taken a ride in the darth before I left. I couldn't stand (though I did for five years) the city ride on stock springs with bilsteins. I was afraid the lowering coils would make it worse. Finding a bad front strut insert turned into a blessing- the ride is SO much nicer with stock shocks up front, even with the sport springs.
Like Craig said, enjoy it as a comfy dd like I have. I too miss the feel of a 240 though I do not miss the wind noise and squeaks and rattles. You can turn it into a tire smoker without too much work or sacrifice- I advanced the t cam for a while and it was alot of fun. No point in revving past 4000 but then I never do anyway. It was like a diesel!