the Volvo line.... (Orono, Freeport, Eastport: transplants, houses, cars)

[399083453]

Originally Posted by AustinB

We have had a volvo,. NEVER again. You could buy new cars for what it costs to maintain.

Yeah... I know someone with a Mercedes that almost fainted when the dealer told her it would cost $400 for a spare key.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

When Saabs reach a certain degree of decrepitation they are referred to as saabs. At that point you no longer drive them in late winter. It isn't because the heater doesn't work. It's because of the danger of frost heaves. One of those frost heaves is going to be the one where the driver's seat goes right through the floor pan and onto the road. It takes a really long time to stop.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Nearly all of Maine's islands not connected to the mainland by bridges are UTs. There is one UT in Kennebec County. That is Unity Township on Map 21 in the DeLorme Atlas.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I have a saab, not a Saab.

A '99 saab sedan with no heater. My DW recently bought a 2008 Chevy Aveo [which she loves], and I have a '57 Willy.

As to the 'Volvo line', first off I would like to clarify that no UT is below the line. I see the line to be a crooked or serpentine line of demarcation. If we first agree that the Maine UTs are rural / no-price / low-tax-base and absolutely non-Volvo; then we can begin to see the Volvo gradients as you travel further South, or closer toward higher population densities.

We have a SAAB. 2003 Aero sedan. It's the low slung, turbo charged, highway car I complained about in an earlier post. Except we can't afford to put it up for the winter! We've owned Saabs since we were married 25 years ago. They have been good cars. This Saab is the only one we have owned that was a bit impractical for Maine roads. Too low to the ground for the frost heaves in the spring. We shouldn't have bought the sportier Aero model but we wanted to try the top of the Saab line. It's getting traded soon. We had one beater Volvo that was given to us by my brother-in-law. We had it a month when one morning my wife went to start it and the fan went sailing through the radiator. That was the end of the Volvo. We even owned a Yugo once! Yugo's were very popular in Maine for a while. That's because they were $4,000 brand new or $99.00 a month financed. It was a good second car just to run around town with and it would start when it was 25 below. I jumped the other car off it on several occasions. We gave it to my brother when someone t-boned his truck and totalled it(with no insurance). He drove the Yugo for two years and saved enough to buy another truck.

[forest beekeeper]

Turbo charged, heated seats, headlight wipers, it is a comfortable car, and fun to drive in nice weather.

However:
a $150 ignition key.

$400 for the dealership to diagnose what is wrong with the heater, though the actual repair may easily 'total' the car [meaning the repair may exceed the blue-book value of the vehicle].

When the temps are below freezing the shocks squeek loud:

The hatch-back must weigh 50 pounds [it is terribly hard to lift and takes both hands to hold it open];

and without heat you breath quickly forms layers of ice on the interior of the windows.

That is why we no longer have a Saab, rather it is a saab.

[moughie]

[quote=Maineah;2957204] We had one beater Volvo that was given to us by my brother-in-law. We had it a month when one morning my wife went to start it and the fan went sailing through the radiator. That was the end of the Volvo. We even owned a Yugo once! Yugo's were very popular in Maine for a while. /QUOTE]

Beater Volvos wer ethe car of choice in Maine during the 80's it seemed. Every Mainer we new had an old refurbished version that held up quite nicely, thank you. We almost bought one but later found another vehicle.

Yugos- Yikes!! LOL! Have not thought about those in a while. Almost as dubious as the brand spanking new Renault Alliance ( car of the year 1983) my dh purchased the year we were married. We drove it 185 K miles till it died in Maine ( rip).

[grimstuff]

It's funny how this thread morphed into an *actual* Volvo discussion!

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by grimstuff

It's funny how this thread morphed into an *actual* Volvo discussion!

Personally, I think that's WONDERFUL thing !!!


Re: the Yugo: I go- Yugo- we all go!

[AustinB]

"Almost as dubious as the brand spanking new Renault Alliance "


I had a brand new Renault Fuego. It was fine for the first 60k, then you couldn't pay it to run. It lasted till 75k.
The really good thing about the car was when the kid tried to steal it, he couldn't figure out how to turn on the lights. I was able to chase him across the lawn and dump him out of the car.

[moughie]

Originally Posted by AustinB

"Almost as dubious as the brand spanking new Renault Alliance "


I had a brand new Renault Fuego. It was fine for the first 60k, then you couldn't pay it to run. It lasted till 75k.
The really good thing about the car was when the kid tried to steal it, he couldn't figure out how to turn on the lights. I was able to chase him across the lawn and dump him out of the car.

LOL!!!