Faults:

Nothing yet, as I have just bought the car. But I think the starter motor is new, as is the battery.

I did find a loose pipe coming from the Carburetor, which I was told was supposed to be connected to the ignition/coil box. It was a vacuum pipe which advanced the timing of the ignition when the engine was under load. I was quoted about £60 for a new ignition housing, which the connector had snapped off, so I just super glued it on instead! (Which did work!)

So far, nothing else has gone wrong.

General Comments:

I had a 340 on a friend's farm for 3 years, during which I learned to drive, had lots of fun and completely thrashed the poor MOT failure. After around 1200 miles over-revving, the car packed up and had to be scrapped. However, I liked the car so much, and now that I'm 18, I thought I'd get one for the road. So I looked in the paper and found one. I knocked it down to £225 with 8 months tax and MOT! Having cleaned it and fitted the much needed spoiler from my old one, it was looking quite reasonable, I thought.

It had a full service history at the same address, and has been in the same family until now. I also know it hasn't been thrashed because the accelerator cable was set up so that only half throttle could ever be achieved. So, I fixed the cable and tested it. At first I was quite shocked with its acceleration. Although it is no sports car, it certainly shifts when you floor it, and I managed to beat a Peugeot 406 HDi (1.9) which I was quite impressed by. I got just under 110 mph out of it on the Orwell Bridge! Not bad for an old 1.7?

Unlike my old one, this has a rev counter, which has shown me that it is perfectly safe to do 50 mph in 2nd gear!! Again not bad.

The only problem with this car is the fuel consumption. Although some people told me it was quite good, I think 27 mpg it pretty terrible. And the image, I don't mind the old box image, and if anyone does, are they really going to mess with the big rubber bumpers and iron girder in the chassis?

Although it's not a 'cool' car, my friends seem to respect it, and were surprised with its performance and comfort. Highly recommended for learner drivers.

(Oh, and yes I have already once lost the back end on a wet roundabout - which was a little scary, but quite good fun!)

Faults:

Slight water leak at 100,000.

Back brake drums extremely hard to get off at 120,000.

Heated Seats work intermittently.

Hatchback struts never worked.

95,000 - intermittent on the wiper stalk causes them to freeze in place.

General Comments:

The Cabin is a little dark, but very solid. However, it is spacious, and easy to get in and out of the beat seats in. It is very tough-wearing inside, and the seat-belts work well in a crash. The dash, whilst basic, is also well designed and avoids the large clunky lights, using instead a discrete line of coloured silhouettes across the top of the dash.

The car is nippy, and responsive. The RWD might catch some people out if they start pushing the car, or on slippery conditions, but the balance is excellent. Acceleration wise, it's roughly equal to a 1998 1.25 Zetec Fiesta upto around 70, and there's plenty of torque upto the 85-90 mph mark. Top speed, even at this age, is around 110mph. The engine is hugely torque, and has enabled me to tow cars before, including broken Golf's, Accord's, and on one occasion, a Vectra that was stuck in mud. Kicking the tail out is also possible, if you want it, even with a full load of passengers.

The car is very safe, especially in a front-or rear impact, speaking from personal experience. My previous 340 (an 86) has crashed into a nova saloon, and suffered no more than a damaged wing, and radiator, whilst twisting up the other car's chassis, a 6 week old Golf VR6 struck this one at about 50mph, and was a write-off, whilst the Volvo suffered slight bumper damage, with zero intrusion to the boot area. I'd rather be in this car than any plasticity heap of the last 10 years.

The seats are comfortable for long journeys, with adjustable lumbar support, and plenty of adjustment. The head restraints are of a semi-soft foam, but unmovable, being actual whiplash preventer's, rather than something to rest your head on. Everything is in easy reach, with little need to stretch for anything.

The load capacity is very large, a least the same as a Mondeo or Camry. With the back seat folded, a 1.5x1x0.5m load should be no problems.

This vehicle did everything I could ask of it, and handled everything I could throw at it. it was fast, roomy, comfortable (even to sleep in), warm in the winter, cool in the summer (although there was no a/c) Visibility is good all round, the brakes are big and solid, so getting out of potential accidents is relatively easy. In fact, if you didn't know it was a 'hodge-podge' car, you'd never guess (body by Volvo, engines and manual transmission by Renault, CVT automatic by DAF as well as the designs. There are days when I wish I had that car with me here in the US, instead of it sitting in the UK waiting for me, as the Civic and Ford Contour (Mondeo) together do the job that the Volvo does in one, whilst they are less satisfying to drive.

Of course, if its more performance you want, you should look at the 360 automatic. I drove one of those once, and it was blisteringly quick, as it was a CVT (step-less) automatic, rather than a traditional type.