Faults:
Days after buying the car, repeated problems with the brake system occurred.
The car become a frequent visitor to the local garage. Eventually, after the renewal of most of the brake system, the faulty component was found to be the master cylinder. Total cost was a whopping £500.
Electric window motor seized twice. This was mainly due to lack of use in the winter. A garage quoted £150 for the replacement and fitting of a new motor. Due to disbelief, I did not opt for this repair. Instead, I removed the motor, stripped it apart and cleaned the brushes. End of problem and working electric windows again.
Radiator rusted through at 115000 miles.
New radiator cost £95.
Exhaust needed replacing at 118000 miles. Cost of new system, excluding manifold and down pipe, was about £90.
New tyres all round. Cost about £50 per corner.
Engine started to idle erratically.
Simple repair involved cleaning the pilot circuit in the carburettor.
Heated seats never seemed to work. I can assume this facility was available for the Swedish specification.
New cam belt at 120000 miles.
General Comments:
This car was not a bad motor, with exception to the brake system. I have heard rumors that the brake system on the 340 and 360 series are Ford derivatives. What an insult.
This car was incredibly thirsty. When I used it continuosly for a week, with mainly town and duel carriage way driving with reasonable acceleration, I used about 45 liters of petrol. This I consider to be bad, considering my Kawasaki ZZR250 used only about nine liters to do the same job.
The engine sounded and responded beautifully. It was always a good starter and never cut out. At 130000 miles, it still sounded like new. I have heard rumours that these engines can easily do 300000 miles effortlessly.
Durability and robustness is a trade mark of Volvo. So what do you expect?
One drawback, was the absence of power steering. Reverse parking gave way to an endurance test.
The comfortable interior of the car, hardly seemed to age, despite being heavily used.
This Volvo incorporated many safety features in its design. These included side impact bars. In fact, when the 340 series was introduced in 1976, it was one of the first cars to have them as standard. Also, many other safety related items, were present in the design of the car during the early eighties, that are just being seen on new cars today. Volvo, in particular, have always paid attention to safety.
The handling was reasonable, but care needed to be exercised in wet conditions. The back end did slide from time to time. Also, the brakes were too sharp for their own good. Being rear wheel drive, smoking the inner rear wheel when pulling out of a busy junction was all too easy. The look on peoples` faces was entertaining, not to mention impressive. A Volvo doing a doughnut? Can`t be done? Of course it can, believe me.
This car had absolute rivers of torque. It would wheel spin continuously in the dry whilst revving and dropping the clutch.
I loved this car and as usual, it retired to the scrap yard, due to rust.
What a disappointment, as the engine was barely at half life.
When buying a Volvo 360, beware, a lot of them have spent most of their lives pulling caravans, thus being over worked. This can put a large strain on the rear suspension, and cause overheating to the engine.
