Faults:

Nothing much, but when I had the car converted to Gas it worked really well, until the airflow system for the gas stared to play up - other than that it works really well.

General Comments:

The Volovo 360 GTL is the most comfortable car I have ever driven. It's really fast (need for speed). In the cabin I have taken the old seats out and added all black leather seats "it looks off the heat". One bad thing, but could be a good thing is that the car is no chick monster and all my mates won't let me take them out in it at all. One good thing no one has stolen it yet - WHO WOULD.

Faults:

Other than general maintenance tasks (such as replacing the timing belt every 40,000 miles), very few things have needed to be done to the car. The head gasket needed replacing after it developed a leak at about 80,000 miles - but I got the timing belt done at the same time, so that was no great shakes.

The petrol tank developed a leak about 20,000 miles ago - I was told it would be cheaper to replace the car. I reckoned I wouldn't find a car as good or as reliable, so I got the work done.

About 1,000 miles ago, I lost power whilst driving down the motorway. My 360 decided that cruising at 80+ (oops, sorry!) was too much effort, and managed to limp to a garage at no more than 30MPH. Revenge for my speeding was ruled out pretty quickly, and the fault was a collapsed section of fuel line. Easily and cheaply remedied.

General Comments:

I bought this car for several reasons. Let me list them for you.

Firstly, it's supremely comfortable. My father has a BMW 528, and the seats in that car are nowhere near as comfortable and relaxing as the 360's. I have back trouble periodically, and I sometimes just sit in the car with the heated seats on (listening to Radio 4!) - very therapeutic!

Secondly, it's impressively capacious. It has plenty of room to carry four six foot tall men in comfort, and all their walking gear for holidays in the mountains. Similarly when we go SCUBA diving, it can cope without difficulty. It has a tow bar too - I'm a glider pilot and, although I haven't purchased a glider yet, it tows other peoples gliders around with ease.

Thirdly, it's quick. 0-60 may not be anything to shout about - but it can show a clean pair of heals to any incompetent hooligan in a hot hatch. Why? Because it dumps its power to the back wheels - so I'm off while their front wheels are spinning uselessly. Above 30, the power streams continuously - so overtaking is a breeze. As for speed, it can comfortably shatter the speed limit so, whilst a new Golf GTi might be faster, any more speed is useless.

Fourthly, it handles well. Most people say differently - but I promise I speak the truth. Change the shocks for Monroe, and learn to drive it confidently.

The bad? At first, it's pretty ugly to look at. I don't care though - most of the time I'm inside it, revelling in luxury, and after a while the design grows on you. It's no worse than the very similar looking BMW 3 series compact.

Rust. It rusts (all of them it seems) like a demon around the leading edge of the bonnet. The rest of the car is rust free - but the bonnet is a bugger.

Insurance. It's cheap, but insurers seem to thing that the old 360 is worthless. When a Seat Ibiza wrote itself off (literally) by crashing in to the back of me, the insurance company didn't seem to think that it was worthwhile paying for me to have a new bumper (I argued and won - where else was I going to find a car as loyal and reliable?).

If you ever hear of a pristine 360 SE (the fully loaded one with leather, air con, etc) then let me know at first_prophet@hotmail.com - it's one of my dream cars!