1982 Volvo 240 DL from North America
Summary:
These cars are amazing beasts when taken care of
Faults:
Master Brake Cylinder, 198,000
Worn seats, replaced originals in 2003.
Transmission was replaced at 140,000.
General Comments:
My dad sold me this car last year for about 1000 dollars. I totally ripped him off.
This car has taken me through most of Arizona, never once broke down on me.
It is extremely powerful, it may seem very slow because it's a heavy station wagon. I assure you it is anything, but slow. With the right driving abilities you can take this manual Volvo 240 DL to 55 in a heart beat.
Its acceleration and narrow design makes it ideal for weaving through heavy traffic.
Its storage space has been extremely useful with the back seat folding down.
Its turning radius is sick. I can do a 180 in most residential streets without ever having to back up.
Its long design however makes it prone to spinning or fishtailing at high speeds and/or bad conditions.
I ran it into a brick wall, and drove it home. I DID NOT have ANY injuries, cuts, bruises, or pains. Later, after "rigging" the radiator up with bungee cords we drove it to 120 miles (going the appropriate speed limit with no troubles) to a body shop in phoenix where it was to be repaired.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 10th February, 2005
18th Jan 2006, 04:43
We own a 1982 Volvo wagon like yours. We've owned three Volvos (five if you count parts cars). We loved the first, which was a 1979 calf scours yellow sedan. It took a hit with a tree to the front suspension, and kept on plugging for another 1200 or so kilometers. It's odometer never worked. We replaced it with a grey Volvo GLT sedan, which in Canada apparently meant a squashy luxury car. The automatic transmission on that car was a bit weird, with almost imperceptible high-gear shifts, but clunky 1-2 shifts and a strong "automatic transmission drift" forward. That car was sidelined, and then scrapped, because my dad ran the oil out of it by mistake. Before and while we owned that Volvo, we have had the 1982 wagon. It has 450,000km on it now, though we bought it at 420,000. It has taken a lot of abuse. We've towed a fully loaded trailer with it, taken a literal ton of concrete in bags in back, moved houses with it, bent the roof racks with large sheets of wood and heavy rebar, and still the car runs. Not very well, because Volvo carburettors are rarer than hen's teeth and it has a bad one, but running nonetheless. I think Volvo has one of the best station wagons ever.