Faults:

A little trouble when shifting to first gear.

The cooling fan does not work.

A little rusty.

General Comments:

Bought it (very cheap) from a friend to use for a ethanol conversion experiment. He was going to take it to the scrapyard, since he had bought a new car. I soon found out however, that not only was it a pretty good car, I "fell in love" right away. I'm going to get the little defects fixed and then use it over the winter at least. I've never liked the larger volvo´s, but this one is just right for me. Comfortable and inexpensive to drive.

Faults:

The car dash tends to shake and vibrate at speeds over 80 MPH, although that does not affect its driving.

General Comments:

Great car, solid, stable and very fast.

I took it across Europe and covered 3000 miles in just ten days with highway and city driving. The car outperformed any of my expectations being economic on fuel 0.1Euro per Kilometer.

Faults:

Not much has gone wrong with my 440, I had a small electrical problem with the rear-windscreen wash/wipe, but apart from that the vehicle was generally reliable..

Collided with a Honda Civic at 35,000 miles. The civic was a write off, 440 just required new bumper and bonnet hood.

General Comments:

Extremely safe, wish I hadn't swapped it in for my current car. Lovely cruiser, sits at 85mph all day without much noise from the engine. Very durable design, and typical Volvo sturdiness.

Acceleration surprisingly good, with a top speed of about 125mph, but engine revs get loud over a ton. Best used as a family cruiser.

Extremely practical, plenty of space for friends in both front and back. Great handling, although would be better with PAS. Limited edition came with rear-spoiler and softer suspension. Included electric pack, with very handy heated seats.

Faults:

Exhaust mid-pipe rusted through at 70000miles.

Brake pads and disks due to fair wear and tear - nothing unusual.

A wheel imbalance caused vibration of the car at above 80 miles per hour until I realised what the problem was. Replacing the rear driver's side wheel with the spare solved it instantly.

The front driver's side brake disk sometimes catches with the pads when manoeuvering, or when the pads have gotten hot - ongoing problem soon to be fixed, I hope.

Electrical cables to the horn have failed at an unknown point. Too difficult to repair myself. The cables appear to wear quite badly everywhere.

General Comments:

Very, very fast car for its size. Have been up to 125mph as a top speed, and normally cruise at 100mph.

The difference between driving at 75mph and 100mph in terms of fuel cost is phenomenal. Keep it under 80 and it'll run forever on one tank, but driving at 100 mph requires 4000 revs, and drinks fuel.

Very easy to perform most servicing and repairs yourself, as there's a lot of spare room under the bonnet.

Faults:

My brakes failed after about a week, accompanied by the engine having trouble running properly. After bringing the car to a Volvo garage (REAL carefully), they found out it was some simple tube that caused the brakes to fail and the engine to take in too much air (don't remember exactly what it was; I'm no mechanic). It took them about three hours to find that, but were so gallant to not charge me for it.

One of the two lifters in the back popped off. Needs replacing. Will probably set me back a full 3 euros.

After a very long drive, the temperature meter suddenly dropped to zero. During the trip it would turn on and off at random. Only happened once, haven't had problems with it since.

General Comments:

This is my second 440. I had to sell my first one because of financial problems (was a student at the time).

Positive things:

One reason for me to buy another one is the comfortable seats; I recently drove for about eight hours straight and at no point did I feel uncomfortable in the car, nor did I have a backache or something similar afterwards. This car probably has the finest seats in its price range.

The interior space is another strong point. For passengers as well as for luggage this car offers a lot of room. I must add to that that the driver and front passenger are the most comfortable. If you're tall like me (1.90m and over), the back seats will not offer a lot of leg room. Persons of about 1.70m will be perfectly comfortable however.

The car performs well in the city and adequately on the highways. It'll get going pretty quickly, but could use more power when overtaking on highways.

The 1.8i is fortunately not a heavy drinker, and when treating the engine nicely, it can be quite the cost effective car.

Negative things:

It really needs power steering. Mine came without unfortunately, and it's the one thing I sorely miss. Navigating narrow streets, turning and sharp bends is sluggish. If you plan to get a 440, be sure it features power steering.

Tends to understeer a bit too much when at speed, or in wet. (or maybe I should just slow down)

No airbags.

The image people generally have of a 440, and perhaps Volvo in general is that of 'grandpa's car'. Why?