Volvo 340s, whos owned one?what are they like?

Had a 360, loved it

I had a 360 GLT. Was absolute garbage.

i had this 340 earlier in the year, could'nt get on with it.

That was the kind of of response I was hoping for Chris! You're 340 looks really nice on those wheels, is it the saloon version?

I bought a 1988 F reg in 1996 with 120,000 miles. It was the 340 GLE 1.7 with the Renault engine. It wasn't reliable.

It suffered from damp, with moisture getting into the distributor in cold weather and would often be difficult to start.

If you wound it up beyond 80 mpg for too long the car would begin to buckaroo and splutter. I think this was to do with the Solex carburetor warping on the flange and letting extra air in.

Slam the door too hard and you'd hear rust drop inside the door.

It liked to drift. The problem was that it would happen unexpectedly. I nearly lost the back end a couple of times, but then I wasn't wealthy and bought cheap tyres, which were ditch finders.

MPG wise I struggled to get above 35mpg, and though it was a bigger engined variant than the 1.4, it was still to heavy, and overtaking anything needed a long range traffic forecast.

Being a GLE it had electric windows, powered by huge power switches in the centre console. The chairs were comfy, and quite high, more like a living room chair than a car seat.

After buying it for 1,000 quid and putting up with its faults for three years, I part exchanged it for a G reg Audi 80 1.8E and got 400 quid for it, so it was cheap motoring depreciation wise.

I much preferred the Audi 80 - far more solid, quicker and 40 mpg was doable on long motorway runs, with the injected engine. The Volvo felt quite agricultural in comparison, and a bit ancient. Just look at the leaf springs at the back and be awed by the sophistication!

I had a 360 back in the day - the carb fed volvo OHC engine 2.0 litre.

Before I got it it had a an engine rebuild due to cambelt failure - but I guess that could happen in any car.

It was comfy - in those days rear wheel drive was much more common so it wasn't unusual.

They were big sellers back in the day - rivalling Escorts and Festers some years in the best seller charts.

The one I had was reliable - the only faults were not due to the car (If you see what I mean) - a lump on a tyre that induced a wobble at 75 mph and the indicators packed in every time it rained which I traced to the aftermarket towbar electrics socket filling up with water and shorting out, blowing the fuse - solved by disconnecting as I didn't need it.

Propshafts run faster than most vehicles of course due to rear mounted gearbox - only shared with exotica like Porkers (924/944?) and the original Alfa GTV (not the later sports car).

I didn't do any drifting heroics or anything - the steering doesn't have much feel and the suspension's soft - it's set up for understeer despite being RWD.

The 1.4s and 1.7 are Renault engines, later ones use Renix ignition.

The Volvo 340 is one car I never had any desire to own.

But so is the Volvo 940, until earlier this year, then I suddenly just had to have a 940 diesel.

I think its the Renaultness of the 340 that put me off. But as mentioned above, a bit of tweaking could transform it into into a fun slidy thing.

Had a few and like you, were some of my first cars. Don't get any ideas that they'll be any good for drifting. Much better as fast B road/rally cars but you'll need to mess around with engine mods or engine swaps to get any decent power. They react well to stiffer shocks and sports springs/lowering blocks.

To put it simply, they're a nice quirky first car to have that'll teach you how to fix things yourself. A little bit like a swedish RWD metro. But if you seriously want to give drifting a go with the occasional skid day? Speaking as a drifter, E36 compact or MX5. Even the 1.6! Damn sight better than the 340s. If you want to do the funny Volvo drift car thing, hold out until you can insure a 940 Turbo.

Go for the 360 !