1972 Volvo 140 142E review from Sweden

I bought the car used and it had been treated poorly. Within a year of purchase, I had to replace a U-joint. It went along well until 4 years after purchase. Then, I had to replace the water pump, shocks - which I upgraded to gas shocks - the distributor and most of the ignition components, regulator and fuel injection nozzles. It went along all right until 2003, when the disc brakes had to be completely redone. The hard part was finding the parts. Import Performance Divsion in Portland, Oregon, had some. But I had to get completely rebuilt calipers from a high-end vintage brake repair shop. Still, the total cost was only about $800.

These cars have plenty of room, having been built to accommodate people whose average male is about 6 feet 2 inches. The turning radius is extremely tight for a sedan and is one reason these were great rally cars. Acceleration is pretty good - 0 to 60 in about 10 seconds is a guess - for a small, in-line, four-cylinder car. With the four-speed manual transmission, I can get 22 mpg on the freeway. Thing is, the car weighs 3,250 pounds - not light for a two-door sedan. This is my second vintage Volvo, since I was hit in its predecessor and can attest for the safety of Volvos. The four-wheel disc brakes were advanced for their day and have a fail-safe system to back up the first if it fails.