1982 Volvo 245 DL review from North America

The carb never worked, and we never found out why until after we sent it to the crusher.

The dash lights never worked.

The overdrive worked when it wanted to, not necessarily when you fixed it.

The knobs and plastic were starting to break.

The vinyl seats were nasty in summer. We replaced them with cloth seats from a sedan before we sent it to the crusher.

U-joints needed replacement at about 454,000 km.

Thermostat was replaced at 475,000 km.

Roof rack buckled, but that was under way too much weight (300-400 lb. of solid hardwood).

This car had a full set of gauges, including a vacuum meter that gave rough fuel economy estimates and an outside temperature gauges that gave rough outside temperature estimates. The exhaust was often leaky, but we didn't really fix it. Who does, when they buy a car for $450? Not us. We did fix the U-joint when it went, though.

We went off-road (though not off roading), on mountain trips, and we moved house with it once. It carried anything and everything, and towed a trailer with surprising authority for a little four-cylinder engine.

The engine never ran right, sputtering and needing frequent encouragement to stay running. The transmission had a fancy overdrive that wouldn't stay engaged. The gauges would go wild sometimes. The car smelled of dog and Volvo (raw gas, and the trace of gentleman's club). The analog clock made a horrible "graunch" like it was going to stop working, every second of every day. The car would shudder and shake at speed (tires) and coming to rest (brakes).

We loved it.

For a car that was bought as a 1-year car, it performed amazingly. It never gave up. It's almost tempting to ascribe human qualities to something as determined to keep going as this car was. In the end we gave up on it, and sent it off to be crushed. I'd like to believe that someone took a look at it in the junkyard, paid $50, and drove home to use this incredible tool of a brick again.