1988 Volvo 340 GL review from UK and Ireland

Had a tendency to stall and cut out when idling, which was indescribably irritating, almost vomit inducing when in stop-start traffic. Having dismantled the carburettor it was found to be a blockage which was preventing the petrol from flowing freely (not bad for such a huge mileage).

Chucked out a lot of black smoke when giving it some welly (which was 99% of the time).

Its main faults were the fact it was driven by a a 1.4 carb engine which generated the bhp fit only for a car weighing as much as a small rodent. Unfortunately, the old Volvo weighed in at about 17 tons which meant performance was by no means a redeeming attribute.

This huge mass of pig iron, powered by such a viciously under-powered engine also led to a pitiful fuel consumption of about 12 MPG around town.

Unfortunately it doesn't end there. Driving in the wet was on occasions, but when you simply want to travel from A-B when it is raining it became quite irritating/life threatening. As it is rear-wheel drive the back end became very tail-happy when you turn into a corner on the gas. As the enormous weight transfer and body-roll is pushed over to one side the back just kicks out and with such a savage lack of power, it is hard to correct. On more than one occasion this happened and on one occasion I span the thing about 240 degrees on a round about.

On the plus side however, it has got a tough old engine that can take a battering and it was good for 112 mph down hill with a tail-wind (although it was delivering about 2.5 mpg at the time).

Oh, and you have to be built like a boxer to park it!