1989 Volvo 340 GL review from UK and Ireland

Nothing yet, as I have just bought the car. But I think the starter motor is new, as is the battery.

I did find a loose pipe coming from the Carburetor, which I was told was supposed to be connected to the ignition/coil box. It was a vacuum pipe which advanced the timing of the ignition when the engine was under load. I was quoted about £60 for a new ignition housing, which the connector had snapped off, so I just super glued it on instead! (Which did work!)

So far, nothing else has gone wrong.

I had a 340 on a friend's farm for 3 years, during which I learned to drive, had lots of fun and completely thrashed the poor MOT failure. After around 1200 miles over-revving, the car packed up and had to be scrapped. However, I liked the car so much, and now that I'm 18, I thought I'd get one for the road. So I looked in the paper and found one. I knocked it down to £225 with 8 months tax and MOT! Having cleaned it and fitted the much needed spoiler from my old one, it was looking quite reasonable, I thought.

It had a full service history at the same address, and has been in the same family until now. I also know it hasn't been thrashed because the accelerator cable was set up so that only half throttle could ever be achieved. So, I fixed the cable and tested it. At first I was quite shocked with its acceleration. Although it is no sports car, it certainly shifts when you floor it, and I managed to beat a Peugeot 406 HDi (1.9) which I was quite impressed by. I got just under 110 mph out of it on the Orwell Bridge! Not bad for an old 1.7?

Unlike my old one, this has a rev counter, which has shown me that it is perfectly safe to do 50 mph in 2nd gear!! Again not bad.

The only problem with this car is the fuel consumption. Although some people told me it was quite good, I think 27 mpg it pretty terrible. And the image, I don't mind the old box image, and if anyone does, are they really going to mess with the big rubber bumpers and iron girder in the chassis?

Although it's not a 'cool' car, my friends seem to respect it, and were surprised with its performance and comfort. Highly recommended for learner drivers.

(Oh, and yes I have already once lost the back end on a wet roundabout - which was a little scary, but quite good fun!)