1985 Volvo 360 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Water pump leaked and needed changing

Handbrake cable

Fuel pump/filter filled with water

Bracket that supported gear lever broke

Radiator leaked, changed

Steering rack changed (required for MOT)

Steering rack track rod ends

Brake hoses

Nylon gaiter for steering rack.

Must have been a reasonably good car as it was already old (85,000 miles) and survived two years of my driving. Interesting transmission layout: Engine, clutch, propshaft with gearbox/differential at rear, so good balance. Wouldn't handbrake turn well. When the bracket holding the gear change failed, I cut the propshaft tunnel with angle grinder to access and then weld bracket (as last owner you can do these things). Suspect the official method is to remove the engine.

With carb and mechanical fuel pump rather than fuel injection, engine will run on plastic bottle of petrol with washer hose direct to carb. Inadvertently filled with diesel, so got home feeding fuel directly. Kindly note fuel pump puts unwanted diesel directly onto road, so you tend to get sideways on roundabouts at 30mph.

Brake performance and play increased imperceptibly with age compared with newer model.

The hatchback is a lot more convenient than saloon.

Judged within its period (1980's) it was a reasonably OK car. Today, 85/115bhp from a 2.0-litre engine is a joke. The 175x13 tyres made a wet road seem like driving on snow. Got airborne nicely. No street cred, so didn't attract joy riders or the plods.

Driving a relatively low performance car hard increases maintenance costs. No overheating problems (except when water pump failed). Had intermittent engine problem, finally traced to water in fuel pump. Front brake pads easy to change, rears more difficult, but they never wore out. No welding problems for MOT. Only time it went to a service station was for MOT. All servicing was straightforward with Haynes Manual.

There is nothing wrong with the performance of the 360, 115BHP was plenty for the 80s and plenty for the 90s and even today.

They are not classed as sports cars and in their day they had the same acceleration as a BMW 320i and considering they are only insurance group 9 that makes them the cheapest 2liter engined car to insure.

The engines respond well to tuning too, and there are many engine transplants to consider. 2.3 8v, 2.3 16v, 2.3Turbo etc etc.

In short Volvo 360 is a safe, reliable, well speced and easy to maintain car, not cheap on fuel, but then again not many 2liter petrol engined cars are.

It may not have stupid bubble car go faster looks or the latest toys, but who cares when its reliable and does the job.

Does it appeal to retirees because it gives them something to occupy themselves with, forever maintaining it?

Odd comment about the police; they are only interested in how you drive, not what you drive.

Unless you drive something extremely rare, then they might stop you to have a friendly look.

115BHP a joke? How so, the new Skoda Fabia has a 2.0 115bhp 8v roughly same spec as the 360 performance wise, which was borrowed from the MK3 Golf GTi, so how is it just OK?

My 360 sat off the clock at 120mph, I don't see how that is exactly slow.