1991 Volvo 440 GL review from Russia

Firstly, after buying, I had some problems with the starter - it worked OK when the engine was cold, and sometimes failed to run when the engine was warm. The problem was inside the starter - the mechanic fixed it in a half an hour and it cost 20 dollars.

But I spent two weeks to find the proper mechanic, because even local Volvo service stations could not fix it, trying to sell me the whole starter (280$ in Moscow).

Finally, it runs OK till now, i.e. 3 years :-)

I encountered some suspension problems, but they were caused by ugly Russian roads. So, I had to change all suspension elements at 70000 kilometers.

Also there was some problems with electrics, like shortcuts in rear lights, which caused blinking of all left rear lamps, when turning on the turn-signal.

Here in Russia, we have two types of service stations. First are Volvo dealer stations, which are unbelievably expensive, but they always have the needed parts and can fix any problem. Another disadvantage is that if you need, for example, to replace only valves, they will try to sell you whole new engine, and if you need to change a spark plug, they will force you to buy new wires, spark distributor, and so on.

The second type of stations are firms that fix any cars, but many of them specialize on Swedish cars, for example. So, it's good way to save some money and have a good repair, because you can find there a mechanic, that worked on Volvo-service before. But in this case, you have to spend some time and buy all spare parts by yourself in shops.

I like this car, because it's not expensive, good-looking enough, fast, comfortable and strong enough for Russian conditions.