1995 Volvo 440 GLE from France - Comments

Rear bumper attachments broke.

Admission valve changed at 83000 (apparently a common problem on these 1.8 single point injection motors).

One set of tires lasted less than 30000km.

This late model is reasonably well equipped, even by today's standards (air conditioning, partly leather seats...).

It is quite cheap to run -- cheap insurance and burns less than 7.5l gas per 100km at autobahn speed.

High torque at low revs makes driving pleasant at low-to-medium speed although it's clearly not a race-car (and could use an additional 20hp or so).

Comfort is OK for long highway trips, but the car it is seriously bumpy on small country roads.

Drives OK on snowy mountain roads.

It would be close to the perfect cheap family car if the trunk wasn't so small!

One problem I overlooked when buying it is that it is a relatively uncommon car in France so parts or additional equipments (eg roof bars) are hard to find. And the local Volvo dealer is not especially helpful.

I am a Hungarian Volvo owner for over a year and a half. I add this comment to the above assessment to join the author. I mostly agree with all written, I had the same experience, good experiences (fuel consumption, stability, torque, brakes, handling is all very good, though very little luggage rear room). I had one uncomfortable problem with my safe and good car: oxygen sensor has went wrong TWO times within the first year, I run the car. It took much energy and a bit of money to find the problem, but the electric system was checked and to a great part replaced. This may be useful with a 9 years old car. So, I plan to buy a 850 estate, and remain a Volvo owner. Thank you.

Update from the original poster:

At around 100K the driver seatbelt tensioner blocked and the whole seatbelt needed changing (around 200€ at the local Volvo dealer).

Recently, a rubber strap holding the exhaust pipe snapped and needed replacement (15€ including labor -- cheapest trip to a garage ever).

Now the idle is showing signs of erratic behaviour again: jumps to 2000rpm at startup, stays high or oscillates when the motor is cold and never seem to go below 1200rpm (instead of around 950 usually). Likely culprit is the AIC (automatic idle controller?) which will eventually need changing (for an additional 200€ or so).

Also I wrecked the retractable antenna by oiling it -- my fault entirely: these should apparently never be oiled.

Apart from that I am still rather pleased with this car in general. It is a good size for 4 people and performance is vastly sufficient in a country where the highest speed limit is 130 (km/h).

Living in an often foggy valley, the only piece of equipment I miss is fog lights -- I would be interested in any information about fitting fog lights without getting charged through the teeth by a Volvo dealer...