Metal Meredith

So I never post here, having little to say, but I feel compelled to comment on my recent purchase, the 1990 Volvo 740 Turbo wagon meredith mentioned a few posts back.

Okay, so after driving this thing for close to a month now, I can say a bit about it. First off, it needs a turbo, not to be sporty (although that may have been the marketing objective), but because it would be vastly under powered without it. Secondly, it is very...buggy. Buggy like software is buggy. I seem to be a magnet for these cars (’84 Camry, ‘65 Ambassador, ‘79 Civic [1st generation!], ‘80 Datsun). Or maybe it’s just because I can never afford to buy a new car. Anyway, here’s what I mean:

1. Test driving the car and the windshield washer does not work. I peek under the hood and see that the fluid line is not attached to the pump. Fixed. A week later, the line is attached, but I have no washer fluid. Suspect faulty pump or bad fuse. Need to double check fluid levels, but pretty sure that’s not it.

2. Overdrive is the “default” setting when in drive 3. To disable, there is a button on the drive selector which bumps it out of overdrive and prompts the display of an orange up arrow on the dash. You can push the button and get out of overdrive, but you cannot push it and guarantee that you will go back to overdrive. In fact, the car will randomly take itself out of overdrive at any given time. Very annoying, particularly at highway speeds. Suspect faulty wiring (pray it’s not the computer).

3. Rear driver’s side door lock. This lock is a powered lock and will not open by pulling on it. The power locks are triggered by locking/unlocking the driver’s door or tailgate via key or the lock itself. Rear driver’s side door lock will occasionally not work. This seems to be related to ambient temperature, but I don’t have enough data yet. Suspect faulty wiring or bad lock mechanism.

4. When turning slightly beyond straight on there is tightness in the steering that gives abruptly. Very noticeable at highways speeds when steering in more slight. Suspect steering rack. Not happy about this one since I sure it won’t be cheap and it will have to be fixed. Didn’t notice this when test driving. Always a good idea to get out on a highway if you can.

5. Complete lack of cupholders. Okay, not technically a “bug” — just bad design. Do people not consume beverages in Sweden?! WTF?!

So the car is certainly more comfortable than the truck and slightly more enjoyable to drive. Only time will tell if it was $1000 well spent or not. So far, I feel pretty good about it. We’ll see how that holds up once I get an estimate on the steering components.