Lash195 This model did have a relatively long run, more than a decade if I am not mistaken. Their replacement looked like a warmed over refresh of the 1976 car, but except for some of the oily bits, it was actually new from the ground up.
I had several (All Manual Transmission 5 Speed), and never lost money on them! - Safe, reliable, and economical. The 360 was a real 'Sleeper' too. I once parked next to Chris Rea at Hilton Services on the M6 - We both had 345s in the same colour.
My dad had two of these. A 1980 343 1.4gl (underpowered) and an 1988 340 1,7dl 5 speed manual. The latter was splendid ! Solid, no rust, good handling and mileage. I loved it so much that I still drive 1990 Volvos (now a 780 230FT)
I was a car valeter in the late 70s and drove lots of these.CVT box was coupled to a manual choke and on full choke it was impossible to select a gear without crunching the box.
These were a strange car. They looked a lot better in 5 door form. I had a 360 GLS with the 2 litre lump and normal manual. It was actual quick off the traffic lights being a well balanced rear wheel drive. It was fun to slip past the GT/GTIs as their front wheels scrabbled. It was also extremely comfortable excellent seats, heater/blower, and super visibility.
A friend of mine who worked all his life for Volvo once told me of a customer who showed up at the garage where he worked towing a huge caravan with one of these, the owner was a Dutchman on his way to the south of France with is family on board, he was complaining that the car was over heating! After informing him that the car wasn't really suitable for towing such a large caravan and that all they could do was remove the thermostat, he continued on his way south, don't know if he managed to get there (at least he didn't have to cross the Alps)
5dr ones seemed very popular here in the UK. Although was always seen as an old people's car. Very popular with retired gentle folk. Which made sense in the late 90's to buy for good bangernomics. Didn't realise it dated all the way back to the 70's.
My dad had four 300 series Volvos (before moving up to the bigger ones). They were all much loved cars. The best one was the 1982 360GLT, which was around the time my brother and I were learning to drive. My dad would turn in his grave if he knew how much abuse that car got from us. Great fun to drive, especially in the snow with that rear wheel drive, haha.
Red block B19 ( 2litre) unit with a choice of a horrible Pierburg Carburettor or a far superior twin choke Weber, 13/4 inch Zenith/ Stromberg or from 1983 Fuel injection. They could certainly go very fast & were great fun! And never saw any fitted with power steering!
Who will buy it?? .... elderly people who don’t want to do above 20mph, I remember getting stuck behind these things quite often and getting infuriated.
Indeed, every - where in the world. I think they had internet way before we did, they just sent pictures of the car to buy to each other with the text 'you know what doesn't get over 28 mph?! This! And it is 'safe'...
mrsneaky2010: it was rather successful as a rallycross car! That said, I reckon the rallycross 340‘s didn‘t have a single original parts underneath the body. 200-Series parts possibly to some extent?
My grandad had one of these. He loved it. Unfortunately he lent it to me older sister, who was killed in it. Not the car’s fault. She had come home late from a party late and fell asleep at the wheel. The car tried to protect Maureen with its crumple zones but.... Maureen RIP.
It was actually a DAF 77, and it was underpowered (the Variomatic couldn't handle much power), rust prone and plagued with quality issues. Listen how that door squeaks! But once they got rid of the teething problems and offered a version with Volvo 240 redblock engine and manual gearbox (called the Volvo 360), it became quite a good car. Especially the fuel injected 2 litre Volvo 360 GLT are very much sought after today for its near perfect weight distribution and punchy engine in a small car. The early examples with the brown dashboard and orange dials are almost extinct, the later ones are still available for reasonable prices. Many are from first owner who died of old age, here in The Netherlands the Volvo 340 is seen as the quintessential pensioner's car ;-) (like the DAF was before that)
The variomatic cold not handle power ..? Well ... that is not true.. even V8 power could not kill it.. have a look .. go to the DAF museum: it is in Eindhoven.
@@1963Nicholas please explain why the 400 series from 1990 onwards had a conventional automatic transmission (1986-1989 only manual, so the 340 Variomatic had to remain in production until 1991) and it took until 1993 before a 440/460 CVT was available? And only for the 1.8 litre B18U engine, the 2 litre B20F was only available with conventional ZF automatic and the 480 never got a CVT.
DAF 77 was just the project or concept name was it not? And the quality issues overall was a result of DAFs inability to make a car that was up to Volvo's standards. Once Volvo in 1979 listened to the crowed and updated it by removing the hideous brown dashboard while also implementing the 240 gearbox (m45r) along with various quality upgrades, such as improved seats, heater and whatever else the crowd complained on it became better. The 1.4 seems to do the trick for me personally but I would not mind a fuel injected volvo engine. The b14 is however from what I have gathered and myself experienced a rather sturdy engine and its only weak point is the lack in power. Incredibly easy to work on and will apparently last a long time. Have also read from old rally drivers that the 1.4 was underpowered, but the handling is better with the 1.4 than any other options due to better weight distribution. Still a fun little car and I am enjoying myself everytime I drive it. The only tricky part today is getting the correct spare parts for the mk1. And last week I was driving in to a gas station and a couple of dutch campers were leaving, they sure seemed happy to see the 340.
MonkeyHunch1 No joke. That creaking door sound on a new car was cringeworthy! Still, this was likely a pre-production model; one can imagine Volvo/DAF worked out some of these problems. My great uncle had a 5-dr one in the early 1980s - yes, he fit the stereotyped demographic perfectly - and I don’t think it gave him any significant problems. Then again, he probably didn’t drive it too far. I remember it being a roomy, comfortable car, much more so than my father’s Golf at the time.
BloomingOnion: You might be right that Volvo/DAF sorted problems like the creeking door before going into full production. However, considering how quality of Dutch production Volvos still lagged behind decades later with the 440/460/480 and S40/V40, I‘m tempted to believe that quality never had the same priority at what is now Nedcar as it had in Torslanda.
BloomingOnion: You might be right that Volvo/DAF sorted problems like the creeking door before going into full production. However, considering how quality of Dutch production Volvos still lagged behind decades later with the 440/460/480 and S40/V40, I‘m tempted to believe that quality never had the same priority at what is now Nedcar as it had in Torslanda.
The 300 series was marketing way ahead of its time. Just look at how many silly little mercedes, audis, and bmw’s are on the roads now. It’s the same principle, large car manufacturers wanting to grab sales at the smaller end by selling half a car. Least the old volvos had safety ethics on their side even if they weren’t the most fashionable choice.
We had one a 343DL reg: CNC 147T . it never broke down but rusted badly, eventually scrapped . Very slow though remember it going flat out and only just getting above 70mph, though shaking as the engine was going like some.
Styling, performance and price are why this was a rare car on UK roads. You could buy a "new" style top of the range Cortina Ghia for. £500 less. Madness.
Reminds me of a 1970's version of a BMW i8. Not so much the shape, but the way it sits way high up on tires/wheels that are the width of a pizza slicer.
I remember being driven in one of these at 170km per hour from Dijon to Cannes by the mother of my exchange pen pal in 1981. Tailgating the lot. Terrifying. Seemed a solid car at the time. Makes me shudder now.
Imagine doing that in a Renault 5 .... Then you'd know what fear is! :D Never been so scared in my life as I was being driven around the Champs Elysees in Paris at night in the rain by my brother's french mate. 4 up in an R5..... :o
Has anyone noticed? That paint really doesn't seem very good. I think the appeal of the first ones were hampered by that God-awful piggy nose. We had a 340 just after it changed from being a 345, a 5 door GL in met green. Dad's boss had a 240 and loved it so much he wanted all his reps to have a Volvo too. Two things that the 300 Volvo did for the industry were - the dashboard fit and finish is now more or less the standard for all decent cars. I remember sitting in a Nissan Tiida GT recently thinking the entire interior fit and finish was copied from the 340 - and that's a big compliment. The other thing was the constantly variable transmission. In the late 90's most major car companies couldn't get a CVT out quick enough. A friend of mine had a 340 1.7 one. They revved higher - but they got the kick-down ratios spot on and they were more economical than conventional autos. The 1.4 we had was under-powered and wasn't economical at all. It was however, very well built, and high in quality. The heating and ventilation was superb. The 1985 update fixed many of these criticisms with a larger 1.7 and some work on the aerodynamics. It's always said that Volvo buyers often are return buyers. In 1996 we had a last of line 460 diesel (which dad wrote off). Dad was so sad for a while after that happened, it was almost like a bereavement - I kid you not. Whenever we look at new cars - we always consider a Volvo. This is in no small part due to the 340.
I had a slightly later (1984) 340. I actually really miss that car, good solid vehicle. Now driving a V50 R design which is doing an admirable job - review on my channel.
I remember these were new, i worked in a Volvo dealer at the time,the build quality was shocking,there was various upgrades to do to the car before they were released to the eager buying public{read pensioners!!} they were actually a DAF 77 but when Volvo bought DAF out they saw a big opportunity, as time went on & they brought out the 5 door 1.4 & 1.7 they were very popular,actually quite good car's in the day,certainly better than the equivalent Escort & Astra
@geetee thats incorrect. The daf 66 was also rebadged to Volvo, this mergr was beforehand. Its kinda obvious IF it were a daf it be named 77 but it was not, was it? It was good for scnd hand. Volvo no handle on business owners and no image in small cars, new sale is then as difficult as introduce a Japanese car. In fact the Mazda 323 s nose resembles the 343 quite a bit, this may be dealed, Mazda was big in Netherlands. Interestingly, the 323 was available with..drumroll..a normal, genuine, torque converter automatic.
@@rheijm9201 nope, you are wrong on all counts my friend , you clearly don't know what you are talking about, I was working for Volvo at the time and I do know the product inside outp0
@gee..i even have the brochure somewhere, the daf 66 is rebadged as Volvo, interior got some minor styling too. There s no such thing as a daf looking like the Volvo 343. Maybe it exists as some prototype but not on the road. At least on my internet..maybe you live in China. I can easily find a foto of Volvo 66.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen front seats that swivel forward like that. I had no idea the seats in this car did that...I guess it didn’t work well as it was not copied for later designs.
The swiveling seats are a typical DAF thing, which is no surprise since the Volvo 343 was originally designed as a DAF 77. Swiveling front seats were already seen in DAF 44/55 of the late 1960s, perhaps they copied the idea from another car, nobody knows.
Is there a website showing old car prices new? I've been looking for that. You're right about that. The Cortina Ghia really is better than that. Unlike the smaller Fords the Cortinas were very well made too. Later 340/360s were very competitively priced.
@@stuartwilkie4887 , If you are looking for American Cars, then yes. Check out www.thepeoplehistory.com-1970s-cars. If it's UK Cars you're after, then the short answer is no. However, if you research a specific model and dig around a bit, then often you can find prices when the car was launched and/or when it ceased production. It all depends on the car you are looking for, and how much time you can afford to surf the net. Old road test archives are the best source, and if it's BMC & British Leyland & Rover & Land-Rover you are after, then the Archive Library @ The Gaydon Motor Heritage Centre is very good indeed for a whole host of information.
In 1977 my dad test drove a Mk4 Cortina and the 343 and decided on the 343. He also test drove a Talbot Alpine, so we got off lightly! It was the safety he went for, having two young kids. 4 seat belts, stronger roof, side impact bars, big hatchback, laminated windscreen, horses for courses!
It was originally designed to be the "Daf 77", when Volvo took over the design with the factory. In the end, the model turned out to be not unsuccesful at all.
@skoda What a coincidence your name is Skoda. Hello, how do you do. As in places like..yours..the home market did have to be pushed a bit, with police cars, presents to your former colonies, a little bit of dumping. They didn t change anything and it ran long, many years in production, therefore as you said indeed quite a few were produced..440 didn t sell so good 600 pop total, s40 a bit better, but was a more mondial traded thing. If one day a ceo confessies in his memoires , the Netherlands Volvo s made a loss, i d not be surprised.
@@rheijm9201 ofcourse that's not my real name. On the home market it performed quite well, only a fraction of the 340's built, were police cars. They did deviate somewhat from the original DAF 77 concept. Especially the interior was overhauled by Volvo in the first years, since there were some quality issues there at the start. However, Volvo succeeded pretty well in making the 340 their own car in the end, by upgrading rust protection, and introduce manual gear boxes, and the 340/360-Sedan variant, the latter of which sported the 2.0 litre Volvo engine from their own kitchen. Afther that they indeed changed little, but that fits within the wider Volvo tradition. The 240/260 series followed an evolutionary, rather than a revolutionary trajectory as well.
So you know the sales numbers. And Bob Lutz Lee Iacocca and jurgen schremmp wondered what was going on in the Netherlands. Is that it? Netherlands must be more pride? I was referring to being a humble brand, like Skoda in those days. Or Polski fiat, Proton Saga, okay.
@@rheijm9201 I'm not really seeïng what you're aiming at. And yeah, pre-VAG Skoda was a brand that in at least werstern Europe sold well to people with a small bank account. I like the engine in the rear, while the exterior looked like it was in the front. :-) My dad owned a 105L once, when I was a kid.
My family had a much later D-reg 340 saloon with 5 speed gearbox in the rear. Gear change was challenging, it handled like a tank, the 1.7 litre Renault engine was noisy, and it was a pig to drive. Came in ghastly Volvo blue as they usually did. It honestly felt like a step backwards from the previous Talbot Horizon. It was stolen at one point but unfortunately the thieves didn't like it either and we got it back.
I don't understand this comparison. The Talbot Horizon has an age-old Simca engine that sounds like a typewriter (though it will run forever) and rusts like there is no tomorrow. The later 340/360 are pretty solidly built and the 1.7 engine was a new Renault design with overhead camshaft. But I have to admit I like the look and feel of a Simca better than a DAF-Volvo.
@@volvo480 Perhaps I wasn't clear, my family traded in a 'A' registered Talbot Horizon (which didn't rattle at all) for a new 'D' registered Volvo, but the driving experience was worse on the Volvo.
I don't understand why he's reviewing a car in a landfill. Also, these squeaking doors at the beginning of the video, show how much car manufacturing has progressed over the years,
Decades later, I still curse the day I bought one of these. This crappy belt transmission had a tendency to break just like that and get you stranded. Also the smallest puddle would get the ignition wet and..... stranded again. Shit box supreme
Oh Dear ..... we had one in the family !!!! . A white one and a variomatic ... The auto box used to make the engine oil boil !!!!. ... It had good points ..... i swear !!!!....... lets see what he says ???
Seriously! IIRC the first car with a CVT sold here in the US was the Subaru Justy...in the late 1980s. I had no idea cars were being sold with them elsewhere earlier than that.
@@chrisfreemesser5707 the DAF Variomatic (VDT or Van Doorne Transmissie) which this Volvo unit is based off was available in DAF cars from 1958, it was the first commercially successful CVT. Volvo bought DAF Cars in 1975 and rebadged the new DAF as the Volvo 300 series along with the CVT transmission (as tested in the video), around 500,000 DAF cars had the CVT between 1958-76. DAF is still around today making heavy trucks.
dcanmore Although I never enjoyed the CVT driving experience it seemed quite reliable and successful in the DAF and Volvo but when Ford used a CVT transmission in the Mk5 Escort it was a disaster, it was a pig to drive used, to bang and crash into gear and we were forever stripping them down and replacing them.
Ahead of time this little Volvo, in 20 years CVT transmissions would be common and safety features something as banal as the indicator stalk. Face-lifted versions improved a lot the looks however, from what I recall, the Renault engine was prone to overheat and burn the head-gasket.
Early ones like this were crap, not as safe as they claimed. It took Volvo a while to sort what was essentially not their car but eventually became a decent machine - the injected GLT was a hot hatch chaser in its day
@cheryl No thats incorrect. The 340 had a transaxle setup, gearbox backside and rear wheel driven and a de dion suspension setup. Mac person ish front. The ride was very good. But it had a renault 5 engine. I think you have a different car in mind, maybe a Morris marina, mr s sunshine?
They were the biggest pile of shit ever produced, the CVT belt drive system was notorious for belt snapping at cruising speed, the Renault engine was also a diabolical lump of pig iron, which constantly overheated, and the design was like something out of the trabant era. Glad to see these long assigned to the scrap yard.
Intriguing to think how this might have been as a Daf. Lighter without all the Volvo safety gear. Daf were too small and too niche to survive as a carmaker alone, but this bizarre anachronism of a car might have kept them in the game a few years longer.
@azaz What on earth is the definition of a school children runaround? It s a 410 sized competitor to Opel Kadett or ford escort, a blind man understands that. Thou shall not speak in tongues, cori nthians!
You can have your opinions about the Dutch cars being "no true Volvo", without the DAF acquisition and subsequent front wheel drive design Volvo would have died somewhere in the 1990s. They survived because of a Swedish government grant that stipulated they would also build smaller, more fuel economic cars, so Volvo bought DAF and almost merged with Renault. The merger fell through and they were bought by Ford who almost turned the cars into rebadged Focus (V50) and Mondeo (V70)...
Remember that the Volvo 340 series was built in the Netherlands, therefore a Dutch car, and not in Sweden like the bigger 240 series. Not very attractive, but the booted 360 saloon was ugly, and I remember one being used as a taxi!!! Used to like the TV advert driven by a robot through the top floor factory window.
HJP1 HJP2 fun fact, the many Volvo models (including 2, 7 and 9 series cars) for the European market were actually built in Belgium, where they have a massive production facility in Ghent. The Swedish factory built cars predominantly for the home market, and of course all R&D is done there to this day. I believe the XC90 is built in Gothenburg too.
£3,500 in 1976 is around the same as £23,000 in 2024 taking inflation into account.. Sorry but this is very expensive (The build quality on the early Volvo 343 was very poor indeed) listen to the door being opened at 02:34 in this video ..This is a car with less than 1,000 Miles on the clock. This car was really just a DAF with Volvo badges stuck on it. IF I was buying a brand new car in 1976 ..I would have bought a MK 2 Ford Escort 1.3 Ghia and had the car Ziebart rust-protected and still had money left out of the £3,500... The MK 2 Ford Escort 1.3 Ghia with its bomb-proof 1.3 X-Flow engine and smooth gearbox would have been a FAR superior car and a MUCH better choice... I know old people who smell of urine will disagree with me.
I remember these well. They were popular and seemed to be on the market forever.
Lash195 This model did have a relatively long run, more than a decade if I am not mistaken. Their replacement looked like a warmed over refresh of the 1976 car, but except for some of the oily bits, it was actually new from the ground up.
It was on the market from 1976 untill 1991. The last ones sold in 1992.
1:18 The way those seats fold forward like that is simply brilliant. I have never seen that before - ive been on the road for 35 years !
I had several (All Manual Transmission 5 Speed), and never lost money on them! - Safe, reliable, and economical. The 360 was a real 'Sleeper' too. I once parked next to Chris Rea at Hilton Services on the M6 - We both had 345s in the same colour.
My dad had two of these. A 1980 343 1.4gl (underpowered) and an 1988 340 1,7dl 5 speed manual. The latter was splendid ! Solid, no rust, good handling and mileage. I loved it so much that I still drive 1990 Volvos (now a 780 230FT)
I was a car valeter in the late 70s and drove lots of these.CVT box was coupled to a manual choke and on full choke it was impossible to select a gear without crunching the box.
These were a strange car. They looked a lot better in 5 door form. I had a 360 GLS with the 2 litre lump and normal manual. It was actual quick off the traffic lights being a well balanced rear wheel drive. It was fun to slip past the GT/GTIs as their front wheels scrabbled. It was also extremely comfortable excellent seats, heater/blower, and super visibility.
That's spot on true all of that. Strange people would concentrate on a squeaky door that could be greased up in about 10 mins.
I ran a 5dr 360GLS for over 9 years and 96,000 miles. Nice and solid. Could shift when necessary and decent fuel consumption for the time.
@@markwhittingham7626 Pity that so few have survived. They were really so nice and easy to drive.
A friend of mine who worked all his life for Volvo once told me of a customer who showed up at the garage where he worked towing a huge caravan with one of these, the owner was a Dutchman on his way to the south of France with is family on board, he was complaining that the car was over heating! After informing him that the car wasn't really suitable for towing such a large caravan and that all they could do was remove the thermostat, he continued on his way south, don't know if he managed to get there (at least he didn't have to cross the Alps)
5dr ones seemed very popular here in the UK. Although was always seen as an old people's car. Very popular with retired gentle folk. Which made sense in the late 90's to buy for good bangernomics. Didn't realise it dated all the way back to the 70's.
Still have a 1990 340, 5 speed manual thought not a CVT
My dad had four 300 series Volvos (before moving up to the bigger ones). They were all much loved cars. The best one was the 1982 360GLT, which was around the time my brother and I were learning to drive. My dad would turn in his grave if he knew how much abuse that car got from us. Great fun to drive, especially in the snow with that rear wheel drive, haha.
The 360 had a Volvo engine, making it a much more powerful and reliable car that the Renault powered 340 .
Red block B19 ( 2litre) unit with a choice of a horrible Pierburg Carburettor or a far superior twin choke Weber, 13/4 inch Zenith/ Stromberg or from 1983 Fuel injection. They could certainly go very fast & were great fun! And never saw any fitted with power steering!
Who will buy it?? .... elderly people who don’t want to do above 20mph, I remember getting stuck behind these things quite often and getting infuriated.
@supernumery And why the fuck would you want to do that?
Indeed, every - where in the world. I think they had internet way before we did, they just sent pictures of the car to buy to each other with the text 'you know what doesn't get over 28 mph?! This! And it is 'safe'...
Usually pulling a massive caravan and the driver wore a trilby hat! Ahh yes i remember.
this and nissan micras.
in the 80s i don't think i saw one driven over 40mph
mrsneaky2010: it was rather successful as a rallycross car! That said, I reckon the rallycross 340‘s didn‘t have a single original parts underneath the body. 200-Series parts possibly to some extent?
My grandad had one of these. He loved it. Unfortunately he lent it to me older sister, who was killed in it. Not the car’s fault. She had come home late from a party late and fell asleep at the wheel. The car tried to protect Maureen with its crumple zones but.... Maureen RIP.
Cool story Bro.
Where did it happen? RIP
Jeez thats a very sad story
It was actually a DAF 77, and it was underpowered (the Variomatic couldn't handle much power), rust prone and plagued with quality issues. Listen how that door squeaks! But once they got rid of the teething problems and offered a version with Volvo 240 redblock engine and manual gearbox (called the Volvo 360), it became quite a good car. Especially the fuel injected 2 litre Volvo 360 GLT are very much sought after today for its near perfect weight distribution and punchy engine in a small car. The early examples with the brown dashboard and orange dials are almost extinct, the later ones are still available for reasonable prices. Many are from first owner who died of old age, here in The Netherlands the Volvo 340 is seen as the quintessential pensioner's car ;-) (like the DAF was before that)
The variomatic cold not handle power ..? Well ... that is not true.. even V8 power could not kill it.. have a look .. go to the DAF museum: it is in Eindhoven.
@@1963Nicholas please explain why the 400 series from 1990 onwards had a conventional automatic transmission (1986-1989 only manual, so the 340 Variomatic had to remain in production until 1991) and it took until 1993 before a 440/460 CVT was available? And only for the 1.8 litre B18U engine, the 2 litre B20F was only available with conventional ZF automatic and the 480 never got a CVT.
DAF 77 was just the project or concept name was it not? And the quality issues overall was a result of DAFs inability to make a car that was up to Volvo's standards. Once Volvo in 1979 listened to the crowed and updated it by removing the hideous brown dashboard while also implementing the 240 gearbox (m45r) along with various quality upgrades, such as improved seats, heater and whatever else the crowd complained on it became better. The 1.4 seems to do the trick for me personally but I would not mind a fuel injected volvo engine. The b14 is however from what I have gathered and myself experienced a rather sturdy engine and its only weak point is the lack in power. Incredibly easy to work on and will apparently last a long time. Have also read from old rally drivers that the 1.4 was underpowered, but the handling is better with the 1.4 than any other options due to better weight distribution.
Still a fun little car and I am enjoying myself everytime I drive it. The only tricky part today is getting the correct spare parts for the mk1. And last week I was driving in to a gas station and a couple of dutch campers were leaving, they sure seemed happy to see the 340.
Got to hand it to him, he pretty much nailed it on the head with this review.
I remember these being not as good as any other volvo then he opens the door at the start and it is already creeking :)
MonkeyHunch1 No joke. That creaking door sound on a new car was cringeworthy! Still, this was likely a pre-production model; one can imagine Volvo/DAF worked out some of these problems. My great uncle had a 5-dr one in the early 1980s - yes, he fit the stereotyped demographic perfectly - and I don’t think it gave him any significant problems. Then again, he probably didn’t drive it too far. I remember it being a roomy, comfortable car, much more so than my father’s Golf at the time.
BloomingOnion: You might be right that Volvo/DAF sorted problems like the creeking door before going into full production. However, considering how quality of Dutch production Volvos still lagged behind decades later with the 440/460/480 and S40/V40, I‘m tempted to believe that quality never had the same priority at what is now Nedcar as it had in Torslanda.
BloomingOnion: You might be right that Volvo/DAF sorted problems like the creeking door before going into full production. However, considering how quality of Dutch production Volvos still lagged behind decades later with the 440/460/480 and S40/V40, I‘m tempted to believe that quality never had the same priority at what is now Nedcar as it had in Torslanda.
I recall the TV advert for these had a dummy driving one through a window
Yeah I remember that watching it now 😊
It's the best thing to do with them.
One of the rare instances of a car that got off to a dreadful start but matured into a big success.
Yes I think the build quality on early models was notoriously bad.
@shnd7733. It was the same when Ford introduced the Sierra.
Damn Right!! I had a 1987 340 series ( They Dropped the 343 & 345 Names) BEST Car I Ever Had😮
@@piledriverpotter9847 Oh Yes!! First 250 had Such Weak Floors People Put Their Feet Through!! 😢
The 300 series was marketing way ahead of its time. Just look at how many silly little mercedes, audis, and bmw’s are on the roads now. It’s the same principle, large car manufacturers wanting to grab sales at the smaller end by selling half a car. Least the old volvos had safety ethics on their side even if they weren’t the most fashionable choice.
Interior available in beige, camel or light brown. Excellent!
So I guess this videos was also in your recommendations
We had one a 343DL reg: CNC 147T . it never broke down but rusted badly, eventually scrapped . Very slow though remember it going flat out and only just getting above 70mph, though shaking as the engine was going like some.
Styling, performance and price are why this was a rare car on UK roads. You could buy a "new" style top of the range Cortina Ghia for. £500 less. Madness.
VOLVO with Renault five engine.Reliable and bullet proof.
Not as good as Russian fiats.
Developed as a DAF 77 with a Renault engine and was assembled at Born in the South of The Netherlands. The plant currently assembles the Mini
Rarely out of the top 10 best selling new cars.
wow - three and a half grand. Earlier Thames TV car review from the same year on an Avenger priced the Talbot car at two grand !!!!
Reminds me of a 1970's version of a BMW i8. Not so much the shape, but the way it sits way high up on tires/wheels that are the width of a pizza slicer.
My parents bought a 6 month old Rover SD1 2300s direct from Rover (Rep's car) in 1979 for £3100. Makes the 343 look very expensive indeed.
I remember being driven in one of these at 170km per hour from Dijon to Cannes by the mother of my exchange pen pal in 1981. Tailgating the lot. Terrifying. Seemed a solid car at the time. Makes me shudder now.
Imagine doing that in a Renault 5 .... Then you'd know what fear is! :D Never been so scared in my life as I was being driven around the Champs Elysees in Paris at night in the rain by my brother's french mate. 4 up in an R5..... :o
Has anyone noticed? That paint really doesn't seem very good. I think the appeal of the first ones were hampered by that God-awful piggy nose. We had a 340 just after it changed from being a 345, a 5 door GL in met green. Dad's boss had a 240 and loved it so much he wanted all his reps to have a Volvo too.
Two things that the 300 Volvo did for the industry were - the dashboard fit and finish is now more or less the standard for all decent cars. I remember sitting in a Nissan Tiida GT recently thinking the entire interior fit and finish was copied from the 340 - and that's a big compliment.
The other thing was the constantly variable transmission. In the late 90's most major car companies couldn't get a CVT out quick enough. A friend of mine had a 340 1.7 one. They revved higher - but they got the kick-down ratios spot on and they were more economical than conventional autos.
The 1.4 we had was under-powered and wasn't economical at all. It was however, very well built, and high in quality. The heating and ventilation was superb. The 1985 update fixed many of these criticisms with a larger 1.7 and some work on the aerodynamics. It's always said that Volvo buyers often are return buyers. In 1996 we had a last of line 460 diesel (which dad wrote off). Dad was so sad for a while after that happened, it was almost like a bereavement - I kid you not. Whenever we look at new cars - we always consider a Volvo. This is in no small part due to the 340.
Ttis was supposed to become the Daf 77 btw.
I had one, I was attracted to it by the headlamp wipers 🤭🤭
I had a slightly later (1984) 340. I actually really miss that car, good solid vehicle. Now driving a V50 R design which is doing an admirable job - review on my channel.
Door squeaky @ 953 miles nice😄
I remember these were new, i worked in a Volvo dealer at the time,the build quality was shocking,there was various upgrades to do to the car before they were released to the eager buying public{read pensioners!!} they were actually a DAF 77 but when Volvo bought DAF out they saw a big opportunity, as time went on & they brought out the 5 door 1.4 & 1.7 they were very popular,actually quite good car's in the day,certainly better than the equivalent Escort & Astra
@geetee thats incorrect. The daf 66 was also rebadged to Volvo, this mergr was beforehand. Its kinda obvious IF it were a daf it be named 77 but it was not, was it? It was good for scnd hand. Volvo no handle on business owners and no image in small cars, new sale is then as difficult as introduce a Japanese car. In fact the Mazda 323 s nose resembles the 343 quite a bit, this may be dealed, Mazda was big in Netherlands. Interestingly, the 323 was available with..drumroll..a normal, genuine, torque converter automatic.
@@rheijm9201 nope, you are wrong on all counts my friend , you clearly don't know what you are talking about, I was working for Volvo at the time and I do know the product inside outp0
@gee..i even have the brochure somewhere, the daf 66 is rebadged as Volvo, interior got some minor styling too. There s no such thing as a daf looking like the Volvo 343. Maybe it exists as some prototype but not on the road.
At least on my internet..maybe you live in China. I can easily find a foto of Volvo 66.
Don't these have heated front seats as standard? These eventually developed into the rather potent and underrated 360 GLT.
So many around for so long - then suddenly gone.
Thank Goodness
I don’t think I’ve ever seen front seats that swivel forward like that. I had no idea the seats in this car did that...I guess it didn’t work well as it was not copied for later designs.
2door mk1 & mk2 Cortina front seats swivel like those 343, & earliest Cortina would have been 14 years before Volvo had them .
The swiveling seats are a typical DAF thing, which is no surprise since the Volvo 343 was originally designed as a DAF 77. Swiveling front seats were already seen in DAF 44/55 of the late 1960s, perhaps they copied the idea from another car, nobody knows.
He doesn't half look like Alan Partridge in the thumbnail!
Nice door squeek on a brand new car.
i had one of these....unfortunately the gun turret was missing.
Anyone notice the 343 has rear seat belts even in 1976
For around the same money, you could have a top of the line Mk4 Cortina 2.0 Ghia with some options. I know which one I'd rather have.
Neither.Both were crap
Is there a website showing old car prices new? I've been looking for that. You're right about that. The Cortina Ghia really is better than that. Unlike the smaller Fords the Cortinas were very well made too. Later 340/360s were very competitively priced.
@@stuartwilkie4887 , If you are looking for American Cars, then yes. Check out www.thepeoplehistory.com-1970s-cars. If it's UK Cars you're after, then the short answer is no. However, if you research a specific model and dig around a bit, then often you can find prices when the car was launched and/or when it ceased production. It all depends on the car you are looking for, and how much time you can afford to surf the net. Old road test archives are the best source, and if it's BMC & British Leyland & Rover & Land-Rover you are after, then the Archive Library @ The Gaydon Motor Heritage Centre is very good indeed for a whole host of information.
In 1977 my dad test drove a Mk4 Cortina and the 343 and decided on the 343. He also test drove a Talbot Alpine, so we got off lightly! It was the safety he went for, having two young kids. 4 seat belts, stronger roof, side impact bars, big hatchback, laminated windscreen, horses for courses!
Have to be the cortina imho
It was originally designed to be the "Daf 77", when Volvo took over the design with the factory.
In the end, the model turned out to be not unsuccesful at all.
@skoda What a coincidence your name is Skoda. Hello, how do you do. As in places like..yours..the home market did have to be pushed a bit, with police cars, presents to your former colonies, a little bit of dumping. They didn t change anything and it ran long, many years in production, therefore as you said indeed quite a few were produced..440 didn t sell so good 600 pop total, s40 a bit better, but was a more mondial traded thing. If one day a ceo confessies in his memoires , the Netherlands Volvo s made a loss, i d not be surprised.
@@rheijm9201 ofcourse that's not my real name.
On the home market it performed quite well, only a fraction of the 340's built, were police cars.
They did deviate somewhat from the original DAF 77 concept. Especially the interior was overhauled by Volvo in the first years, since there were some quality issues there at the start. However, Volvo succeeded pretty well in making the 340 their own car in the end, by upgrading rust protection, and introduce manual gear boxes, and the 340/360-Sedan variant, the latter of which sported the 2.0 litre Volvo engine from their own kitchen.
Afther that they indeed changed little, but that fits within the wider Volvo tradition. The 240/260 series followed an evolutionary, rather than a revolutionary trajectory as well.
So you know the sales numbers. And Bob Lutz Lee Iacocca and jurgen schremmp wondered what was going on in the Netherlands. Is that it? Netherlands must be more pride?
I was referring to being a humble brand, like Skoda in those days. Or Polski fiat, Proton Saga, okay.
@@rheijm9201 I'm not really seeïng what you're aiming at.
And yeah, pre-VAG Skoda was a brand that in at least werstern Europe sold well to people with a small bank account. I like the engine in the rear, while the exterior looked like it was in the front. :-) My dad owned a 105L once, when I was a kid.
I have never heard the tailgate called a third door !
I can remember in the 80s some cars being called a 5 door and then they started calling them hatchbacks. Probably a sales technique. 🇬🇧
Another 20 seconds added would have been a nice touch 😉
My family had a much later D-reg 340 saloon with 5 speed gearbox in the rear. Gear change was challenging, it handled like a tank, the 1.7 litre Renault engine was noisy, and it was a pig to drive. Came in ghastly Volvo blue as they usually did. It honestly felt like a step backwards from the previous Talbot Horizon. It was stolen at one point but unfortunately the thieves didn't like it either and we got it back.
I don't understand this comparison. The Talbot Horizon has an age-old Simca engine that sounds like a typewriter (though it will run forever) and rusts like there is no tomorrow. The later 340/360 are pretty solidly built and the 1.7 engine was a new Renault design with overhead camshaft. But I have to admit I like the look and feel of a Simca better than a DAF-Volvo.
@@volvo480 Perhaps I wasn't clear, my family traded in a 'A' registered Talbot Horizon (which didn't rattle at all) for a new 'D' registered Volvo, but the driving experience was worse on the Volvo.
On the limit handling was sketchy at best but for plodding about in it was quite a pleasant little driver.
I liked the 5 door version as it could just about manage 5 people and a weekly shop.
I don't understand why he's reviewing a car in a landfill. Also, these squeaking doors at the beginning of the video, show how much car manufacturing has progressed over the years,
Giorg189 Its Epsom race track.
Why did they always do tests in muddy fields?
70's Britain was one big muddy field.
Decades later, I still curse the day I bought one of these.
This crappy belt transmission had a tendency to break just like that and get you stranded. Also the smallest puddle would get the ignition wet and..... stranded again. Shit box supreme
A friend of mine had loads of these including a 360 GLT, very comfy seats, they just looked a bit ungainly.
We, in the US, never saw this model. It's a bit on the homely side.
I think most Americans liked big fugly cars. Look at what Americans drive today, you will understand what I mean.
Ajattele millä ajat volvo
Early models were proper rot boxes too
Forgot about these,,,friend's mum had an orange one,,,,
Looking at the thumbnail, I thought it was one of the Alan Partridge skits.
Think you had to show your pension book at the Volvo dealers before they would let you buy one!
And sign an agreement not to drive above 17 MPH.
A guy at my college wanted to take a photo of my mk2 fiesta - he told me he had 5 340's! Didn't look a wierdo but he was at cambridge uni so....
I love the flash wheels
I like it :)
Oh Dear ..... we had one in the family !!!!
.
A white one and a variomatic
...
The auto box used to make the engine oil boil !!!!.
...
It had good points ..... i swear !!!!....... lets see what he says ???
I had no idea CVTs were around in the 70s.
Seriously! IIRC the first car with a CVT sold here in the US was the Subaru Justy...in the late 1980s. I had no idea cars were being sold with them elsewhere earlier than that.
@@chrisfreemesser5707 the DAF Variomatic (VDT or Van Doorne Transmissie) which this Volvo unit is based off was available in DAF cars from 1958, it was the first commercially successful CVT. Volvo bought DAF Cars in 1975 and rebadged the new DAF as the Volvo 300 series along with the CVT transmission (as tested in the video), around 500,000 DAF cars had the CVT between 1958-76. DAF is still around today making heavy trucks.
@@dcanmore don;'t forget the light blue disabled invacars were CVT too :)
@@amojak Hubnut would be chuffed about this!
dcanmore Although I never enjoyed the CVT driving experience it seemed quite reliable and successful in the DAF and Volvo but when Ford used a CVT transmission in the Mk5 Escort it was a disaster, it was a pig to drive used, to bang and crash into gear and we were forever stripping them down and replacing them.
Brand new car and you can hear the squeaky door 2:38.
I LIKE IT
Listen to that door squeak! Amazed Volvo QA let that leave the factory
My uncle had one of these...!!! 😁👍
So did my uncle, and his name is Anton
Super voiture ! J'en ais eu deux !!!
Some squeek out of that vulva door. Nice shape though
Had the 360 GLS it was like having your own little tank🇬🇧
Volvo took a car from DAF and sold it to the daft.
He’s no Tony Bastable but a close second !
Epsom Racecourse again?
Make me dream
Omg i use to live near the factory in the Netherlands. On every streetcorner this thing was parked. Not a nice sight
Born
Ahead of time this little Volvo, in 20 years CVT transmissions would be common and safety features something as banal as the indicator stalk. Face-lifted versions improved a lot the looks however, from what I recall, the Renault engine was prone to overheat and burn the head-gasket.
Modern design
Listen to that racket
These early 300 series Volvos weren't good lookers. The revised 1986 models look much tidier imo.
Early ones like this were crap, not as safe as they claimed. It took Volvo a while to sort what was essentially not their car but eventually became a decent machine - the injected GLT was a hot hatch chaser in its day
I like watching these films from Epsom Downs.
much better than a 1 series
Squeaky doors 😁
My friend had one of these, the handling was terrible but it was a cool car for a 17 year old... sort of...
@cheryl No thats incorrect. The 340 had a transaxle setup, gearbox backside and rear wheel driven and a de dion suspension setup. Mac person ish front. The ride was very good. But it had a renault 5 engine. I think you have a different car in mind, maybe a Morris marina, mr s sunshine?
They were the biggest pile of shit ever produced, the CVT belt drive system was notorious for belt snapping at cruising speed, the Renault engine was also a diabolical lump of pig iron, which constantly overheated, and the design was like something out of the trabant era. Glad to see these long assigned to the scrap yard.
Intriguing to think how this might have been as a Daf. Lighter without all the Volvo safety gear. Daf were too small and too niche to survive as a carmaker alone, but this bizarre anachronism of a car might have kept them in the game a few years longer.
Still miles better than a Morris Marina.
I owed one of those for a week.........
It was a car for school childer runaround or for pickup takeaway not for freway drivivng
@azaz What on earth is the definition of a school children runaround? It s a 410 sized competitor to Opel Kadett or ford escort, a blind man understands that. Thou shall not speak in tongues, cori nthians!
Just a Dutch DAF. Not Volvo Really
You can have your opinions about the Dutch cars being "no true Volvo", without the DAF acquisition and subsequent front wheel drive design Volvo would have died somewhere in the 1990s. They survived because of a Swedish government grant that stipulated they would also build smaller, more fuel economic cars, so Volvo bought DAF and almost merged with Renault. The merger fell through and they were bought by Ford who almost turned the cars into rebadged Focus (V50) and Mondeo (V70)...
Remember that the Volvo 340 series was built in the Netherlands, therefore a Dutch car, and not in Sweden like the bigger 240 series. Not very attractive, but the booted 360 saloon was ugly, and I remember one being used as a taxi!!! Used to like the TV advert driven by a robot through the top floor factory window.
HJP1 HJP2 fun fact, the many Volvo models (including 2, 7 and 9 series cars) for the European market were actually built in Belgium, where they have a massive production facility in Ghent. The Swedish factory built cars predominantly for the home market, and of course all R&D is done there to this day. I believe the XC90 is built in Gothenburg too.
Late 70's were just rebadged DAF's. Quite ok for boy racer drifting and Tesco parking lot donuts...
a true guilty spark
looked even worse in real life... thanks for the video though always enjoy
New car and door already creeks.
I had one of these very briefly, it was ok but rather underpowered. A rather boring car in many ways, but they fetch some money now!
Brand new car with squeaky doors.
Very solid car with a very noisy engine
£3,500 in 1976 is around the same as £23,000 in 2024 taking inflation into account..
Sorry but this is very expensive (The build quality on the early Volvo 343 was very poor indeed)
listen to the door being opened at 02:34 in this video ..This is a car with less than 1,000 Miles on the clock. This car was really just a DAF with Volvo badges stuck on it.
IF I was buying a brand new car in 1976 ..I would have bought a MK 2 Ford Escort 1.3 Ghia and had the car Ziebart rust-protected and still had money left out of the £3,500... The MK 2 Ford Escort 1.3 Ghia with its bomb-proof 1.3 X-Flow engine and smooth gearbox would have been a FAR superior car and a MUCH better choice... I know old people who smell of urine will disagree with me.