Volvo 240DL - the best Volvo ever made - review of a 1978 244DL

A review and test drive of a British 4 door 1978 Volvo 244DL sedan. This car has the smaller engine (100hp) but all the Volvo safety and boxy style.

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A review of a Volvo 240 - in particular a British 1978 Volvo 244 four door sedan.

To set the cultural landscape of Britain and where this car landed, the 70s was a tricky time for automotive. There were strikes at BL, build quality across most manufacturers was a bit hit and miss and a decade of malaise in the world of automotive had left many buyers feeling cheesed off and jaded.

So when the 240 series lands, it's more than just a breath of fresh air. It takes the standards, expectations and industry norms and shakes it down and gives a series of cars which in Volvo's words are built for the individual.

Although you've got various cars including the 260, we're going to focus on the 244 today as it was the most popular of the range.

There were two alternative power units available for the 244 and the DL model as we're testing today was fitted with a 100 hp DIN version, whereas the GL was fitted with the 123 hp DIN version with continuous injection fuel supply and fully transistorised ignition system. However despite the differences, both engines were 2.1 litre capacity with four cylinders. The aluminium alloy cylinder head is the cross flow type and incorporates an overhead camshaft, which offers better response and low speed pulling power.

It's worth mentioning the cross flow type cylinder head also reduces the risk of vapour locks and running on and both engines could be run on economy grade fuel - what more could you ask for?!

This particular example has been fitted with the 3 speed auto - but the car was also available with a 4 speed manual.

The 244 by 1978 is one of the UK's best selling 2 litre exec cars and the reasons for this were numerous. There was the quality of construction, reliability in a world where it was commonplace to see fairly new motors breaking down or suffering silly avoidable faults and unrivalled durability. In fact, should anyone question the quality and durability, here’s an interesting statistic from 1979. The Swedish Motor Vehicle Inspection Company which was independent of Volvo stated the probable life expectancy of a Volvo was 16.6 years - which was almost two years longer than the next nearest make. And that was benchmarked across all available cars in Sweden at the time - not just home grown motors.

Another fantastic thing about these Volvos was that rust proofing was acknowledged and embraced. Volvo built exposed body pressings of hot-dipped galvanised sheet steel - with 3.5 square metres used in every car.

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