1989 Volvo 740 GLE 16-valve

This car was purchased new in Huntington, NY on Long Island about a year before the family moved to the west coast of Canada. The car made its trip inside a Mayflower trailer along with our furnitures, and was used mainly for in-town commutes. Therefore, the mileage was extremely low even when we sold the vehicle finally in 2002.

The Volvo was passed from my mother to me, then to my sister. I had ownership between 1994 and 1998. It was silver with graphite colour interior in Alcantara. It had every factory option from the sunroof to the fog lights to the high torque 16-valve engine (other 740 engines at the time, including the turbo, were 8-valve). This was a fantastic, ultra-reliable car to drive. But was it safe?

"Of course it was safe! It's a Volvo isn't it?"

Well, yes and no. The torquey optional engine combined with the probably one of the worst handling RWD chassis Volvo ever made means that this car is very tail happy, especially when the roads are a bit slippery. Even before I took title to this car, when I was just borrowing it from my mom after I got my license, I had a fairly major collision in this car. I had lost control on a patch of black ice and slammed into a parked Saab, snapping its left front axle and writing-off the Saab with my left front, then spun around on the ice after the impact and hit the next parked car with my right rear, causing fender damage to that car. I was perfectly fine after the collision, as was my passenger. The Volvo's fender and hood crumpled as designed. But even after I had totaled the Saab, after insurance information was exchanged, the Volvo started right up and I was able to drive away.

So from a protection stand-point, there is no question, this Volvo was SAFE. My sister was also involved in an accident after my ownership with this car. With the way the small tree impacted into the door, the car held up extremely well. You couldn't even really tell from the inside how much damage was done to the door and side step. But the door was still free to open after the impact. And again, my sister was perfectly fine.

From a preventative perspective however, this car was far from safe. The rear of the car swung out so easily that I had many close calls with this car in the rain and snow. However, I think because of this, the Volvo helped my develop my driving and reactionary control skills significantly. You always learn the fastest not when you want to, but when you have to. So in that respect, I am really glad this was the car I learned to drive in.

Before I was done with this car, I had put in a mesh grill on the lower valance vents, wired up a fog light override switch to operate it independently, had installed a TME third-brakelight overlay, and wired the parking lights to run the brighter 21w contact on the 1157 bulbs. I guess you have to start somewhere.