Well guess what! If those timing belts do break, the Volvo 4-cylinder engine won't get trashed. It'll just stop running. Gotta love non-interference engines.

My family has had four Volvos. The first two (240 series) had hard miles on them and had lots of driveline problems (u-joints, etc). Nothing like a head gasket going though. The latter two (740, 940, both in my sig) are awesome except for a few electrical problems. Far less repair cost between the two of them than with the 380SE.

BTW, this is from someone with an '87 740 Turbo with 176K (now) on its original head gasket. Do the bloody maintenance and don't start out with an abused car and a Volvo will be very reliable.


-Sam