Not a BRICK but A TANK Volvo 740 GL REVIEW & TEST DRIVE 

They were great cars: reliable, practical, roomy, solid and safe .... the 740 (4cyl engines B23/B230(T) were bulletproof and they were a no-contact engine too), easy and cheap to repair and maintain .... excellent !!! I was lucky to have owned two: 1986 740 wagon and 1988 740 turbo wagon !!!

Have a 240GL which I recently drove to Donegal from Limerick, delightful, then I did the same journey a week later in a modern Audi A6. The Volvo was so much nicer to drive. Slower, thirstier, put put a big smile on my face.

Such a clean example! Great video 👍

Brit in Germany here: In the early 90s we had a 1984 RHD Volvo 740GL bought from a squaddie. It was German Tax Paid so could be registered without any hassle. I paid 2500 DM (1250€) for it. It had about 115,000 mls and was in a dark red colour with a light brown interior. It was a nice and warm interior. It was the then base model 740 and had only PAS, central locking, armrests front and rear and a central loadthrough from the boot for skis or whatever. No rear headrests, full cover wheeltrims or ABS. Back then however PAS and central locking were definitely luxury items. It had the 2,3l petrol 4 cylinder with about 113PS and a proper 5-speed manual. Some models had a 4-speed with switchable Overdrive. IIRC it also needed Super Leaded which was the most expensive fuel then. The german market base models then had 2,3 litre fuel injected engines with about 133 PS. To put that into perspective, the Audi 100 could be had with a 1,8l 75PS carburettor engine and 4-speed manual! A friend had a pre-facelift one after his apprenticeship in about 1992. The rear seating area seemed roomier, the engine bay was basically only half-used and the cockpit design was definitely more VW Jetta/Passat than executive class. Coming from a Toyota Tercel 1,5 4WD estate and Ford Escort Diesel estate the 740 was a huge step-up in comfort, space and noise reduction. Until you got used to it you would constantly drive 12-15 mp/h faster than you thought you were doing :D The turning circle at 10 metres was amazing. Very few cars had a smaller turning circle. We had it for about 5 years and averaged about 12 litres/100 Km, so 25-ish MPG. It was finally traded in with about 150000 mls for a 1988 Mercedes Benz W124 230TE Estate which lasted about 20 years before becoming uneconomical to repair! Edit: Of course it also had heated front seats! 😉

Only full of galvanized after 1988 be the second production batch of 1988. That’s very very important when talking about Volvo too and the 700 series.

These cars also had weights placed in the corners to balance it and it helped with handling.

Great presentation, John! I always liked these. Very contemporary / modern / smart when they were new. That makes sense that the 760 was introduced first as I always perceived the 7-Series Volvo as a high end executive / prestige car.

I always thought they looked too expensive and classy. I liked more the 240. Now when I'm getting older (45) I start to appreciate the look of this with the sharp angles. I just come out of a 2023 Citroën C3 which was a complete nightmare to drive. EVERYTHING is digital and on the display. Very unsafe to have to look at that bloody display all the time, just to change the temperature or change the radiostation. I'm still in shock touchscreens in cars are legal. This old Volvo tank is something completely different. Only the motor could perhaps need an upgrade.

John, very fair review, they may be slow and thirst yet I have an affection for them. My first boss has a silver one like the one you reviewed and my Dad then had one as a company car. Supremely comfortable seats, and so long as you’re not in a hurry, they can be relied on to get you there!

@9:22 I didn't need to see that! lol I own one of these: a '90 740 GL. If you enter: '1990 Volvo 740 GL Walkaround' you can view the handful of short videos that I have posted here on RU-vid.

I'm thinking of buying a 740, with airco though, i can't without airco. It will be my daily driver, and prob gonna be a 2.3 since the turbo models are way expensive.

Hi John great review really enjoyed it,I'm happy to say I'm the proud owner of a 1991 960 24v 2.9 estate automatic and it has everything from cruise control to air con and it all works.👍

Best seats on planet, with that material

I agree with the tank aspect. May be one of the best used cars/classics out there.

Excellent car, especially with a stick shift like this one! I wish they still made cars that were built to last like this one here! Please tell the owner to keep it alive!

Great review, love the old Volvos especially the estates.

Had a 740 2.3 carburettor Estate. Lovely sound. Manual.

Wow! Where I live red Volvos like this are ultra-rare. Most I see are white, silver, beige or blue. In my experience, the cloth interiors are much more durable than the leather, which deteriorates very quickly. The headliners tend to fall down. I also see a lot with missing petrol doors and non-working odometers.

Ok!

"Tank" but still one of the lightest cars in its segment

my father hade a volvo 744 gl from 1990...

Hello from Dublin Central, I remember seeing a blue one with an American style Boomerang Antenna fitted to the Boot back in th late 1980's.

It would be awesome if you tried the 440, 2.0

b230e is a mechanical fuel system

I And where do you get your fuel average from? It seems like you have them for the seven 6740 takes about Sierra pointe 8 L per one proton kilometers so that’s pretty good. t was more like that the 850 got the 760s in theaters at 9:40 got the interior from I mean the 940 got the 740 interior and the 960 got the 760 interior while we were having so many errors. I am a huge Volvo nurse from Sweden so I noticed his things are really unprofessional.

The 760 did not get more powerful. It actually got less powerful in 1988 when I catalytic converter was added I had a 19 9760 I need that 147 hp‘s and it drank a huge amount of gasoline.

Does the model have servo and/or ABS?

My Record is 2 bodies in my 740 trunk

god i need one 😍

my 745gl dosent have abs :(

How many times does he say OK during this video??? Answer below:

Still popular well into the 90s. Popular but never cool...

1989 GLE needs to court to get it has loads of chrome outside more than the GL and it has him if the first Marie chose to all the luxury equipment that you can get them at 7:60 and the whole bodies galvanized in 1990 the whole model became uglier with that new front end so yeah and 1989 GLEU still want to get to get

2.4 diesel 6 cylindres not 5

Grew up with a 740 na automatic wagon, black on black. My father worshiped that thing, I hated that car engine would have been well suited to a pencil sharpener had no power, no cup, holders, and the AC couldn't keep up with a hot day in SC. Those seats burned after it had warmed in the sun for an hour or 2. Hateful thing.

Sosse container, socialistdemokrat container is what they were called in Sweden.

Bike rack @9:22 😂