Hello,

I just got my driveing licence and i am looking forward to buy myself a car. Becouse i live in Romania, where no car wich hasn't EURO 3 can be registred, i am forced to but a second hand car from here. That's sad, cose romanians don't have the respect for the old cars and they allmost destroy them. And when it comes to buy one, the prices are very high compared to western europe. I saw today a Volvo 360 GLE on an english site and he was asking about 50 pounds on the car. It was a verry nice looking car, from 1986 with 116k miles.

Well, as i said, i can't buy that in Romania and i can't buy it from abroad and register it in here. So, i searched the web and found a 343 Volvo from 1980, with almoast 140k km (it's hard to find a car with the real km...they allmoast allways modify it...but this one looks quite correct) in verry good shape. It doesn't have rust, the paint it's new, the inside it's more then ok, it's clean, i like it. Tomorrow or sunday i'll take it for a test drive, to see how it's working. It has the 1.4l engine.

A picture with it can be found here: http://www.okazii.ro/catalog/1001054/au ... #div_photo

What do you think about this model? Ah, allmoast forgot: the price is 24.000.000 lei, aprox. 650E. He is trying to sell it fore some time, cose i saw the ad on the internet 2 months ago. It was 900E and now went down to 650. I now it doesn't worth that much, but this are the prices in here...i hope i can negociate untill 450-500E!

Any sugestions, what should i look after, how good is the engine, etc.

Many thanks,

Cosmin.

If it is well maintained the engine is the least of your problems. It's almost indestructable up to 300.000 km.

Rust is your main problem.
You might want to take a look at the following places:
The beam under the fron licence plate,
The wheel arches,
The beam between the rear wheels...

If there is rust on one of the spots ,it will probably be on the other ones too.

Good Luck!

Ok, i shall look after what you said!

About the engine: i read on the internet that the car can reach up to 145km/h....but what about the acceleration? Is it such a slow car? Can the power of the engine raised somehow?

Uh, i want an original Volvo radio. Where can i found one?

PS: when i saw the inscription on the back of the car i got scared cose i thought is a diesel!! Can someone tell me what the "DL" stands from?

Yes it is a slow car. You can come along in the traffic just fine but don't expect it to be nimble.
A 1.4 only has 70 horses under the bonnet and it weighs approx 1000 kg.

DL means DeLuxe (correct me if I'm wrong)

apart from DL there are also versions;

L --> really standard, the cheapest version

GL --> halogen lights as standard, nicer interior

DLS + GLS --> body and interior according to GL and DL, with 2 litre engine (predecessor of the 360's)

Greetings Wouter


PS the 343 you're looking at looks good on the picture. but beware of rust!

Tnks guys for the support!

About rust, on the extrior, i couldn't find a single spot...it's preserved realy good. Ah, the brake disks are a little rusted becouse the car is not used so much and becouse we are experiencieng a wet summer in here!

Today i was and made some pictures of the car with my mobile phone, so don't expect great quality!

[img]http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cainerosu ... pg&.src=ph[/img]

Finaly did it...


But i wanted the pictures to apear in the post, not only a link....

At that adress you can find all the 7 pictures i made earlyer today!

First upload them and then post the URL, select the url and pres the Img button.

As long as there is no rust on the body and the car drives and feels good I think you will have a nice car.

Bear in mind that repairs to the bodywork are more difficult and usually more expensive than mechanical repairs.
Thus if the car you are looking at has good bodywork (this one seems to) then it is better to buy it than one with good mechanicals but poor bodywork.

On this one there appears to be no rust in the usual places so as long as the underside is good I say go for it.

Yeap, i have the same opinion. There is only two issues to be solved:
1. contacting the owner for a test drive;
2. convinceing the mother and the father (but mom is the strongest opposant) to buy my this little "gift"

What do you think about the price? It' 666E and i hope yo negociate a little more, till 500E.

Is that in Euro's :-S?

Yes, E stands for euro

In Romania, 1 euro=36.100 lei (rol), wich from the 1st of July will bcome 1 euro=3,61 lei (ron)...a denomination process:)

So, the ownr wants 24.000.000 lei, aprox 666 euro...

Reddog29 wrote:Yes, E stands for euro

In Romania, 1 euro=36.100 lei (rol), wich from the 1st of July will bcome 1 euro=3,61 lei (ron)...a denomination process:)

So, the ownr wants 24.000.000 lei, aprox 666 euro...

Am I the only one that thinks that is a hell of a price for a v343?


sorry.... poor pun.

It looks in great condition, body wise, and i suppose you have to look at what alternatives you have, if that's a reachabe price I'd definately say go for it
good luck

Tnks.

As i said before, in Romania we have other prices at cars....We are poorer then you, but the cars are much expensiver. That is bcouse we can't import anymore cars that don't have EURO 3 and becouse before 1989 there were no foreign cars in the country, except some Skoda, Volga, Lada and few Mercedes for the ministeryes. So, the worst car in the world, Dacia 1310, from 1980 costs 550E in a very bad shape....and i repeat, nothing can be worse then that type of car. That's why i think this Volvo has a super price for what it offers!

Tomorrow i'll end my exams and after that i'll try conviceing my familly!

could be a "doing well in your exams" present

Yes, exactly that is what i am telling them! But my mom is against buying some crap old car, cose we have an OLCIT 11R (made in Romania, after the Citoen 16, i think...try http://www.oltcit.ro) wich she says is perfect for the beginning.... But the car is not working, neds repearing and i sugestd that a working car is better...Hope i can convince my father it to it