My Dad had two of these, one hatchback and one saloon. Absolutely no fond memories of them at all. Sorry but they were terrible to drive even by the standards of the day. Manual gear boxes were dire. 440 replacement was a revelation.

I was a mechanic in a Daf main dealer at the time of the Volvo takeover so the garage became a sort of mini Volvo dealer for servicing and repairs. The storeman was delighted as he was authorised to sell some Daf spares at Volvo prices. Renault head gaskets retailing at about £4 suddenly went up to £8 and before long replacement stock arrived in Volvo wrappers and boxes. The garage did eventually acquire more Volvo customers, but not enough to keep the garage afloat and with the dwindling Daf customer base Closure was inevitable.

Where's the Lego Porsche 911 (set 10295) in your cupboard ? ;-)

A proud DAF owner here. funny that they just rebadged them to avoid import taxes :P

Something missing, like the 14 made 4x4. Prototype tho. Had an 360GLT 1985 B200 140BHP (531 head), the speed demon, 220KM/H no problem but not for long till the engine overheated. All tho the B200 banger was easy to replace whit an B230.. But why downgrade from 140 to 118-138 donkeys?

Thank you!

My mother had a few of these, they were absolutely terrible compared to the 200 and 700 series. The only good thing was that they were RWD and if they had the automatic transmission you could go as fast in reverse as forward.

Ottin-Sher ?

BurToneee?

GeeeO-Vanni ??????

Just a small correction: Denmark joined the EEC / EU in 1973 (vote taking place in 1972), so your map of the "Trade block" is not correct, if you want it to reflect where the Volvo 300 series could be sould at the launch in 1976.... Apart from that, another great video!

The 77 looks like a Mk1 Golf. Of does the Mk1 Golf look like a 77?

I passed my test in my dad's 340

Ooh - they should have gone with the Bertone designed 343 Tundra. Beautiful refinement of the original design. But, the 400- series coupe kind of made up for it. 😊

DAF600=Car with suspender drive...............ladiescar.... I had the 360 with 2.0 Volvo engine. The baddest cat I ever had. Incredible non-handling. No powersteering and driving zig-zag over the highway.....

The Volvo 340 and 360 were rather dull inside and out thankfully not many of them around.

Very interesting channel!

It looks like a Chevy Vega from 1970.

Regenjas the Jas part is pronounced as the u in just as for the cars dad had three of them slow learner lol, I was forever hitting the roof as it was too low.

Sorry dutch people, but the 300 series was not as good as the 200 series

I owned 2 DAF 44s and s DAF 55 Marathon which was rally specced

I became a man in one of these. Halcyon days:)

Iv got a good idea for a vehicle to do 🤔 umm alter 2 4x4

10:03 "Ottinn-jer"..... That hurts the native's ears! Geez...

I had a 360GLT and it was anything but slow, the look on xr3i drivers faces when you pulled away at the lights with that beefy 2.0 engine in such a small car

My grandfather bought a new 340 every 3rd year, and I got one plastic model "made in Finlad". I still have them. Why not make a Volvo 900 series story? I got one 960 1997 in my real car collection. :)

That brought back memories. When my mum died, she left me enough money for a second hand car and I got a third hand 343. I remember the fuel economy (25 MPH if driven carefully, 18 MPG if not), the remarkable 0-30 times with the horrible 0-60 times and the crazy soft suspension that made cornering an exciting adventure.

In Holland we called this car a "bejaarden raket" (translation literally ) : a "rocket" for the elderly. You were laughed at if you had this car. It's also known as a fake Volvo because not one single piece of this car was designed by Volvo in Sweden.

GLTs had 2.0 injected 120HP engines.

Sorry, but these were awful cars. The Renault 1397cc pushrod engine was already getting on by then, and the cart horse rear live axel suspension arrangement was an archaic through back to 60's.

Wow So Amazing

They were absolute and utter garbage, in every form

can u tell story of Citroen Xsara lates 90s

Those Volvo ads are hilarious

I had a 340,great car and really good drive,used mine regular from Dover to Belgium,it never let me down,i think it was a 1.4,sure they used the Renault engine.If you are lucky enough to find one now,a lot of lads in this area are buying them for drift cars.

Look to the left, a Daf 66 delivery. Only 7 left in the Netherlands.

I loooove your channel, but lose the bloopers. Dom DeLuise you are not❤

Had no idea this car had this kind of following. As I remember it, it was seen as a corny little car for elderly women. People called it "Laban", presumably because they though it looked like a dog house.

My dad had a black Y-reg 360GLT. It was the sportiest car he's ever owned!

great channel, i love the video's! i would be very interested in a story about the bmw e24 6-series, and about the rover 400/45 series thanx in advance!

My Uncles 340 was rear ended by a mondeo years ago.. We got out and the 340s rear bumper had come off its clips. The mondeo driver, a guy, was in tears, his front end was smashed to all recognition, the bonnet was a nice V shape and coolant all over the place.. Great memories

My parents has one back in the 80's. As a backseat passenger, I liked it. It's number plate was GAN..... So we called it Gan. We all loved Blake's 7.

My Dad bought a DAF46 in 1976. It had an air-cooled twin cylinder engine of 800cc. It had a single CVT drive belt or "rubber band" as we used to call it. More powerful engines used 2 drive belts. It chewed up a lot of rubber bands and we got very good at replacing them over the 14years we kept the car! It also had a simple but effective centrifugal clutch, rather than a torque converter. It drove quite nicely at motorway speeds for an 800cc - I presume the CVT transmission gave it a wide gearing range.

My parents went shopping for a Citroën BX. Then got home with a 345. Ouch! It was terrible. Absolutely no character, badly made and an sickening interior smell. I now own a Renault 16, on which the Volvo 300 was clearly inspired. Except the Renault has more character in every inch. It also had powered windows 25 years before the Volvo got it.

Iedere maf rijdt in een DAF Heuveltje op heuveltje af

I owned a 1982 343 and a 1991 340 with LPG tank. The 1991 had a 5 speed transmission, which worked, but wasn't too well with the car. The 1982 one had the 4 speed manual gearbox, and this was a perfect match. A turning radius of less than 10 metres, superbly flexible interior with loads of space, very comfy seats and very decent economy made me love it. The easy maintainability was another factor I was thankful for as I did all of those jobs on my own. On snow or ice covered streets, there's no better car. Full Stop. When I had my 1982 one, I worked for a company the boss of which owned an Audi A8. The road to the office went slightly downhill and was in a remote spot where snow wasn't cleared. Where the Audi had to have its traction control turned off and struggled and screamed and roared with all four wheel slipping and spinning wildly to slowly creep uphill, the 343 drove up like it was a dry road. In ice rain, when all the ABS and ESP equipped cars had to hide in their garages, I went to play on spacious parking lots, drifting in eights around the lamp posts. Without any electronics, the 340 was superbly controllable in such manoevers. A brilliant, brilliant little car that I would _love_ to have again. F*** VW Golf, f*** Astras, f*** front wheel drive and electronic helpers. That wee bugger did it all right.

Great video. I also like admiring your technic collection. I used to have that motorcycle (@Mum, what did you do with it?). I need that Caterham!

Had one on rent in around 1980, drove it from Gothenburg to Malmo, very smooth but arrived late for my meeting with the Rent a Car District Manager. He glanced at the car and remarked 'Now I know why you are late.' .Brought mine in 1989, Volvo had pulled out the quality to get the price competitive with the Golf. Kept it for nine years as family hack, and sold it to a colleague for £300 as I thought the engine had developed expensive problems. Six years later same colleague remarked that his son was selling it that week, did I want it back!

I regularly look for a 360 GLT. Best little car I ever had. The engine oil seal went and I didn’t have money to fix it. It was a ripper on the motorway. Had a 244DL. Great car too.

Excellent video as usual - waiting for a Humbre Sceptre video

I had a 1982 Y 360GLS in which I used to travel every weekend back and forth from Cardiff to London for nearly a year. It only cost me £520. It would cruise along at 80mph/3200rpm and did 30mpg. What a great car.

Watched this beginning to end, even rewound a few times. If you end up doing a video on the 440/460, you have one guaranteed viewer with me. I bought a 460 in 2010 for £300 and I really appreciated the quality and value. Thankfully, it was severely ugly, which probably helped with the £300 price!

Nice video! This car was immensely popular with the elderly here in The Netherlands. My mom also drove one in the 80s, a 340 DL Automatic. Noisy and clunky but built like a tank. It had no power steering though, parking could be a bit of a challenge.

The 1.7 litre engine was not an enlarged version of the OHV 1.4 engine, it was a version of the 1.7 (1721cc) OHC unit fitted in many Renault's from the 5 GTX to the R21 and a few others, this was the unit fitted in the Volvo 480 with a turbo conversion engineered by Porsche.

Remember the DAFs well. My godfather was a DAF dealer in Northumberland.

i know someone with a 340GL he takes rallying, last time i heard i think he had a Renalt 5 turbo engine in it, he has a 480 too.

Gosh, forgot about these.

An volvo renault motor car.340 GL GLE were correct but not attractive as 740 GLE at this period. I was fan of 740 models. 9xx were not accessible. Next models with angles less abrupt were mess attractive for me. The 3 doors wit renault volvo with modern design had an original body in 80'. 740 GL GLE models were expensive. Too much for an professor as my mother. The 740 models with leathers were very nice inside with an good quality. The indestructible model was the 240 model available a long time in the brand but not cheap for an old model at end of 80'. The model I preferred till today are the 7xx models. V6 let dreaming with a lot of space inside. Gazole models were a little bit noisy however 'super' models were higher for my point of view about silence and class. I wanted that my mother buy an volvo younger but only 7xx interested me and 300 version were not competitive about price for my point of view. I had leaflets of 300 and 700 series I asked to an dealer and opened them often to make my choice before advise my mother. I made my choice beetween 3 brands at this period with leaflets and bought from 7 years old every year worlwide car magazine I REALLY KNEW EVERY YEAR BY HEART.

You may already know this. When Volvo discontinued the 66, they did not have a "small car" to match their competitors. I was told that the Renault Clio - launched in 1991 (I think?) was developed for Volvo, and was supposed to be their new "small car". Your commentary where you mention the 300 series having Renault engines kinds of adds weight to this story and a possible joint venture. Had a Clio RT 1300 (mk1) as a family car brand new in September 1991, and was very pleased with the spec. (Did the French Government subsidise the Clio generation?) I used to know a community/district nurse who used a Volvo 300 as her "daily driver". Never let her down. Thank you for the video. Keep up the good work. Stay safe and well.

My first ever volvo was a 340gl - reg B591LSA....beautiful solid car like a tank...i then bought a newer one followed by a 480 ltd edition (best volvo ive ever owned) followed by an 850 estate (awesome) then a v70 then an s40 then a mercedes C CLASS (very nice) and currently own a V40 D4....the saying volvo for life is true but im thinking mercedes again next.

I worked for a Volvo dealership many moons ago when the 300 series was still in production. On a fairly regular basis, we used to get panicked phone calls from elderly owners of the CVT models after they had demolished their garages, or a neighbouring property when they first started the car. Full on reverse or forwards can have spectacular results! Ah, fond memories 😂😂

The build quality of the very early ones was allegedly so bad that Volvo demanded that any that were traded in were scrapped.

Why they putted the gearbox in the back?

My first car was a Renault 11 TXE it used that 1.7ltr engine as well as a lot of other 300 series parts. It was a very quick car, too quick for a firt car it turned out

I bought a used 1978 340 in 1988. It spent more time in the repair shop than driving it. Lots of bad memories. Once I took it to a mechanic that worked only on Volvos. He didn't even want to look at it. "That's not a Volvo" he said.

My parents had a 1985 Volvo 360 GLT. Great car!

Nice one, I remembered hearing about the BMW involvement, but couldn’t find any info on it. Your research is superb, keep up the good work.

Man, imagine the insanity that would've been if they built the 343 CS. even more with the 2.8 Turbo from the Alpine A610 or even the 242's Turbo 4. If these came to Puerto Rico, they'd be having Rotary swaps or something.

I love my 340. Fitted with a 480 turbo engine, a roll cage out of a fiat strada and welded differential. Great fun.

I had a 340 with the 1.7 engine. A really solid, enjoyable car but with a still underpowered and thirsty engine.

God do I hate the modern day DAF trucks, they're just a sign of mediocrecy, I genuinely hate them so much

I had a 440 and a S40 (older model) and the 440 was better .. S40 looked the part but more problems

I love the bit wear the Volvo pulls the trailer full of volvo's. That 's what ads can't do nowdays surprise people.

What’s with the ridiculous pronunciation of Citroen, Peugeot and Renault!? Really informative clips but incredibly frustrating to listen to!!!

Owned a 340dl auto! It was a brilliant car! Comfortable and reliable! I'm a retired Volvo and Lexus master tech!Best cars on the road LEXUS AND VOLVO!!!!!!!

When I was 17, I once drove a 1981 W reg Volvo 343 1.4 auto and it had a buzzer that used to sound whenever you opened the doors or moved the selector gear lever through its positions, It was also very heavy to steer as it had no power steering !!! I ended up buying a 1984 B reg Austin Maestro Vanden Plas which had the same 1.6 S series carb engine from the Montego and a 3 speed VW auto gearbox, Compared to the Volvo it felt faster ! It was much more comfortable than the Volvo with nicer velour seats and that fake walnut wood trim everywhere !!... and that talking trip computer and solid state green digital dash was so cool ! and space age ! Sadly, like all Maestros it got eaten by rust ! :( What a shame...

The 340 1.4 cleon engine B.14 was also used in Renault Trafic 1 phase from 1982-1985

I really hate the Volvo 300-series cars, but I really love Big Car videos, so naturally, I had so see this. As always, the outtakes at the end are hilarious. Thank you very much for including them! The outtakes are soo funny and, we all know you are a very nice person, but the outtakes prove you are! Thank you.

Any chance you can do the peugeot 406?

Great video and I like the many connections back in it's family tree. I was taken with the brochure image at 10:30 with the mirror writing Volvo R on the front spoiler, or was that a proofing failure that crept through to publication?

To my understanding a 340 has a Renault engine and a 360 has a Volvo engine.

Love these cars, I had a 343 and a 360GLT and loved them 😊👍🏻

As far as I remember, it had leaf-spring rear suspension.

It's another great video, I really like to learn about cars we don't get here

a bit of info from a volvo nerd -The 2 litre engined cars quite often stripped the splines on the torque tube shaft ( they didn’t use a conventional drive shaft ) due to them being to weak to cope with the extra power also there were a lot of people destroying the CVT gearboxes by Revving them up in park. I love this channel keep up the good work big car 👍

Reminds me of a Chevy Chevette.

Pleased you had the original DAF 77 pic. The DAF owner's club had that one. It almost looks like a VW Scirocco in that.

Brilliant!

Ah, I remember these! My mum had one, a 343 DL in royal blue, with the 1.4 litre engine. It was slow and a bit noisy, but at least it was a manual and it was very comfy. My dad chopped it in for a Fiat Uno when I was 17 (despite my mum’s protests) because it was cheaper to insure me on it. It had a 1.6 in it and it went like a greased weasel in comparison. She hated it.

Loved the side moving front seat backs to aid entry to the back seats- loved the 300.

I owned one of these briefly - a 5-door 1.4 litre manual transmission car in white. There were 3 problems with the car - although none of these were mechanical problems. The issues were as follows: 1) I found the drivers' seat VERY uncomfortable - no lumbar support whatsoever. 2) This car was designed to be Left Hand Drive. The transmission turret was VERY intrusive and in RHD form, there was NOWHERE to put you foot to the left of the clutch pedal. I suspect that in LHD form, it would have been fine. 3) In the wet, the tail was VERY prone to sliding out from under you. One had to drive with a good deal of caution. Other than the above, a great little car.

Happy memories of my 360 GLT into which we stuffed the 2.3l redblock turbo out of a 740, with a bit of boost fetling it pushed out around 250bhp, nothing to write home about today, but in 1992, more than enough to leave the average 325i driver wondering what the heck had just happened as a volvo left them for dead..... :-)

I was born in the Province of Limburg, the most southern one of The Netherlands (The appendix). The very same factory actually still exists there today. Many other cars have been built there since, including Mitsubishi's and Smarts. I was in my teens when the 300 series was introduced. Of course we didn't like that the DAF name disappeared but the Dutch are a practical lot if nothing else and it would after all guarantee badly needed jobs after the closure of the regions coal mines (Sounds familiar, what?). Of course DAF still makes trucks, the smaller ones are, as far as I know, actually still being produced in England. I was untill quite recently however not aware that especially the English warmed so much to these slow passenger gallopies. Still it somehow figures though! :-)

Our daughter learned to drive in our 360 series, in was bomb proof she even managed to start off in forth gear occasionally and it never stalled

My uncle drove a green Volvo 343 until it rusted away.

Always puzzles me.why we never got a diesel ie the Renault one 50mpg in that, would have been a great taxi

1:14 America guides Europe...

Been waiting ages for this, have one that I’m restoring, needs a lot of work but I can’t wait to get it on the road one day

Brought my first F reg 340gle blueline 1.7 with 137k mls in 2003 from a car auction for £80. It passed its MOT with flying colours the next day, mechanic said there's not a thing wrong with this car, I got 7k more miles out of it before suffering fuel problems. Got a X reg 345 DL 1.4 in 2007 for £125 as a 25th present to myself, it was registered 11/5/82, 11 days after I was born. That had a lot of carb issues (lead replacement for the fuel) that car met an embankment, tyre pressure too low and I was going too quick. F36 GYC & FGJ 284X. If I hadn't been seduced by a 91 3series BMW I would have had another Volvo, guess I've missed that boat.

Google Translator will help you pronouncing "Oettinger" the faster German pronouciation is (hard to believe) a direct hit ;-) A american aircraftmechanic gave me his DAF66 when returning back to the states, but without TÜV ;-( Nevermind that, those were 2 weeks full of fun. If it was for price I'd had a Skada 105L.