Car #1: The Volvo 440

That Cars Blog kicks off with not the most exciting car in history, but possibly, and in accordance with what my internal 5 year old is telling me, the most exciting car my dad ever owned.


Most of you will remember the Volvo 440 as an ordinary saloon car (although Volvo descirbed it as a hatchback). It was safe like all Volvo's and had an array of lights to tell you it was safe. Further, it had Daytime Running Lights which is the most useless safety feature ever invented.

Old-skool Top Gear described it as: "The motoring equivalent of a Temazepam trip. Compared to a Mondeo or a Vectra it hasn't got a hope. Be particularly careful of the CVT Auto because it sounds like a Bison with a Migraine." (Quentin Wilson)

The 440 had an engine range which ran from a 1.6 (79HP) to a 2 liter (110HP) petrol and a 1.9 Turbo Diesel with 89 HP. Though for me there was another party piece: the 1.7 liter Renault engine combined with a Turbocharger and intercooler, it was boasting out a biblical 122HP.

That Volvo 440 Turbo had the 'Holy Trinity' for the 5 year old me (still has), on the small boot there was a styleful spoiler like a racecar. Inside there was an analog clock unlike the crappy digital ones I saw before. And under the bonnet, though I never saw it apart from the badge on the boot, was a Turbo. Turbo was for me like chocolate is for women, everything is better with a Turbo.

The 440 made me forget the previous 480 we owned ever so quickly, the pop up head lamps, armrest in the back and phoney Turbo badge on the 480 were no match to the real deal in the 440. I believe it also drove better, it once claimed to have done 215kph on the counter and also managed a four-wheel jump over a bump that turned out to be bigger and more fun than expected.

After the two Volvo's my dad got company cars, all diesels, first an '99 A3 (1.9, 140HP), than a '04 Megane (2.0, upgraded to 170HP), than in '08 a Seat Leon FR which gave me my first drive and at some point managed 225HP, until some idiot in a Zafira drove into it... Now it's the five of us crammed into a newer A3, of which the steering is vague (Electric), the ride neither comfy or sporty and the only party piece is Torque, which nobody understands really.

Lucky for me, I've got my own fun now, a '95 1.3i Ford Fiesta with an mindboggeling 60 Horsepower. Yeah!