340 overtaking 360?

[Bazboy]

Hi all,

Ive always thought that the 360 was the version of the 300 to have, being that it came with the 2.0i engine and all those good looking body parts, spoiler/front lip spoiler thing. this being the case they would always get more money then the 340 but now that the valver 340 is becoming ever more popular could this mean that the 340 is going to over take its older brother for price and worthiness or will the 360 always be king.

Thoughts?

Dan

[trabitom99]

In terms of future classic values or tuning potential?

I guess it depends which "scene" you're coming from ... The MkII / MkIII 360 GLT will always be king among classic Volvo fans due to the "real" Volvo engine. I'm sure their values in the long term will be higher than those of the 340 and 400-series cars. For DAF people however a 343 vario is the one to have, the rest uninteresting.

In terms of tuning potential, I guess I'm the wrong guy to comment The 360 (turbo?) seems a better base in terms of outright power as the drivetrain can handle more, although the 340 presumeably points on chuckability with a lighter "valver" under the bonnet. All a case of personal preference I guess, I can't see that making much of an impact on values though!

Tom

[jtbo]

I don't see anything that can compete with redblock when getting lot of power, like this video demonstrates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z0xmvOaUWk

But as drivetrain is what it is, one must build everything from scratch to make it stay together more than one acceleration test and then we often face realism. To get power level which drivetrain can handle, there is no need for huge turbo or anything like that, sure valver will do the job and probably handling will be better due less weight at front/up department (difference is perhaps small but is there).

Of course one could install Nissan V6 that weights absolutely nothing and is easy to produce 500hp but it is major work to make it fit and again drivetrain would be needed to build from scratch, so more work than with insane redblock so I think redblock stays as king. However 500hp motor that weights nothing sounds almost too tempting

[whiskeyonesix]

Maybe the obvious reason, is that more 340's than 360's were sold - therefore there'll be more left on the roads...... (except over here where they only ever got the 360)

Sorry for the boring non-technical answer, not got my thinking head on tonight

[Bazboy]

I guess, the 360 has the potential for more power but that brings me to ask why haven't we seen more done? There are a few valvers going now and more to come, I can understand the 360 being more of a classic and therefore having a higher price tag but i think the 340's day has come and there prices are going to be pushed up

Dan

[jtbo]

Maybe it is just human nature, there are always smallest engine in tuner cars (you know those with silly spoiler and ton of plastic making it look like a space ship) and I wonder why?

If you build car that looks fast then it really should go really really fast, imo.

Of course 340 is good base and I believe in UK there is lot of renault engines available for cheap compared how it is here, we have 2.3 redblocks and truck turbos everywhere, also I don't think there were much more 340's sold here

[volvosneverdie]

340s are more basic. And i think thats cooler.
Far more 'classic car' than the 360s in my opinion.

360s with their injection, gadgets (upmarket models anyway) just seem more of a modern (ie bad!) car to me.

Basics win for fun.
Gadgets if you want comfort and ease of use.

I enjoy the simplicity though.

He says, after just fitting leather heated seats...........
they dont work though!

[jtbo]

Us, with few more years, start to learn value comfort too

[volvosneverdie]

Sorry old man.
i didnt mean to be cruel to the elderly.

[trabitom99]

Gadgets What's that? Some weird UK phenomenon, I think

[SteveP]

Probably because there were more of them, and engine swaps are easier. The Renault 16v engines do go very nicely into 340's.

You can use the standard renault management, as it's not so intermingled with the rest of the cars loom (try that with a Volvo 940 turbo with LH 2.4!). Plus the engines produce the 'right' amount of power as a compromise between fun and breaking things.

[Jos360]

For me the 360GLT is the one to have, although i haven't got one... The Volvo engine is the one thing that makes it a Volvo, a Renault engine is French, which proves my point
For the image of the Volvo 3-series specific, not being a real Volvo, the 343 variomatic is the one to have. It reminds everyone of the Dutch variomatic and the Daf ancestors.

Combined, the 343GLS is the REAL classic to own

[Chris_C]

VND has it for me, all 340's I've driven feel much more "old car" than 360's (80's vs 90's in terms of handling I guess) For the first time ever I'm enjoying a GLT atm (I've driven 5 or 6 over the years, and hated all apart from this one)

I just really like the feeling of the cheese eating surrender engines and the way the cars work round them. 340's to me are a lot more chuckable, even though the GLT is faster it doesn't feel it and through twisties the lack of revs and more neutral handling annoys me.

Toys wise, late 340GLs got more stock than most GLT's, only 89 spec GLT's got good stuff (leccy mirrors and windows, PAS and fog's, non of which is hard to add if you wanted)

Value of any 300 I think is going to be soon down to shell condition, rusty vs not, then toys installed.

[trabitom99]

I agree, 340s and 360s feel like completely different cars - 360s have much more of a "big Volvo" feel to them, that's either a good or a bad thing depending on personal preference!

Two types of 300 I'd really like to try out someday:

the 340 1.7 - as chuckable as a 1.4 but with more power?
an early B19-engined 360 GLT - supposedly much revvier than the later B200s - I'd love to see what the difference is in practice! Early 360s had very few toys, even in the UK, so less weight ...

Musn't forget to mention the D16 diesel - noisy and slow, but maybe that has it's own appeal, in a lethargic, lazy way.

Tom

[Chris_C]

the 340 1.7 - as chuckable as a 1.4 but with more power?

Yup, in my mind the most "playful" feeling 300 out of the box... just a shame it's the biggest pain in the backside to keep on top of.

an early B19-engined 360 GLT - supposedly much revvier than the later B200s - I'd love to see what the difference is in practice! Early 360s had very few toys, even in the UK, so less weight ...

The carb'd B19 wants to rev less than a B200E but is streets ahead of a B200K, I'd also like to try this and the D16 (and a 440TD conversion...)