Occasionally on the vast and wondrous expanse of the Internet of Cars, I’ll run across one of these uniquely shaped little Volvos. In past instances they were either not for sale, were lacking in condition, or had few available photos.
All that changed the other day, when I sought out a photo of the 480 to make a point on Twitter. Let’s check out this charcoal-colored box, shall we?
The North American market became intimately acquainted with front-drive Volvos starting with the 850 model, introduced for the 1993 model year as a replacement for the ancient and lovable 240. In every other market, though, Volvo offered a front-drive car for some time. The 480 was said car, and was in fact the first ever front-drive vehicle from the Swedish brand.
Europeans could buy the 480 starting in 1987, where it was advertised as a sporty coupe. Volvo planned to sell the 2+2 480 to North Americans in late ’87 as a “sports wagon,” in the same vein and style as Nissan’s contemporary Pulsar Sportbak. Currency valuations had other ideas for Volvo, as the weak U.S. dollar meant importing the Netherlands-built 480 was not financially viable.
Known as the spiritual successor to the classic P1800 hatchback, the 480’s targeted buyer was the young and educated consumer. Said consumers (yuppies) wanted a sporty and stylish vehicle with advanced electronics — something Volvo hadn’t offered in prior models. Sticking to the mission, the 480 appeared more Japanese than perhaps it should (pop-up headlamps!), and certainly wasn’t Volvo-like.
Leave your cardigan at home, this Volvo’s for fun people!
Throughout the long production of the 480, Volvo made incremental changes — adding a turbo, revising interior features, and offering new color schemes. Special editions like the TwoTone (self-explanatory) and limited Celebration model rounded out the 480’s life, as production wrapped up near the end of 1995. Volvo would try this same formula again about a decade later, when the small, premium hatchback C30 hit dealer lots.
Today’s 1993 example is suitably located in Växjö, Sweden, at the southern tip of the country. In Turbo trim, the 2.0 inline-four makes 120 horsepower, and shifts through a five-speed manual. This one seems well equipped, with a two-tone leather interior in serviceable condition. Interesting that the safety-conscious Swedes still sold cars in other markets without airbags, even in 1993.
The 480 is yours for a little over $4,600, and is old enough to qualify for importation.
[Images: seller]
25 years is a long time to wait for a NedCar.
Does anyone else think that this looks like the ‘uglier’ sibling of a 2nd generation Honda Accord hatchback?
I give to you Accord Aerodeck.
https://www.leblogauto.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/1985_Honda-Accord-Aerodeck_06.jpg
The Aerodeck looks like a super-sized version of my late ’80s Civic hatchback.
The Aerodeck looks like a stretched CRX.
There’s a certain purity to its’ ugly angularity. To wit: I’m angular and ugly, and if you don’t like it, UFF DA.
I quite enjoy its ugly angularity. By comparison, the smooth, rounded, bloated ‘cars’ of today are far less attractive.
Same here. To me the 80’s and 90’s wedge shapes have aged well. I always wished they brought these 480’s to the states as a hot hatch competitor to the GTI or other hot hatches.
I have never, in over 60 years, heard a Swede utter “Uff Da”. That would include my Swedish mother who would have said “oj då”, or much more likely “Vad i helvet?”, instead.
These were “badge engineered” Volvos. They were built in the Netherlands by a small carmaker that Volvo later bought out. Random automotive history footnote, there was also an early CVT (belt and pulley) available on either some variant of the 440 or some other car they made in the late 1980s.
Yes, these are the successors of the Dutch DAF cars like the Daffodil, that introduced the CVT to the world.
Now that’s Daffy.
You would be thinking of the Volvo 66 and the 300 series.
The 66 was a DAF 66 that got rebadged when Volvo bought them.
The 300 series was being developed as a DAF 77 when Volvo bought them. And both did have a variable belt transmission.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_66
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_300_Series
Well, Volvo bought DAF’s car division in the 1970s and renamed the DAF 66 as the Volvo 66 (I had one!). The proposed DAF 77 became the Volvo 343/345 and later the 340/360, but the 480 is a different, fwd car and was a coupé version of the 440/460. Calling them “badge engineered” is going a bit far as they were designed under Volvo’s watch. The DAF CVT with rubber belts wasn’t used on any of the fwd cars, although a few were made with a newer steel band CVT.
The 400 series Volvos actually had more in common with Renaults of the era than they did with previous DAF products. The next Dutch Volvos would be Mitsubishis, before eventually being Fords.
Put me in the “I love it’s awkward angularity” camp. I really like it. I can totally understand why someone else wouldn’t, but I like it. Of course, I owned a second gen Accord, so maybe it’s just nostalgia.
AND it has big windows so you can actually see out of them ….. I like this car :=)
I’m wondering how they crammed a 2.0 I-4 under that short little hood.
I’m wondering how they got so little power out of a 2 liter turbo. Did all 4 cylinders actually work?
Well, it’s about Golf or Focus sized and they seem able to manage engines of about that size…
I assume that’s sarcasm, the hood is ridiculously disproportionate to the rest of the car, kind of like an 80’s Mazda 3
I actually dig this…especially the interior.
I like it. I’d drive it, it reminds me of the Subaru with the split side windows(can’t remember the model.).
SVX Acylone, by Giugiaro.
The styling is an abomination – the front end looks like a stretched Honda Civic, with some Fiat X1/9 grafted in (the pop-up headlights), and the rear is too Hondaesque, too. I like some of the 400-series DAF/Volvo cars, but not this one.
I bet you like the front clip of Lexus whatever
Nope. But this thing is ungainly.
Reminds me a lot of the 92-93 Geo Storm wagonback, which was some sort of Isuzu in reality.
That’s the comment I was going to make, this and the Impulse/Storm have always been joined in my mind, and the Aerodeck can join that crowd as well. I love all 3.
There’s nothing badge engineered in this, it’s a fully Volvo, one of 400-series cars created to succeed 300 series cars (which originally were created as DAF 77). 400 -series Volvos AFAIK are designed in Sweden even if they were built in the Netherlands.
Yup. No DAF left in this.
400 series Volvos sold well in Europe, and not all looked like this weird 480, which was a low volume hatchback.
¹https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_440/460
Thanks for the correction- I got these mixed up with the 300 series, which were of course badge engineered as you mentioned.
Big windows for a nice, airy cabin. I’ve seen a few of these; it’s an interesting looking car.
You’re supposed to notice the family resemblance to the late and lamented Volvo 1800 ES. Yeah, I don’t really see it, either. But all of the car magazines in the ’90s commented on it, just like they also said the C30 was also a modern reinterpretation of the 1800 ES.
Shooting brake with an all glass hatch, so there’s some lineage there. But really, not much of a resemblance.
Looks very Japanese to me, like a Honda or Mitsubishi from that era.
Also why the pop up headlights??? IMO normal flush mount headlights where those driving lights/turn signal would have looked better.
Also VERY weird that Volvo wouldn’t at least have a driver’s air bag standard, as this is a 1993 and most cars at that time had at least the driver’s side standard, a lot of cars started offering a passenger side standard as well at that time.
Only in the US. Europeans wore seatbelts, so not much call for them over there at that time.
The two are mutually exclusive?
Airbags weren’t required in Europe at the time, and actually still aren’t required.
I did a semester in Copenhagen in the early 90s and there were a few of these around. Always liked them, aforementioned Accord Aerodeck as well.
Put a Sirocco nose on a 2nd gen Legacy Wagon then tumble until the corners round.
I remember these well – unfortunately they were nowhere near as reliable as the Swedish-built cars. Your pictures miss one of the car’s many quirky features – buried under the front bumper was a little Volvo grille complete with the diagonal bar.
I want a pic of that as well as the engine bay.
Engines of all the Dutch Volvos were Renault-derived.
Not quite all. The 360 had a Volvo 2.0.
Nice Geo Storm you got there.
http://consumerguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/91125031990209.jpg
How do you turbocharge a 2 liter 4 in 1993 and only get 120 horsepower? That’s only 4 more than a 1.6 Toyota DOHC naturally aspirated engine could manage!
IIRC, when Volvo put a turbo on the 2.1 in 1982, the U.S. market version started out conservatively with 127hp and pretty decent torque (soon bumped up to 160 with a dealer-installed intercooler).
I don’t remember the story of the engine in the 480 but wiki says it got a turbo first in 1988.
The horsepower is unimpressive for 1993 and 1988, but it kinda helps keep it in perspective.
I like it, I don’t care for the pop-up headlights, but then I very rarely do.
I’d drive it, and an Accord Aerodeck.
The engine in this thing is actually related to the 1.7l from the Renault alliance.
Volvo increased the capacity to 2l, and had Porsche tune it up and add a turbo.
At that time it made around 150-170hp, but volvo found it too hot, and lowered it down to 120hp, which explains why its so anemic.
it pretty easy to get it back up to “Porsche-spec” though, with some electronic fiddling.
it’s a pretty popular engine swap for renault super5 owners, as the engine bolts right in, so most 480’s has probably ended up as donors by now.
The Ferrari Daytona shooting brake. Give it round taillights and a much better engine and you’re set.
Nissan Pulsar??
http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/consider-the-following-n13-nissan-pulsar-nx/
Stupid 25-year rule. If they sold it here, I would have bought one and tried to keep it running with all of my might for the last 15-20 years.
Hello, I actually bought this specific car back in May 2018. I have imported it to Maryland in the USA. Here’s a post of mine on the Volvo 480 Europe forum: https://www.volvo-480-europe.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=35857
Excellent – hope you’re enjoying it!