Agreed, they are Dutch. Sorry to be pedantic, but they've almost nothing in common with Swedish designed and built Volvos of the time.
I look at the 480 as Volvo's attempt at an Alfa Romeo:
The electrics are rubbish, they have all sorts of daft little gremlins, questionable build quality... I could go on.
But every now and then everything works, and even though they're not the fastest cars in the world. show it a B road and it'll put a smile on your face. Guaranteed!
The 480s problem was it was quite a long way ahead of it's time, especially in the sector it was competing. Many of it's direct competitors didn't even come with power steering as standard, never mind a computerised info centre.
This meant that all the gadgetry and indeed whole car had to be built to a price, a much lower one than the big Swedes, with much more complex wiring etc. A recipe for disaster really.
440/460s don't have as complex wiring/gadgetry as a rule, hence there's less to go wrong and they tend to be more reliable.
Although, the Turbo models do suffer from a few running problems, just as the 480 models do.
I had a very late 460 a year or so ago. One of the very last to roll off the production line, it was well equipped with half leather trim, even the air conditioning worked, all for £200.
I neglected it and generally drove it like I'd stolen it and it never missed a beat apart from when Mrs. Sideways stalled it at some lights so violently the solenoid connector popped off the starter and left her stranded in roadworks... On her first day of driving on her own... Ha ha!!
Anyway, it does seem that they did get more reliable as production went on
Chassis and suspention etc are all shared across the three models, pretty simple really.
Hope this helps,
Steve
