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Volvo graduates from Socialist Safe-Think to Grand Touring.BY DAVID E. DAVIS. JR,

. lhe Volv. 242 CT m.r.ges to look Lo-tal\ differcnr ffunr odrcr vohot Ii seenssmrller. more..isp, ru.poscfirl Thc pann\cheme. the air drm, Ihe r.ick $heels. tlicUack ard orars. co.duror rph.lsreD, allconrbrne tu htt tlls paticulaf Voho cle.r.boye Lhc se l f -consc , .us ly r .specr .b leSwedisiides of rhe Vollos you f. uscd tolooknrg .r. Volvos sin.e lhc rntroductionofth. i4,1 h 1966 seen ro hrle becn dc-signed ind built fof people wl,o didn r litecars \e .y much. I lu t th is i s a Vo l lo e len rcar lover cou ld lo re . Th i \ onc mlkcs a

Thc :.12 GT so oi picks uF wher€ r}eo ld vo lvo 122S ard 5 .14 le l t o f f . I r i \ as to r t ! c ! . . SDof ty to look a t , spor r t rod.ive. Ir embodie\ ailrhe 'irtu.\ dui nraderhose o ther vo l !os legends in th€ i r o ivntnnc\. It s a .af thai lik* to have . goodilne, one drdt ll be re..v nuch !i honie onIhe bick tuads ud boulevrrd\ .f cntlusi

If your knowledge oi \invo ca6 i5 fcccnr ly ob ta incd- yo ! 11 t .obab l ) b r s !Fpdsed bt this delelopnenr In .ecent ycarsthc volvo has bccome . folln'g sytubol ofthe Ssedish nxrion^l dilcmna-sale, r.u

dd,t, rght rhntkntg, good-inrenti{rned andr.ther bonrg. Thc courtfy kems inordi-nalell fasci.ated \!irh its o{r navel, elaboratell corcerned lest 1L stuorblc, suffcine a*i'rd olsocialisl mid'liie disis. Recent volvos hale refledcd ril tltis. Stodg! .d.s thatlook no chatrces, clajnhg saiety and longlife.s lheir nrsl importaot atrributes. iheyfourd i .$ .n t succcss \y i rh a handfu l o fjaded p ipe snoken ard ag ing ba ! thebonb p.ople, but rhese $e.e not.nough rosusianr x tnll colrt p.ess ir' ihe Anericannrrket. lhe horbloodcd .rthusiasts whofirt took Volvo ro rleir lcarts in thc Fif-

tre\ ard early Sixlles drifted aary lo othe.narqu.s. Thc carJ good n'tertions *ereobuou! and laudable, bnt titer lacked rhe. rona o f ho t c ivc t musk . They se t nobody's lrearl lo ia.ing.

when the dkndlskirl croNd tad dsedtrt all 'ts discfeliorary iicode, Vollo's at-pea l lo au tomot i l c ra t iona i i sn beg.n iof.llon d€afeaa nr Arre.ica. what\ mofe.Ihe pr ice rose f rec ip i rous ly and thc ca .wen l th rough.n iden l i t y c . i s is , l€aDingf.on the roic of slightlr-mo.e'errensivetsrede-lubsrituic to $9000 Mercedes coFpetiior rlm.st olcrnishr. Satisiied owre6of t22S rdhs rolled ur Lhir oblieltory100,000 miles afier a few ye..s, droDped,ilo thcn f.lendiy neighborhood l,ontiac/Volvo/Toyota/Rcrauli agcncy and got theshock olllen lives. It $as gonrg to costtheni almost tcr grard to replace the ca.Lhey'dt'ouglt ib.lcss than foufa lep yea6earlier. Thus, Vollo\ bcsan io pile up inrenied llelds adjacent to the pofts ofcntry.Nobody ercepl ihe pe.ksnifs at a'onr,tefr arnrbr Fould disagree lhrt rhey *e.csate, solid cars, bnl thet had no mlgic, lnd

All ofthat nxy be rboul ro change- The

YOLVO 242 Gf c.,r.d

x

B I ac ke cl - out, tric ke d - upand mean as hell.

This is what all Volvosshould look like.

242 GT is a differerl so.r ol Volvo, oneth.t fai.l) shours for attention and ha\ noqualms About getting flogged around rourfavonrebad roads. A hol'blooded nrinorit!dt AB volvo in Golherbcrg has n.nagcdro convince iheir mamgement lhat 2000 oltlcsc liule beaulje\ shoold find rheir Navto Amerlca in the nexl tselvc months, andwc predict tlat they ll lird read! acceptance among the automotilc Plersure sccke6. The car isr'l.,/nrt, ii the L{elve secondquartcr mile, 140 nph top-speed senses olthe ivo.d (or h any olher sensc, ior thalmarter), but it s fun. lt likcs to be d.rvenha.d, and i1\ very ple.sanl in the 55 80

One\ first visu.l inprcssi.n ofthe car sth.t ir seems smallcr than a reguld 242sedan: se.ond, thlt it aPpe.rs to be moreagsressive, sonreto\t. The blacl_and_orange slriping, tle anodizcd trin and lhePnel l i CN-35 i i res probably h. re sone_thiig to do with thdt, bul lhcrc's a nlceslnerg is t ic ef fect thdt 's greatc. lhan tnesunr of all those parts. Thc vnual l.el ofrhe rhinC tells you lhat j! has berrer han_dlins and roadholdnis then you aleragev o l v o . M a y b e i I s i h a l s l l g h trake . . , maybe lhe way the body color

grille blcnds $ith lhe bunper ard the airdan. . anywry, somelh inS n.kes j t l$kljkc a.eally uselul road nacl 'ic Which,

hs ide, r t ' ! iyp ic . l up\cale Europeanconforr, cxcepr thar ihc GT edoys its oNnunique corduroy in ler lor . Thus, yod Cetthe sensib le efeonomics and t lought fu l

!dckaging thal c .ne rv i th a l l Volvoselen .n adjusrable llmbar support at thcsn.ll of y.u. back coDrbined ilith thesoft conrfort .nd good lo.ks of corduroy.Tle front seats go brck and ibrth, up anddo{r, and the bactresls.ccline. The basicinsrrumenl pdckage includes a tachomcterbnt no oil lresstrre gauge, rnd it's inlbrnra_tivc, if not eractly Fe!.ar!1sh !r aPr,ear-ancc. The rear seai is roony a.d comibrta-blc. A1l seats a.c fitn. not ha.d, sith etoellent urder lhigh support. Lateralsupport is better than mosi sed.rs. INulationfron boll engnre and rord noise is good,lllhough the 104-}! four bans€. does nrt rude a b i t a t h ighe. rpns. Vi ! ib i l i ty isf i rs t -c las. wi lh p lenty of g las area andr\ro large outsrde m1rro.s.

Thc contols are all designed ]i*e toohone has to use a lot. Iheyic luncrional,and lher rork Nell. The stee.ing wheel n

sna1l ir dianeler. vnaller rhan othef Vo1!os, lnd has ihe vinll-colered Padded rhthat s becomc standard prlctice these daysThe shift lcvcr is shorl ard siiil, sith vcry.ccufate, posi t i !e throrvs, and thc la .ge,round shifi krob caries the overd.ile control sviich h its -own, right where it carbe ilicked in or otrt widr the lip of yourthumb. Bfake pedal, clutcl and acceleratorare Nell aranged ard cncourage thc busyfootwork th. t gocs wiLh fast df i ! ing ontwisting.oads. The orly interior uas n thecenter consolc, which still int.udes on thed.ilels lcs space and causes d sore sPot onthe oifside shin after a le$ hou.s in the

Driving rhe caf can be lery satisty'ngThe .ide is a clrious combinltion of softand choppy, but rhe roadholding is lery

sood We drove rhe caf tbr many, marYlaps on a closed road ci.cuir at the vohoprolins g.ounds in Sweden, ard it ahtaysse€ned a little soft, a littie untidy, sith lotsol |ne noise in hard correfs. But iwo dayslarer we drove lhe GT for miles over somevery challenging coutrlry ro.ds along theSwcdish coast, rorth of Gothenberg, andthe car was a very p leasant \u.pr ise. I ihandled rcal ly rough roads, inc ludi !g

vOLvO242G.r c-tk*d

242 GTs get Lambda-nnd101-hp motors.

They mq) not be fastest,but they're clean.

they work like crazy, and tha! fac! is woFtly of special attentiotr.)

The suspensior layoul of the 242 GT issimply standard Volvo, only stifer. Mac-Pherson struts and an anti-sway bar at ihefront and a rigid dle with four links, coilsprings and ar dti-sway bd at rhe rear.on the GT the front and rear sprin$ andshocks are stiffer and the front bar hasbeen increas€d in diameter. The GTt touFteen-inch alloy eh@ls have s.s-inch rins,same as rhe stmdard Yollo, but they arelighter. Pirelli CN-36 radials are stddardon the GT, and these aie excellent, mak-ing-I'm sure+ dislroport'ouate contnbuiion to the cr's improvement in road"holding. The stiffer suspension definitelyhelps the cd, h enthusiast's terms, but the2421 already juddery ride is made some-what wose. This is especially true whenthe tires are pumped up to their maxi-mums and rhe cd is lighdy loaded. Withfour passengers and lu88age, the CT i3very comfo.table on any road. With onlythe dliver, no luggage md muimum rcc-oomended tire presslres, ir will shakeyour teeth loose, How€ver, it's been ourerperience that the arerage Americanken type is considerably les sensirive to

harsh ride than vre are, so this may not bea liability in the GT.

Th€ one element of the 242 GT equationthd piobably rr? be considered a liabilityby keenlypes is its engirc. Although th€B21 2.I'liter dgine revs freely enough ddhas enough sophisticat€d h.rdware-Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection, a singleoverhead can and Iimbda-sond emisionscontrol-it simpiy doesn't have the beansto match the car's cosmetics. h federalfom, it puops oul 104 hp, but all'78 GTswill get tbe Lambdr-sond version, whichmanages only 101, for a loss ofthree hp.

Yolvo @ be excused for leaving out thepowq in order to showcase tle Lambda-sord, though, because the gap isn't thatwide anyway. Moreover the Yolvo,/Bosch-pioneered th.ee-way catalyst system andoxyg€n{msor are fascinating enough forey technofr€ak. The s6sor, nounted inthe exhaust stream, n€asures the enissionsald rells rhe fuel-inieltion unit whicb di-rection to adjult the m;ture for optimumbuming. Doing that minimia the cdbonmonoxide output, which alows the tiny bitof rhodium in ihe tailpipe catalyit to do itsjob withoDr CO contamination. Platinmbeads handle the rest ofthe cooversion.None of this complex drang@ent is no-ticeable ihrough the behavior of the en'g ine, which acts l ike any other Soodbreathing foDr'cylinder engine when youstep on the ihrottle. Ifs just that halingorly about 100 hp to pDsh al1 that Volvoaround maks for very liltle stmighiline

All told, the 242 GT is a car that Yolvoshonld have been building since 1967. Itolle6 sprkle and excitement that Yolvoscould @rtainly have used in th6e awfulyears since the eDergy ciisis, whea theirfo.iun$ hav€ really taken a turn for ihewo.se. especially in America. Obviouslythere\ hope. The 242 GT is a lery nicecar, not a show'stopper, but a damned at'traciive car to have in one's marketingporifolio, Whether or not the @npany cdb.e4the similarly fr6h LJe into the rest ofthe line remains to be seen. cdtainly itsnew 262C coupe sems to be leading fimfanher down the wrong road. We'd like tosee every Yoivo. four or six, two-door orfoDr-door. get a dose of tle sane wondeFful medicine tbat so upgr.des the Perform-dce aDd alpearane of the 242 GT. weknow that Volvo is vorkng nard on newturbine teclhology for the future, but succss in the American narket will requiesomething nore immediate. We thirl thala retorn to the fundamental Volvo veritiesofperforn.nce and a sporting charactermightbejustwhattlledoctorordered. .

gravel, with confidence and it went as fastas we wanted to go without ever a mo-mefs protest or uncertainty. Obviously,it's a road car, dd in its proper t$olaneoutback environmdt it's very rewarding.(In slalon and skidpad conparisons with astandard 242 DL, the GT beat it handsdown, doing the slalom at 56 mph com-pared to 52.4 for ihe DL, and circuhnngthe skidpad at 0.76 g, besling the DL's0.70 g by a huge margin.) The steering ispoweFassisted rack-and-pin ion, but i tdoesn't feel like it. It\ quick, but a littlevague. There is some shortage of "feel" atthe steering wheel nm, ald you must sortof hunt for the righl increnent of st@linginput as you hurry it into a come!. Thisdoesn't slow you down, because it's stilleasy enough to position the cd accuralelyat speed, and 3000-pound volvos don'tusually enter come6 with the surgi@l pre-c is ioq of race cars anyway-al thoughBMW and Alfa Romeo sedans do it betier.The car has fourwheel disc blakes andthese work well. (I say "fourwheel discblakes" casually, like rhey vere a com'nonplace itd th€se days, and that's doingihe Volvo a d isserv ice. I i has FOURWHEEL DISC BRAKES, by God, and