Classic Liesbeth Prins combines the pleasant with the useful by using her Volvo 480 Turbo as a daily…
Almost classic, still working every day
Liesbeth Prins combines the pleasant with the useful by using her Volvo 480 Turbo as a daily car. So far she has stopped once, but who cares? As with any classic, there is a list of points for improvement. Perhaps judge Dennis Koldewijn will add something to that. After all, we are talking about a car that is almost 34 years old.
The first owner of this 480 was a pilot and then we immediately have a link to the Dutchman Rob Koch, who is partly responsible for the design and is also a pilot himself. Liesbeth Prins has no special connection with aviation or the F16 and chose the Volvo she drives every day for a completely different reason. “I think it’s because of my friend Niels. He has been driving Volvo for a long time, so when I started looking for another car in 2021, it quickly went towards Volvo. Until then I drove Opel or Fiat. We quickly settled on the 480 Turbo that I have now. The owner sounded very enthusiastic on the phone. He inherited his father’s car and didn’t have the space or time to take care of it.”
Some say that 480 is not a real Volvo
However, the maintenance has been well done from the first moment. In the backseat was a thick binder with documentation. Liesbeth: “Actually, it belongs to the first owner and it has the original license plate from 1989. Of course there is also something to criticize, it is no longer new. But the overall picture was right at the time, just like the price. Within the Volvo world you sometimes get comments such as ‘it’s not a real Volvo’, because it was built in the Netherlands and it has a Renault engine. Or someone who really doesn’t understand it calls it a Bassie & Adriaan car because of the folding headlights. Sometimes someone thinks it’s a Honda Civic. I don’t blame them and it immediately proves how special the 480 is. I get only positive reactions at my work. One of the colleagues once owned a 440 and another worked at Volvo for a long time. Very occasionally someone comes to the dealer where I work and asks if my car is for sale. That proves that there are more enthusiasts like me. In the Netherlands there are still about five hundred on license plates.”
Put 25,000 kilometers on the 480 in a year
In just over a year, Liesbeth has already driven almost 25,000 kilometers in her red youngtimer: the daily commute to work and the routes to all kinds of events. That she and Niels are active in the Volvo world is evident from all the stickers on the 480. Her Instagram profile is in red letters on the side window, the yellow plate with the prancing moose should of course not be missing on the front fenders and on the windscreen. pictures of the Volvo Classic Association and of the National Oldtimer Festival. And then there is the Zandvoort circuit, while behind the rear window there is a rally shield with a Volvo 142. “That’s our classic with which we drive all kinds of rides and rallies through the club’s youth register,” she says. “The circuit sticker is proof to me that I actually drove there. During the old-timer party at Zandvoort in 2022, I was allowed to do two laps on the track, which was great. Maybe it’s because I’m used to the Punto, but I think it accelerates quite quickly. You are at 100 km / h from a standstill and I can keep up well in traffic. Except for the time the throttle cable broke. You have to take that for granted if you are on the road with an old car. On the other hand, I have no depreciation and the motor vehicle tax is also not too bad.”
On a full tank she usually gets between five and six hundred kilometers, that is also doable. “Okay, a Fiat Panda is cheaper, but I like this much more. As you get to know more people within the club, you also know where to get parts. There’s someone out there who has wrecked loads of 480s over the years and has just about everything in stock. And some things can still be ordered new.”
Completely original
It is clear: Liesbeth consciously opts for a car with character. We can see that the years have not passed unnoticed by the 480 when it stands on the bridge at Carrec. Here and there we come across a critical spot. Indeed, rust, even if it is not very serious. However, the beam behind the rear bumper was as cooked as butter and has already been replaced by a brand new one. And red is of course a difficult color when aging. From that point of view, the Volvo looks good at first glance and the originality radiates from it. The interior has withstood the test of time well and shows no visible signs of wear.
On-board computer
The instrumentation is completely crazy. The semi-digital, round on-board computer is especially fascinating, but the three extra clocks – including a meter for the turbo pressure – under the radio are also a treat. You can easily operate the on-board computer menu with its seven functions with a rotary knob. “There is also a nice, hidden function in it. You choose the range function with the rotary knob, then press and hold the reset button and switch on the ignition. Then you can see the tank content on the screen to an accuracy of one tenth of a litre. Isn’t that great?”, says Liesbeth.
Meanwhile, we see judge Dennis Koldewijn looking at the bottom of the engine with a worried look, after he already discovered a small puddle of oil on the workshop floor. A solid engine oil leak on the distribution side of the engine is the cause of the suffering. That is also the only real defect, the bottom is in good condition. Unfortunately, a week after our meeting, the tow truck has to be used again, or so we hear. “The cooling water hose had snapped and then it turned out that the head gasket was broken. Then the oil leak can be tackled immediately, so that we can immediately enjoy the 480 again, at all meetings and other events.” 
History of the Volvo 480
‘Made in the Netherlands’, says the well-known aluminum plate under the hood. We rarely come across that and the design is also home-grown. It’s no secret that designer Rob Koch, under whose direction John de Vries designed the 480 in the early 1980s, had a great affinity with aviation. Before he started studying at the HTS, Rob spent two years in the Air Force and he often flew privately. Himself, but also as an instructor. What do we see in the Volvo 480? Especially the dashboard, which we call cockpit for convenience. All instruments and controls are well grouped around the driver and the on-board computer, which you operate by means of a rotary knob and on which you can read a lot (down to the tank capacity in litres), was a real sensation in 1986, the year that the 480 ES was introduced.
The four-door 440 followed in 1987. The lines are completely different from those of the angular Volvos of that time and, as is well known, this car is a great nod to the beautiful P1800 ES from the early 1970s. Two years after its introduction, the turbo version came on the market. market, with not that much more horsepower than the normal 1.7, a Renault engine and known from the 19 and 21. The four-cylinder has a liquid-cooled turbo from Garrett, an intercooler for the charge air, an oil cooler and sodium-filled exhaust valves . Volvo especially wanted more and usable torque and therefore claimed that the maximum of 175 Nm is already available at 1,800 rpm. The maximum power of 120 hp is not that much higher than the 109 hp of the ES. From 1993, the 480 was also supplied with a 109 hp 2.0-liter engine. Production stopped in 1995 at 76,375 units.