GTP Cool Wall: Volvo 480 Turbo

Volvo 480 Turbo

  • Total voters
    88
  • Poll closed .
White & Nerdy

White & Nerdy

4,209
United States
Wasilla, AK
Volvo 480 Turbo nominated by Wiegert

0651981-Volvo-480-ES-1988.jpg

1988_Volvo_480ES.JPG


(Second photo, included to illustrate the vehicle's front end, depicts a 480ES rather than a 480 Turbo. Photo now possibly fixed, it wasn't [or might not have been] displaying before for whatever reason. Not sure if anyone else had that problem.)

Stats:
Production: 1988-1995
Style: 3-door hatchback
Engine: B18FT 105ci (1721cc) turbocharged I4 (rated 118 HP & 129 ft-lbs)
Transmission: 5-speed manual (Wikipedia says a 4-speed automatic was also available, though that may have been on a later model)
Layout: Front-engine, front-drive
Weight: 2,293 lbs
​

My take? Not sure I have one, as yet. It's a small, FWD car with a small, turbocharged engine, but it looks just about strange enough to make up for it. I'm on the fence until further notice.

EDIT: I leaned Uncool. The quirky styling actually helped seal the deal there. In the end, it's just a ambitiously styled but overall dull economy car with a underpowered turbo I4.
 
Last edited:
Absolute zero.

I mean, just look at it. Superb, quirky little Volvo. Also, pop-up headlights.
 
Honestly not sure what to think of this thing. It's a little on the ugly side, but I've got faith in Volvo's engineering.

Currently abstaining from voting until I can reach a verdict. Normally, I'd just give an opinion, but this is gonna be one of those cases where I have to listen to different takes on the vehicle.
 
Meh. Just a boring rival to the Mk2 Golf GTi. Holds nothing special here.
 
Pop-up headlights just save it from Seriously Uncool. It's got a turbo, but it's also coming into the 90s looking like it's firmly stuck in the early 80s and looks like a lot of 80s hatchbacks that are similarly uncool. Adding to that, it has a Volvo badge.
 
Was dull and unremarkable back in the day, time hasn't done it any favours.
 
Another junkyard clunker that teenagers around here get as a beater of a first car that is front wheel drive, worth made only a few hundred dollars so they don't really have to worry about a loss when they decide to roll it because it's not worth anything anyways. It is dull, overall just boring to look at, nothing amazing about it, and about the only bragging right you'd have is that it had a turbocharged engine. It has lots of issues because of former neglect with no power, utterly crappy looks, and nothing going for it period, end of discussion. Seriously uncool in all aspects, and then some. Shame I can't vote any lower.
 
This isn't relevant to the coolness of it but it's pretty ugly. I don't lke the idea of pop up headlights on a hatchback, particulary that. It's a Volvo. BORING! TOO SENSIBLE! BAD DRIVER ALERT! First things I think of when I hear or think of the word 'Volvo'.

Uncool.
 
It a Volvo, and it's a hatchback. Either one would be seriously uncool by itself.

2 seriously uncools do not make a cool.
 
If I saw it going down the street, I'd turn my head and ask "what the hell was that?" That being said, I can't reasonably call it seriously uncool. Normal uncool it is.
 
Cano
A Volvo with pop-ups. If that's not oddball, I don't know what is.
Click to expand...

Pop-up headlamps are the only redeeming somewhat cool feature about it which I stated earlier. However:

1. It's a hatchback. Strike one.

2. It's a Volvo hatchback. Strike two.

3. It looks like what would happen if you gave an N13 Nissan Pulsar some extra eyes to see you with. Strike three. It's outta here.
 
I see absolutely nothing wrong with neither of those "reasons". As I like all kinds of cars and can appreciate them even if they're hatchback or Volvos, I don't mind any of that.
 
I was prepared to vote "Uncool" until I seen the second picture.


My god, that thing is awesome looking. Still not enough for a "Sub-zero" vote, but it earns a solid "Cool" from me. :)
 
Cano
I see absolutely nothing wrong with neither of those "reasons". As I like all kinds of cars and can appreciate them even if they're hatchback or Volvos, I don't mind any of that.
Click to expand...

Appreciation for a car is different to how cool a car is.
 
I've been surprised at how many people call the 480 "too bland" in the past. Either because they simply can't look past the brand name, or don't care that said brand making a hatch with a design that's so far removed from their established form.

Though if it originated from Japan around the late 80s, it would be comparably self-effacing. But I'd still favour the design. The Volvo badge only serves to make it more offbeat.
 
Murcie_LP640
Pop-up headlamps are the only redeeming somewhat cool feature about it which I stated earlier. However:

1. It's a hatchback. Strike one.

2. It's a Volvo hatchback. Strike two.

3. It looks like what would happen if you gave an N13 Nissan Pulsar some extra eyes to see you with. Strike three. It's outta here.
Click to expand...

4. The Mk2 Golf GTi would walk all over it and steal it's lunch money.
 
So, excluding a few members, there is a trend here whereby non-Europeans tend to dislike this car?
 
Cano
No, appreciation for a car defines how cool it is, as appreciation is absolutely subjective, and so is coolness.
Click to expand...

But they're two different things. There's no real correlation between your and my opinion on this car (yes, I like it too; game changer) and the "coolness" of it.

There's a pretty decent difference between how much one person likes a car and how cool they look driving it.
 
An opinion can be negative. Appreciation can not.

Both are subjective anyway.
 

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