Just came back from my cross country trip in Australia - Sydney to Perth and back. Met lots of nice people and got to see a fair bit of the country that an urban dweller like me hardly see. I now understand and appreciate the country a lot more.

Friends were so concerned pre-trip that I was driving "Such an old car, you sure it's reliable?" for the trip. My reply was "I will only drive a car I can likely fix myself" I didn't use a single spare part I brought, though I did have the screwdriver and crimper out when I installed a new CD/radio head unit for iPod compatibility halfway into the trip.

The car's done fantastically well for a 10,000km plus journey in 3.5 weeks. I did break a front strut shock catridge due to the bone jarring vibrations on some of the national park gravel roads - that nut that locks the catridge down came out and hence eventually damaged the shock catridge as well. A (surprising find) Volvo experienced mechanic in Albany got me patched up with a used strut (the whole strut) from an 89 sedan for really very little money. [If you ever need help in Albany WA, look for Dave Smith 08 9841 6555 - brilliant chap]. The B230FX engine had enough grunt to take on hilly freeway roads at full freeway speeds (which is 110km/h).

Regrets: I shouldn't have installed the 16" Hydras and large sway bars before the trip. The suspension setup (with Bilstein TCs in front) was way too firm for the crappy roads we have in Australia, and sadly made many national park gravel roads unaccessible due to the bone jarring cushioning! I would have seen much more national parks on the original 14" Scorpius wheels with the original bars. The current setup was just not accomodating of some bad country roads.

Hairy moment: I spun the car 180 degrees on the Eyre Highway going across the Nullabor Plain because I was stupidly trying to take a picture and drove the car off the road!

What I didn't like about the 240 for this trip: The boxy profile and light steering doesn't work out good in strong cross winds - and there were lots of those situations.

Happy New Year to all BBers in advance.

Regards
Lucast