Volvo S40

Extremely poor quality and unsafe – 2001 volvo at 10 years an accident due to steering failure. leather peeling off, key material degrading at 7 years , engine compression problem, terrible transmission suddenly downshifts and revs up. Show details

The most reliable and cheapest to maintain car I ever owned (I'm 51 y.o.) – True sleeper. It's a T4 model, 1.9L Turbo, 147kW, manual. Currently 300,000kms. Fed only cheap mineral oil, whatever was on special, every several thousand km. Never garaged. Believe it or not, still the first turbo, first water pump and even the first clutch (and I'm not exactly light footed!). Air con never refilled. Now worn out shock… Read more

absorbers, but fantastic handling in the first 200K km. Other than consumables, I can actually list all part replacements in this time. The most expensive one was the ABS control module (chronically faulty Bosch in all Euro cars of this age), 500 $US plus labour. Timing belt changed once (at 230K), front discs (at 250K), stabiliser bar brackets, spark plugs changed at 190K, ignition coils at 220K. That's it, in 11 years! Yes, only genuine Volvo parts were used but still amazingly cheap.

Negative: roof liner comes off if the car is left in the sun (all the time in my case), and the car is driven with windows down (me, most of the time). Also, dash lights are almost all gone by now.

A danger to drive – I purchased my brand-new S40 in 2009 and from the very start, there were problems. Silly things like seat-belt warnings would come on spontaneously, bits and pieces fell off, the boot lock kept breaking and then the car started to accelerate by itself. It wouldn't happen all the time, but when it did, it was terrifying. However, Volvo would not… Read more

fix the problem as I couldn't demonstrate it - despite the same problem occurring with many Volvo models worldwide. The last straw was a clunking noise that had a grinding sensation when the car was started, under the accelerator. This grinding was also felt when turning the wheel and accelerating around a tight corner. I was told that this was something to do with the ABS. If it was, why did it only start doing this 2 years after I bought the car?

It seems like 'a Volvo for life' is no longer valid. I now own a Mercedes Benz. It's a beautiful looking car Badly made, terrible after-service, a disaster waiting to happen.

Good – s40 T5 AWD 4 stars out of 5 The 5 cylinder motor has been used for some time in volvo. This version of the engine provides excellent mid-range punch, a great sound track, and small amount of turbo whistle to add to the enjoyment. The car is VERY secure on the road. The AWD, Pirelli tyres and stability control make the car almost… Read more

unflappable. The ride is very smooth, yet there is enough control to be sporty. Stiffer suspension would help the car be a little more sporty, but the trade off for everyday use is ok.

The interior is just a lovely place to be. 10 hour drives will have your back feeling none the worse for wear, something i can't say for experience in BMW 530i i have experienced. Xenon headlamps that are both high and low beam are so great i can't imagine driving with anything confidently at night again.

bad things: the steering still lacks feel compared to rivals, only an issue for the sportier types. the boot isn't that big, worth looking at before you buy.

overall: A car that has more features then anything else at the money in the class, well worth your time looking. strong mid-range powerT5 AWD fully optioned as standardAWD stability levels are brilliantinterior modern and very user friendlyXenon headlamps make day nightfeels bank fault strong and safehandles well for its size and weight Steering lacks some feelboot space smalldoesn't handle as well as it could