Anyone have any experience of the volvo s40 circa 2000, good or bad?
Looked at car by car breakdown and seems to be that reliability was an issue.
Going to look at one in next few days, a 2.0 petrol.
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HI.
I own a year 2000 volvo v40 2litre xi.
its one of the last phase 1, models. (made from approx 97-2000)
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a year 2000 will be one of the better phase 1 cars, the early 97 cars had build problems but these where all sorted by 98/99 cars.
we for a while also owned a year 2000 s40 1.8 but when we had kids we sold it, and i now run/cycle to work and the v40 is the wifes kiddy carrier....
we've had it over 5 years....bought with 20k on the clock it now has 72k (miles)
its been serviced by the local village garage and i've supplied volvo main dealer parts that they've then fitted...spark plugs are only £12 from the main dealer, halford ones cost £18....ha ha...yeh really....cabin filter is a 4min job and its mounted inside the passenger footwell, so no water leaks...
in all the years we've only replaced normal things tyres, and recently cam belt etc.
the cam belt is a basic job that requires no major expense.
the "daytime" running lights can be turned off, see owners manual and unlike so many other cars, light bulbs can be changed in seconds with the need to remove the main unit, or battery or bumper etc etc....
check the aircon all works, (its a button that looks like a snowflake) in the middle of the center console. we read they can give problems, both cars i have owned all worked and have not given any issues.
i like the car, and even though i'm not planning on replacing it in the near future do worry what i'll get next....may-be just take the easy option and find a newer V40.
oh the v40 even has a seatbelt in the boot for securing junk ....it sounds silly but when you have a takeaway or a kids toy its nice not to have it sliding about....
brakes should be superb...disks all round and should have plenty of power, oh the power steering is pretty light compaired to mondeos or focus.
oh when i used to drive to work on the a41 to aylesbury i was getting 40mpg. if fully loaded with kids and aircon running bank on low 30s.
all the upbove applies to the s40 which your looking at....
Edited by Paul G1pdc on 17/10/2008 at 13:04
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I had a 2000 V40 2.0T (light pressure turbo) for 3 years, good car. If you can find one of these I'd recommend it, watercooled turbo so good reliability and the motor is basically four-fifths of a T5 engine, so it's strong.
Lovely grunt, torque-steer in 3rd coming off roundabouts was fun :)
Handling is safe, it goes more or less where you point it but that's it. Not much driver involvement. Bit crashy and thumpy over bumps.
Seats are excellent, best I've ever sat on. Nothing went wrong in my ownership, and as said above, you CAN turn off the running lights :)
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I have driven them, around '96 I had a Vectra 2.0 SRi company car and a colleague got a 1.8 S40, it felt so gutless, a little while later other colleagues got 2.0 S40s which while they performed better than the 1.8 were no match for the Vectra in punch or engine refinement terms.
Very nice looking cars though, particularly the V40, in fact a 2.0T or T4 would appeal.
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Thanks for feedback so far, more than useful!
It would be the 2.0 variant that I would be after, have also had a look at a mazda 626 and a honda accord, both nice cars, want that reliability really!
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I know someone with a V40 1.6 estate and they cant recommend it highly enough, to such an extent that they have for a number of years, been unable to replace it with something they like more.
Its one of those cars, much like the 460 before it, which adds up to more than the sum of its parts when you live with one day-in day-out.
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Just been looking at ebay item 230299958855 and that looks a good buy
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A friend had a V40. Nice leather and wood interior, comfy front seats, reasonably quiet, handling okayish, relaxing to drive. But no rear legroom and tiny boot for an estate car
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>>>Just been looking at ebay item 230299958855 and that looks a good buy<<<
This car is right on the coast and will require checking carefully for the dreaded rust - Volvo or not!
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I owned and ran a new S40 1.6 in 1999-01, and later on a used V40 1.6 in 2001-4. Both were faultless. Nothing broke, and no recalls other than a replacement dipstick at a routine service.
Late 1999 (V-reg onwards) had a slight equipment upgrade over my S40, whilst the "Phase II" facelift in 2001 was actually pretty fundamental, with changes to steering, tracking, handling etc. below the surface. Probably best to try to find one of the 2001-onwards cars.
Volvo did a 1.8 lean-burn petrol engine in conjunction with Mitsubishi which apparently is to be avoided, requires de-coking at 75K miles or something?!
2.0 petrol fine, but I wouldn't expect more than low 30s mpg. They are quite heavy cars!
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