Volvo s40 What do ye think ?

pm.

What do ye think lads are they a reliable car ? im looking at around 00 to 01.

crosstownk

S40s of that period are susceptible to suspension bushes wearing which are not horribly expensive to fix, but a pain at same time. Oxygen sensors have a habit of giving grief too. The electric aerials give hassle on a few too.

IF you are buying one, avoid the GDI engine - it's a 1.8 petrol. Easy to tell as the cc on the tax disc will be a shade above 1800. These engines are prone to coking up - I forget the reason but, I know it only applies to the GDI, which is actually a Mitsubishi engine.

As Volvos go, I personally never really liked that batch of S40s.

bazz26

The S40 of that era is based on the Mitsubishi Carisma (both cars were built in the same factory in Holland), it used both some Mitsubishi (1.8 GDi) and Renault engines (1.8 petrol and 1.9 turbo diesel). I think the 2.0 litre petrol was Volvo's own unit. The one to go for is the newer 1.9 Turbo Diesel from 2001 onwards as it had 115bhp, it was quite frugal and economical and sourced from the Renault Megane/Laguna. I found rear leg room to be tight and the boot size is average.

Also keep an eye on the electrics as they are prone to gremlins. Main Volvo dealer parts and servicing are also very expensive so find yourself a good independant mechanic. Try and get the SE or Sport model with the Winter Pack as these come with goodies such as leather heated seats, air conditioning and alloy wheels.

E92

My old pair have a 00 S40 with that dreaded GDI engine, avoid at all costs, ours need a new fuel pump at 60 k mls, new ECU, oxygen sensor and other thing as well, its a lovely car apart from that though, buy the Volvo engine version of the 1.8 and you cant go wrong. The Volvo engine is much more reliable, but much heavier on fuel.IIRC the GDi does 40.9 mpg and the normal one does around 34 mpg. I would recommend it, as long as you enjoy fun free motoring. It feels very well made IMO nowhere near as bad over the bumps as some would say as long as you stick with 15" wheels. Get an 01 version,it is much better over the bumps, a bit quieter, and they changed the 1.8 Volvo engine too, they it more power and it uses less fuel.(the way to tell the difference with the 1.8 engines is the tax disc, old Volvo 1.8 1731 cc, new Volvo 1.8 1783cc and GDi 1834 cc, the GDi version also has an 'i' written on the boot after the 1.8 badge and all GDi versions are loaded with equipment too.

gyppo

S40 is an ok car. Clever Volvo marketing give the impression that it is a prestige car, rubbing shoulders with BMW's, mercs, and so on, - its not, so dont be taken in.
1.6l is underpowered, best left alone. 1.8l (non gdi) is alright, it develops reasonable power but it is a noisy and unrefined engine at speed. Common fault on this engine is the vvt oil pressure pump, which is prone to sticking if servicing intervals were neglected. Expect to pay 600/700E to rectify. MAF's fairly common fault too, 350E to replace from a volvo garage. Volvo's are not cheap to fix when something goes wrong.
Can't comment on any of the other engines.
However, common on many volvos is a gear linkage problem, on the rod actuated ones. Sloppy vague gearchange is fairly typical, with a difficulty engaging 1st or reverse. Gear change bush kits are available to rectify this.
Also, ball-joints and stabiliser links wear with regular monotony on 96-00 models. the phase 2 model (mid/late 00 onwards) is much improved from a suspension/ride/comfort viewpoint.

If you want one, examine it well, look for service history, and get the best specced one available. Just be aware there are better cars to be had for your money.

Sandwich

gyppo wrote:

S40 is an ok car. Clever Volvo marketing give the impression that it is a prestige car, rubbing shoulders with BMW's, mercs, and so on, - its not, so dont be taken in.

Must admit I was taken in by Volvo about the S40 as an upmarket machine so, thinking it was nicely built but its a bit small for me. Now thinking of an S60 with 2.0T. Is it the serious car it purports to be, or still a Carisma (or something else mundane) underneath a veneer?

colm_mcm

People are still fooled into thinking the new S40 is anything more than a Ford Focus.

gyppo

Sandwich wrote:

Must admit I was taken in by Volvo about the S40 as an upmarket machine so, thinking it was nicely built but its a bit small for me. Now thinking of an S60 with 2.0T. Is it the serious car it purports to be, or still a Carisma (or something else mundane) underneath a veneer?

The s60 is a fine car, miles ahead of the s40. Thirsty though!
I think crosstownk has one, why not give him a shout?

Henry Ford III

colm_mcm wrote:

People are still fooled into thinking the new S40 is anything more than a Ford Focus.

Nothing wrong with a Focus Colm

The S40 is built on the same platform but is quite different in many other respects.

Platform and major component sharing is now common btw. Ayga/107/C1 is a fair example.

colm_mcm

Henry Ford III wrote:

Platform and major component sharing is now common btw. Ayga/107/C1 is a fair example.

Yes, but they're all the same price

Henry Ford III

There is that

E92

What about the people who buy the Audi TT or A3, knowing it shares the same platform as a Skoda Octavia? Doesnt bother them does it?

patrickc

i've a 01 1.9 td s40, love the car so much power when needed etc. had a few problems as mentioned earlier, the bushings wore out, cost 140 to fix, that was at 75k miles , had to get a new aerial other wouldn't go down and turbo pipe developed a hole in it, other than that id highly recommend an s40

patrickc

oh yeh and steer clear of volvo for a service learned that the hard way:rolleyes:

crosstownk

gyppo wrote:

The s60 is a fine car, miles ahead of the s40. Thirsty though!
I think crosstownk has one, why not give him a shout?

Indeed. I've had 3 of them. A 2001 T5 manual, a 2003 2.0T Auto and a 2004 D5 Auto. All of them great cars. As far as Volvos go they are quite reliable - apart form the usual bulb blowing syndrome. Very comfortable cars to drive and the T5 was great fun! Of the 3 of them I'd least favour the D5 but that's only bcause the petrols are smoother and quieter. However, if you do much mileage the diesel is the way to go as the 2.0T Auto used to literally drink petrol - around Dublin I got less than 300 miles to a tank :eek: The T5 was a thirsty beast too but not as bad as the 2.0T.

zoemax

I have a 00 s40 1.6. A bit underpowered but 150k and still going strong. Much more comfortable than a similarly aged 3 series or A4. Make sure you get the later model which had an upgraded suspension. It came in about mid 2000, you can tell it from the older model by the headlights. If you live outside Dublin prepare to redo the suspension bushes every couple of years. Do not under any circumstances get the car serviced by a Volvo main dealer -crap customer service (in Dublin anyway) and mucho expensive.

colm_mcm

E92 wrote:

What about the people who buy the Audi TT or A3, knowing it shares the same platform as a Skoda Octavia? Doesnt bother them does it?

You just have to look at the AS40 to realise it's a tarted up Focus, it's pretty much exactly the same shape.

Henry Ford III

No it's not.

Wossack

not the traditional focus (not a hatchback), but probably what he meant

not too many similarities here though either

Victor_M

zoemax wrote:

I have a 00 s40 1.6. A bit underpowered but 150k and still going strong. Much more comfortable than a similarly aged 3 series or A4.

Can't disagree strongly enough with you on that one, while it's not a bad car, it's not a patch on an A4 or a 3 series.

My brother has one, it's grand, but as an earlier poster mentioned, you don't realise how clever the marketing has been until you sit in one, and realise it's underpinnings are much more modest then they are alluding to.

E92

I would never compare the S40 to a 3 series, A4 etc, its not at the races. I always consider the old S40 to the Avensis, Vectra,Mondeo, and the S40 is a far better car than them(with the honourable exception of the Mondeo)

People talk about the new S40 being a tarted up Focus. I'm sure they won't mind the Skoda Octavia, which has a virtually identical dash to the VW Golf. At least the S40 has some of its own engines(all the 5 pots are exclusive to the S40 bar the engine in the Focus ST), unlike the Golf TT etc the models on the PQ35 platform all seem to have the same engines.