Volvo s40 opinions please

AlanHartigan

Hi, I'm looking to buy a new car soon enough. I was looking at a volvo s40 - 06 model 1.6 diesel.. I've heard mixed reviews on it so I was wondering does anyone have any review themselves on it? Is it good or am I wasting my time? I have about €5000 so any other car ideas in that range would be much appreciated..
Thanks in advance..

Asmooh

Why 1.6 diesel? get a S40 T4, but S60 T5R would be better, what do you want? a good car? fast car? lots of space?

AlanHartigan

Asmooh wrote: »

Why 1.6 diesel? get a S40 T4, but S60 T5R would be better, what do you want? a good car? fast car? lots of space?

1.6 for insurance and tax purposes. A good car, nice to drive. Being quick off the line doesn't bother me.

_Brian

Have a look on Honest John, I checked it out and the feedback is a bit scarey.. Also have a friend with an '08 V50 and he's broke fixing it, it eats through tyres.

NIMAN

I'd say make sure it has a reliable, full service history at the very least.

road_high

Had one a few years ago for about 4 years. Cost me €1,000s in various engine repairs if it was all added up. Regular problems with EGR valves, turbo pipes cracking, emission light on etc etc.
It was a lovely car and very well specced but these (expensive) repairs took the good out of it comepletely. I believe the 2.0d is far better in terms of performance and reliability.

AlanHartigan

road_high wrote: »

Had one a few years ago for about 4 years. Cost me €1,000s in various engine repairs if it was all added up. Regular problems with EGR valves, turbo pipes cracking, emission light on etc etc.
It was a lovely car and very well specced but these (expensive) repairs took the good out of it comepletely. I believe the 2.0d is far better in terms of performance and reliability.

So you would recommend staying away? Or do you think you got unlucky?

road_high

AlanHartigan wrote: »

So you would recommend staying away? Or do you think you got unlucky?

Bit of both I'd say. I don't think I'd have another unless it was either brand new or nearly new from a main dealer with a long warranty. Neither of which are in your budget I'd guess. If I was you I wouldn't buy one (most definitely not the 1.6d anyhow), there are far too many stories both here and on the internet about them.

AlanHartigan

road_high wrote: »

Bit of both I'd say. I don't think I'd have another unless it was either brand new or nearly new from a main dealer with a long warranty. Neither of which are in your budget I'd guess. If I was you I wouldn't buy one (most definitely not the 1.6d anyhow), there are far too many stories both here and on the internet about them.

I see. Yeah I'm not that rich unfortunately. Any other suggestions? I'm stumped as to what to get. I will be driving up and down to Dublin from limerick for the next 6 months so diesel is preferred but any suggestions welcome..

road_high

AlanHartigan wrote: »

I see. Yeah I'm not that rich unfortunately. Any other suggestions? I'm stumped as to what to get. I will be driving up and down to Dublin from limerick for the next 6 months so diesel is preferred but any suggestions welcome..

I'd say some of the older 1.9 Audis or VW's are fairly good. The 2.0 liter from 2005/6 gave problems.
A previous model Avensis would be a sound bet I'd think for that money.

AlanHartigan

road_high wrote: »

I'd say some of the older 1.9 Audis or VW's are fairly good. The 2.0 liter from 2005/6 gave problems.
A previous model Avensis would be a sound bet I'd think for that money.

Yeah I was thinking the same, there's not a lot of options there that would be suitable for me. OK thanks for the help..

bazz26

AlanHartigan wrote: »

Hi, I'm looking to buy a new car soon enough. I was looking at a volvo s40 - 06 model 1.6 diesel.. I've heard mixed reviews on it so I was wondering does anyone have any review themselves on it? Is it good or am I wasting my time? I have about €5000 so any other car ideas in that range would be much appreciated..
Thanks in advance..

Had a 06 one myself, parts can be expensive especially if you have to source them from Volvo. 1.6d is made by Peugeot/Citroen and reliability can be hit and miss depending on how it was maintained. They are sluggish too as the S40 is heavy enough. They are a solid car though and well finished. Make sure to get the SE model as it will have leather seats which are very comfy and way nicer than the standard cloth ones. Trying to find a 9/10 year old example in good condition at this stage will be hard though. Make sure there are no error or warning messages on the dash as these are normally not good news can be expensive to fix depending on what is wrong. Also make sure it has two keys as a replacement is over €200 and they can only be got from Volvo.

Asmooh wrote: »

Why 1.6 diesel? get a S40 T4, but S60 T5R would be better, what do you want? a good car? fast car? lots of space?

Somebody looking for information on a small capacity diesel car is hardly going to be interested in a larger capacity petrol version.

AlanHartigan

bazz26 wrote: »

Had a 06 one myself, parts can be expensive especially if you have to source them from Volvo. 1.6d is made by Peugeot/Citroen and reliability can be hit and miss depending on how it was maintained. They are sluggish too as the S40 is heavy enough. They are a solid car though and well finished. Make sure to get the SE model as it will have leather seats which are very comfy and way nicer than the standard cloth ones. Trying to find a 9/10 year old example in good condition at this stage will be hard though. Make sure there are no error or warning messages on the dash as these are normally not good news can be expensive to fix depending on what is wrong. Also make sure it has two keys as a replacement is over €200 and they can only be got from Volvo.

I currently own a Peugeot and never had a problem with it. Yeah whatever car I'm serious about will get a 50 point check. Did you ever have a problem with yours?

bazz26

Yes I did, the diesel particular filter (DPF) went on it and cost the bones of €1k to replace. Lots of other small things too that on their own were not expensive but add them all together over the time I had the car and it was significant enough. Might not be the same for all S40s out there but I always felt I was spending money on mine.

AlanHartigan

bazz26 wrote: »

Yes I did, the diesel particular filter (DPF) went on it and cost the bones of €1k to replace. Lots of other small things too that on their own were not expensive but add them all together over the time I had the car and it was significant enough. Might not be the same for all S40s out there but I always felt I was spending money on mine.

Ouch. That's a lot.. So based on user experience you wouldn't get another one?

bazz26

As I said the one I had cost me money, they may not be all like that but at that age now I cannot see many of them being low maintenance, if reliability is your concern then maybe look at something else.

AlanHartigan

bazz26 wrote: »

As I said the one I had cost me money, they may not be all like that but at that age now I cannot see many of them being low maintenance, if reliability is your concern then maybe look at something else.

Yeah it's looking that way. OK thanks for the feedback..

road_high

bazz26 wrote: »

Yes I did, the diesel particular filter (DPF) went on it and cost the bones of €1k to replace. Lots of other small things too that on their own were not expensive but add them all together over the time I had the car and it was significant enough. Might not be the same for all S40s out there but I always felt I was spending money on mine.

Had the exact same experience Bazz. And part prices seemed to be mad. €200 here and there quickly adds up, as it did in my case.