The first time I saw an S40 was in an advert in a glossy mag. I thought that it looked quite stunning, without being overboard and too "flashy". I was thinking of changing cars at the time, so I took myself along to my local Volvo dealer and arranged a 24 hour test drive. I fell in love with the car and put my name down for a new S40 1.8 with a couple of option packages added in (these option packs included things like Alloys, Cruise Control, Trip Computer...)
I loved the car every minute that I owned it, it was far and away the best car I had owned. The 1.8 engine was adequate, if nothing special, and had a distint torque band, but I soon got used to this. The road handling was fine so long as you're not the type who likes to tear around country lanes. For motorway and A road cruising it was great, remained stable and predicatble at high speeds, stopped well and gave an overall air of "feeling safe".
It was well built, solid, comfortable and quiet. In Flame Red it was a bit of an eye-catcher and we once returned to the car to find a group of kids looking down it's lines while one remarked "Wow. it's a Volvo". Well, it was unlike all previous Volvos!
From a security angle, the car was a winner, with alarm, immobiliser and deadlocks which always scored well in "Product Tests" in leading car magazines.
The saftey aspects of the Volvo are well documented and cannot be ignored, and I had the misfortune to test them out on one occasion when some guy rear-ended me at 30+ mph. There was extensive damage to the rear of the Volvo, but none to me, not even whiplash. While my car was being repaired the Insurance company provided me with a Vectra and I hated every moment in that car (2 weeks), by comparison it was poorly built, and felt tacky and somewhat "cheap".
Since then I changed my S40 for a V40 and although there is almost no difference between the two cars from a drivers point of view, I really miss the stylish looks of my S40. Even more so because I sold it to a guy at work and still see it every day, and my heart pines. There are 8 of us at work in our small company, and 2 have S40's and 2 have V40's and we are all extremely pleased with these cars.
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Saloon - Front (FWD) - 5 Speed - (Man) / 5 Speed Geartronic - (Auto) - 2435 cc - Max Speed: 138 mph - 170 bhp - Petrol - Available Trims: S, SE, SE Sport, Sport
Estate - Front (FWD) - 6 Speed - (Man) / 6 Speed Geartronic - (Auto) - 2401 cc - Max Speed: 140 mph - 185 bhp - Diesel - Available Trims: R-DESIGN, R-DESIGN Premium, SE, SE Lux, SE Lux Premium, SE Premium, S, Sport
You don't say too much about the ride and handling and for my S40 that was the problem. Against other cars in its class it just does not compete (in my opinion).
Michael-S 29.04.2001 21:39
Great first op. Welcome to Ciao. Take care, Michael.
elspeth334 29.04.2001 16:50
An excellent first opinion Welcome to Ciao Cheers Elspeth
Advantages: Useful extras like pull up booster seats, extra locking button for the children, strong car. Disadvantages: The lights stay on in the day. It's built like that. (safety purposes)
ashrafi78692 26.01.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of VolvoS401.8i
Apr 29th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
