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Any love for the Volvo S40 T5 AWD?

GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
I am personally not looking to buy a car, but if I was, I think I would put a lot of thought into this Volvo.

I personally like the styling. The interior is gorgeous and functional. And Volvo have some of the best stock audio systems around IMO.

A loaded 2010 Volvo S40 R-Design AWD 6-speed can be had for around $36K. Seems like a good deal to me compared to the Audi offerings, for example. (Though I might take a last-gen Subaru Legacy GT over the Volvo.)

And of course, if you look online, there are people out there who chip their S40s to 300+ HP.

Just curious why this forum isn't more interested in it.

vl2009s4031719390.jpg
 
My wife has one. It's the 2004 right when they changed to this body style. It's got the automatic trans and is only FWD. It's a good car but in retrospect I think it's kinda spendy for what you get. My wife likes it because it's a small car and thinks it suits her style. However, she doesn't say no to a weekend road trip in our Grand Marquis.

If I had the money to do it over again I'd probably get something else. However it has been very reliable, it gets pretty good fuel economy, and turbo power is fun.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/franksta/122_2227s.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/franksta/blue_merc2.jpg
 
GTaudiophile said:
So it has been reliable over the past 6 years?

Doesn't live at the shop?
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty close to 80,000 miles now. There was a problem with a fuel pressure sensor or sending unit but it didn't affect the drivability. I forget the details of it. It did require 2 or 3 days for them to get the part and repair it. That was a couple of years ago and was covered under the warranty. Other than that no issues.
 
This car shares the same platform as the Ford Focus and Mazda 3, right?

It's a nice car, but I'd have to really convince myself that I wasn't paying $36k for a Ford Focus.
 
GTaudiophile said:
I am personally not looking to buy a car, but if I was, I think I would put a lot of thought into this Volvo.

I personally like the styling. The interior is gorgeous and functional. And Volvo have some of the best stock audio systems around IMO.

A loaded 2010 Volvo S40 R-Design AWD 6-speed can be had for around $36K. Seems like a good deal to me compared to the Audi offerings, for example. (Though I might take a last-gen Subaru Legacy GT over the Volvo.)

And of course, if you look online, there are people out there who chip their S40s to 300+ HP.

Just curious why this forum isn't more interested in it.

vl2009s4031719390.jpg
Click to expand...

Overpriced, underpowered, and looks fat and stubby.
 
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Knavish said:
This car shares the same platform as the Ford Focus and Mazda 3, right?

It's a nice car, but I'd have to really convince myself that I wasn't paying $36k for a Ford Focus.
Click to expand...

Yup. I've logged probably thousands of miles in the regular flat 5 (late 2007, 2008 models) and they are fine cars, but no better than other $20k sedans.
 
That seems pricey; I'm not sure what you can get for $$ in the US, but presumably this is priced in Lexus, Audi, VW, BMW and Merc territory.
 
Chris Shunk on the Autoblog podcast has the S40 and he recently raved how much he enjoyed driving a Mazda 3 over his car. He said Volvo did not do nearly as good a job as Mazda did with the chassis.

Even if the "R" version with AWD and turbo was improved over whatever version Chris has...I'd have a REALLY hard time buying this over a Mazda 3 or up***ing Focus with such a huge premium. I just don't see the appeal.
 
MJinZ said:
Yup. I've logged probably thousands of miles in the regular flat 5 (late 2007, 2008 models) and they are fine cars, but no better than other $20k sedans.
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Flat 5, eh? Never seen one of those. Must be an interesting custom job you've been driving.

ZV
 
Zenmervolt said:
Flat 5, eh? Never seen one of those. Must be an interesting custom job you've been driving.

ZV
Click to expand...

They are Inline, I was thinking for some reason that Volvo made Flat 5s, if they even exist.

The non-turbo I5s in the S40 is pretty gutless.
 
MJinZ said:
Nearly 335i territory.
Click to expand...

The one the original poster mentioned was $36,000 "loaded". MSRP on the 335i is $40,000. But starting price on the S40 AWD T5 6-speed is slightly over $31,000. I think that's a pretty big price difference, enough so that we didn't even consider the BMW.
 
Maybe check out a slightly used s60? Very mature platform if you grab a 07 and up. New s60 is coming in 2011.
 
Well, the problem is that there are just too many choices in its segment. For $ 36k, I'd consider G37x Coupe (which I got for $ 34k, btw), A4 2.0T, 128, 328, TSX and C300 first before even looking at S40.

But no, it's not in 335i territory. Pretty much base 335i would cost about $ 40k, and loaded 335i hits $ 45k easily.
 
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