VOLVO S40 road test reports and car reviews

Volvo S40 1.6D SE

Good looker however not completely free from its faults The 1.6d would have not been my first choice however this was company car, and so the tax was considerably low for a car in its class. The 1.6d is quite refined an I am impressed by the engine management as Volvo seem to know how to get the best performance from a small diesel engine.. The main problem is that I don’t think Volvo planned the S40 1.6d to be a high miler. My car is a 56 plate, Nov 06, and it now as 27000 on the clock. There seems to be a issue with the intercooler as mine was replaced at 20000 miles. Maybe the turbo’s working overtime to get the best out of the 1.6d?. The annoying thing with this car is that, should the cars on board computer detect the slightest fault, this will take over and limit the cars performance. Should this occur the car would only do a maximum of 60mph on a flat road, reducing to about 30-40mph even on a slight incline and is not ideal when away on business! This happened 3 times until Volvo finally replaced the intercooler. The air con has also stopped working which, has been addressed by Volvo however, 3 visit to the garage later the air cons still not working! My colleges have also had issues with the 2ltr petrol, as they seem to cut out and having said this, one of my college had the contract ended early as he claimed the cars was not fit for purpose due to on going problems with the loss of power. Overall, I wouldn’t really suggest the s40 as a fleet car however, problems do happen and having driven the S40 2.4i SE, this is the model I would recommend however, only for low mileage users!