Volvo V40 - 1999

[Fordo]

Whats the PH consensus on them? Bargin shed, or to be avoided?

At the supermarket the other day noticed a for sale ad in one parked, started having a look around. The owners arrived with their shopping. Really nice people, showed e inside and out the car and it looked very tidy. They even had little A5 flyers printed up with all the car details on.

Its a 1999 reg, 2 litre turbo (168bhp), manual, 108,000 miles.

It has all the toys- climate control, cruise control, heated seats..... and, a full service history! all for the tidy sum of £995.

Feels like an offer i shouldn't refuse, for a bargin, huge booted, estate with a little bit of poke.

Interested to know peoples opinions on the V40?

[freakynessless]

I would have bit their arm off! - not literally of course. Sounds like an awesome deal to me. You might even get it for less if you wave a wedge of tenners in their face.

If you do end up buying it make sure you post a couple of pics. I do love a good old Volvo.

[solidstatelogic]

Cons: Horrible
Pros: Tough as old boots
Verdict: You can't kill the buggers.

[Fordo]

just re-read the flyer they gave me- taxed and moted until jan next year too.

good lord, i really should have gone to the bank there and then, im just too cautious!

[scotty_d]

I drive one as my daily its on a y 2001 BUT THE 1.9TDI sport one with 185k on it owned it for 3 years


Very solid motor not much has went wrong even with this milage on it just wear and tear hand brake cable pads tyres ect.

Boaring as hell only 115bhp on mine but cant fault the old bus body work is very good still has one little bubble begining to show but not bad considering it never gets washed

Verdict from a owner well put together bit of a boaring drive enough space to use day to day for lugging about in.

[maurauth]

Fordo said:

Whats the PH consensus on them? Bargin shed, or to be avoided?

At the supermarket the other day noticed a for sale ad in one parked, started having a look around. The owners arrived with their shopping. Really nice people, showed e inside and out the car and it looked very tidy. They even had little A5 flyers printed up with all the car details on.

Its a 1999 reg, 2 litre turbo (168bhp), manual, 108,000 miles.

It has all the toys- climate control, cruise control, heated seats..... and, a full service history! all for the tidy sum of £995.

Feels like an offer i shouldn't refuse, for a bargin, huge booted, estate with a little bit of poke.

Interested to know peoples opinions on the V40?

That sounds like an absolute steal; there must be something wrong with it for that price! Did they say if it'd been in any accidents?

[Somnophore]

They look to be good buys but beware if you def need a big estate as they aren't actually that big boot wise

[maurauth]

Somnophore said:

They look to be good buys but beware if you def need a big estate as they aren't actually that big boot wise

I dunno about that! My mates S40 (same age, and very similar car) hatchback can hold a metric fkton...

[Fordo]

maurauth said:

That sounds like an absolute steal; there must be something wrong with it for that price! Did they say if it'd been in any accidents?

they said it was accident free. certainly looked that way. All panel gaps were as they should be, no creases in the boot- spare wheel had never been used by the looks of it too. Side note- i like the fact volvo have a little clip that holds the boot floor out of the way when lifting it up. very tidy.

I had a quick look underneath too with my little keyring torch, and couldn't see any rust of signs of anything out of the ordinary.

Just been doing the sums- if I do 10k a year, the volvo will cost £618 more in fuel than my current shed. Dang. Thats a lot more per year for something equally as boring as I drive now. But more practical and air con. hmmm. (The real answer seems to be I need to earn more and drive something thats actually fun.)


I miss the days when i didnt care about fuel costs!

[scotty_d]

Somnophore said:

They look to be good buys but beware if you def need a big estate as they aren't actually that big boot wise

Hmmm mine took a full rover v8 in the boot and that was with the seats still up not as big as my old 850 t5 but how much room do you need i have never needed more space in mine reason i bought it was to lugg my boat stuff about in and a good towing car too.

[Fordo]

Somnophore said:

They look to be good buys but beware if you def need a big estate as they aren't actually that big boot wise

its the height I need in an estate boot rather than depth- I lug about a lot of big peli cases and boxes. hatchbacks dont cut the mustard without putting seats down, and saloons are out of the question- its like fitting equipment through a letterbox!

Its really a small/ mid estate im after- a BIG estate would be overkill and i'd never find somewhere to park when im in London

[Jimbo_vx]

heres my shed


also 1.9td(115). 2004, bought with a little over 100k on the clock for just double the one above, earlier in the year.

I really like it.

[Fordo]

hmmm, maybe I should keep my eyes open for a tdi one. I wonder if they're selling their v40 cheap just because of the fuel costs. Might make financial sense for me to spend a bit moreat get one in derv flavour. Good god, listen to me, I sound all sensible. This wont do at all!


Your one above looks very tidy btw

[8400rpm]

Can I have the contact details for them? As I want it at that price.

[CaptainSlow]

Sounds like a t4? A friend bought one last year similar to the one described, was a bit cheaper but was very dirty. Sounds like a good deal to me, I'd go for it.

[DamienB]

Bargain shed definitely, nothing serious ever seems to go wrong with them. I've been through two of them - a 2.0 petrol and a 1.9 TD, the latter being the most boring car I had ever driven due to its lack of poke but the suspension copes well with our crappy roads and it was pretty much bullet proof. By 112K the only non-service work my 1.9TD ever needed was a a replacement fuel advance solenoid (200 quid or so mostly down to labour/diagnosis costs), new top engine mount (not expensive), and a new bush on the gear linkage as it was getting a bit sloppy. I sold the petrol one before it hit 100K as the diesel one came up for a good price and offered significant savings on fuel cost (a good 15 mpg improvement). The only thing that ever went wrong with the petrol one was a radiator hose. Also found the back end on the petrol one would kick out if you cornered a bit too fast but more my fault than anything I think!

Edited by DamienB on Thursday 29th July 15:58

[Fordo]

8400rpm said:

Can I have the contact details for them? As I want it at that price.

if I decide not to buy, i'll happy PM you with the details

[spaceship]

Go for it. I'd have it at that price.

[tuborgman]

CaptainSlow said:

Sounds like a t4? A friend bought one last year similar to the one described, was a bit cheaper but was very dirty. Sounds like a good deal to me, I'd go for it.

The t4's were a 1.9 high pressure turbo, i think this is the 2 litre low pressure.The t4 would have about 200hp if i recall my old o

To the op i think thats a great deal and they are a very comfy car. I'd recomend them to anyone.

[maurauth]

A further point- my mates S40 1.8 petrol is now on I think 120,000 miles with 80,000 miles as a rental car, and it's still running fine - 80,000 rental miles is easily 120,000 normal persons miles!