Volvo S40 T4

[Garett]

I'm looking at changing my Saab NG900 in the next 6 months to something a bit more fun, i.e better handling and faster!

Im currently looking at Saab 9000 Aeros or other 2.3 variants as they are easily and cheaply remapped to Aero power levels and older Saab 9-5s. I'm discounting the Saab 900 like mine and the 9-3 due to their woeful handling.

The S40 has caught my eye, I must admit I did consider a 1.8 before I bought my current Saab but found the 'right' car so went for what I have now. Now I'm looking for something a bit faster I've noticed the T4 is withing budget of arounf £2k.

What are they like to go/stop/handle?
I do 80 miles a day of A roads and motorways so I guess they are well suited to this type of mileage?
What kind of MPG can I realistically expect?

Any input welcome.
Cheers.

[Garett]

I've just noticed there's an LPT as well the 2.0 CD with 170bhp, any info on these too please?

[Allandwf]

I've a V40 T4. Its a reasonably nippy thing, good motorway car.

[Garett]

Care to elaborate at all?

[T4RRR]

Garett said:

I'm looking at changing my Saab NG900 in the next 6 months to something a bit more fun, i.e better handling and faster!

Im currently looking at Saab 9000 Aeros or other 2.3 variants as they are easily and cheaply remapped to Aero power levels and older Saab 9-5s. I'm discounting the Saab 900 like mine and the 9-3 due to their woeful handling.

The S40 has caught my eye, I must admit I did consider a 1.8 before I bought my current Saab but found the 'right' car so went for what I have now. Now I'm looking for something a bit faster I've noticed the T4 is withing budget of arounf £2k.

What are they like to go/stop/handle?
I do 80 miles a day of A roads and motorways so I guess they are well suited to this type of mileage?
What kind of MPG can I realistically expect?

Any input welcome.
Cheers.

Firstly, get yourself over to www.t5d5.org as there are a number of T4 owners there, some of whose cars are pushing well over 400bhp

Having owned a number of T4s myself, my advice would be to aim to get hold of a Phase 2 car as they had over 2000 revisions done to them which improved the way they drove and handled a great deal. IMO, a T4 on standard suspension will outhandle an S60 T5 because its a much more agile car. Brakes are good, reliability is pretty good too and if things go wrong, they're usually easily fixed - the usual caveats apply though in that a good and complete service history is for me a must, and one which has been cared for will obviously last longer. Expect realistic combined figures in the mid 20s for normal (with some "spirited") driving. When and if you find one, post up some details about it and I'm sure someone will be able to give you some more pertinent advice at the time. I can tell you this much, having driven many Volvos, including the performance variants like the S60R and V70R, my T4 always puts the biggest smile on my face.

Edited by T4RRR on Thursday 30th July 21:39

[Allandwf]

Garett said:

Care to elaborate at all?

Sorry, too many beers ! I have the T4 as an everyday car, usualy get 32 mpg. It's been trouble free apart from worn drop links which were replaced, and "creaking" front struts, greased them up now ok. handlings quite good as is comfort, it has excellent mid range overtaking ability. Only real negative is that it can torque steer a fair bit. Over all as a daily car it's a great all rounder.

[Emeye]

I was wondering about one of these - is it easy enough or worth it to have the handling sorted?

[Garett]

Allandwf said:

Garett said:

Care to elaborate at all?

Sorry, too many beers ! I have the T4 as an everyday car, usualy get 32 mpg. It's been trouble free apart from worn drop links which were replaced, and "creaking" front struts, greased them up now ok. handlings quite good as is comfort, it has excellent mid range overtaking ability. Only real negative is that it can torque steer a fair bit. Over all as a daily car it's a great all rounder.

Haha, I know the feeling.

What kind of roads do you manage 32 mpg on? I'm managing 34 mpg in my non-turbo Saab currently so the negligible extra cost would far be out weighed by the benefits of a turbo charged car if 32 mpg was achievable.

I think torque steer is something I could live with and is inevitable in a fwd car with a turbo, I'm not aiming for launches in 1st and 2nd anyway.
Current favourite at the moment is the Saab 9000 Aero, I would love an 850 T5 but I think the running costs on one of those doing 450 miles a week would be too much.

[T4RRR]

A T4 would definitely be more economical to run when compared to a T5; I can get up to 38mpg when coasting on a motorway. The torque steer tends to be exacerbated by poor wheel alignment and crap tyres - do check for that if at all possible.

[Allandwf]

Mixture of town and motorway, just filled it this morning and it was 33mpg, worst i've had is about 27, performance gets used so would think these would be fair figures of what to expect.

[rsstman]

i have also got an interest in these t4`s as a family/work car.

the facelift shape definately looks much better.