Volvo V40? - Page 1 - Car Buying

Ted H

Original Poster

238 posts

74 months

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Thursday 29th December 2022

Ive been looking at a Volvo V40 T2 as a potential household workhorse for local trips. 2018 and 2019 R Design models seem to be reasonably priced.

Any thoughts on what these are like in terms of reliability, depreciation and comfort to drive? It will be for trips of <10 miles most of the time.

Most of what I can find on PH relates to the diesels, but due to the mileage it will be doing (5k/year) the D3 and D4 are not really worth considering.

Any thoughts on the T2, or suggestions of alternatives I may not have thought of? Key criteria are reliable, 2018/2019, won’t depreciate too badly in 5k/12 months and has 5 doors. Circa £15k.

Thanks
TH

ZX10R NIN

30,403 posts

153 months

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Thursday 29th December 2022

Whataguy

1,129 posts

108 months

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Friday 30th December 2022

I had a V40 D3, now driving a Golf 1.5TSI - I much prefer the Golf to the V40.

V40 is an ok car, but T2 is underpowered - you'd need the T3.

Plus the infotainment on the V40 is out of date with no touchscreen/apple carplay or android auto. You are left twiddling dials to try and get different heating/menu/etc settings.

ZX10R NIN

30,403 posts

153 months

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Friday 30th December 2022

You can retrofit Android Auto/Carplay to most cars now, I wouldn't consider it a deal breaker these days.

Ted H

Original Poster

238 posts

74 months

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Friday 30th December 2022

ZX10R NIN said:

Thanks for the suggestions. Some in there I’d never even have thought of. The Astra and Megane are interesting, with the 200bhp.

Ted H

Original Poster

238 posts

74 months

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Friday 30th December 2022

Whataguy said:

I had a V40 D3, now driving a Golf 1.5TSI - I much prefer the Golf to the V40.

V40 is an ok car, but T2 is underpowered - you'd need the T3.

Plus the infotainment on the V40 is out of date with no touchscreen/apple carplay or android auto. You are left twiddling dials to try and get different heating/menu/etc settings.

I appreciate the info, it’s good to hear the real world experience. Underpowered is not ideal. This info and the 200bhp options from ZX10R have refined my options…

elanfan

5,527 posts

255 months

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Friday 30th December 2022

I’ve got a T3 V40 Inscription. Heated leather seats and if I recall correctly 0-60 is in the 8 seconds. Lovely ride, comfortable and I think looks a little different to the crowd.

georgeyboy12345

4,562 posts

63 months

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Friday 30th December 2022

Your usage profile would work really well with a PHEV, providing that you can plug it in for a couple of hours on your driveway when it needs it. Really cheap to run, reliable and won't depreciate as much.

Audi A3 e-tron - I have one of these as my daily driver and it is fantastic, I love it
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209300...

Or there is it's cousin, the VW Golf GTE
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211282...

BMW i3 Range Extender - people that own these usually rave about them too
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209220...

If you want a bit more space, Kia do a good PHEV Optima
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211031...

Or the VW Passat GTE, that has the same drivetrain as the Golf and Audi
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212282...

ZX10R NIN

30,403 posts

153 months

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Friday 30th December 2022

Ted H said:

I appreciate the info, it’s good to hear the real world experience. Underpowered is not ideal. This info and the 200bhp options from ZX10R have refined my options…

I will say that out of the 200bhp options the Q30 will have the nicest interior & least stressed drivetrain BUT it will have slightly higher (it's a Mercedes at the end of the day & has AWD) running costs.

The Megane for me is the pick as it's a good steer & has a nice interior.

The Astra is still a nice place to be but it's not as good a steer as the other two but has a nicer slightly nicer interior than the Megane materials wise but not as good a steer as the Megane.

Somewhere in between between the two is the Ceed GT all four are good cars, it'll just come down to which one suits your requirements best.

MarkJS

2,122 posts

175 months

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Friday 30th December 2022

We’ve had a V40 D4 R-Design since new and it’s now on around 46k miles. It’s a general daily workhorse and has been very reliable apart from a broken front spring for no apparent reason a couple of months ago. This turned out to be expensive as the broken spring shredded a tyre (this could have happened with any car of course) and me being a little fastidious, changed both sides (springs & tyres). The car also gets used for longer trips if we need to carry a lot of gear for a UK holiday example as it will swallow a lot more than the BMW and I have roof bars for my bike etc. it will cover big miles effortlessly and is extremely comfortable for the size of car - it’s also very well equipped with heated leather and electric memory seats and the heated front screen is a bonus in the winter. The D4 is very punchy too and can embarrass slightly more ‘exotic’ stuff at times but I appreciate you’re not looking for that engine.

I can definitely recommend the V40 and we’ll likely keep ours till it dies as my other half loves it and she doesn’t care about cars one little bit normally.