Volvo S40

Volvo S40 review

The Volvo S40 is a small family car produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1995 to 2012. The first generation was introduced in 1995 with the S40 (S from saloon) and V40 (V from versatility, estate) cars. The second generation of the car was released in 2004, and the estate variant's name was changed to V50.

The range was replaced by the Volvo V40 five-door hatchback in 2012.

First generation (1995–2004)

n the summer of 1995 Volvo released their new series with the intention of calling the cars S4 and F4, but had to change the models names as it conflicted with Audi who had already reserved the "S4" name.The quickly-renamed S40 saloon (sedan) and V40 estate (station wagon), were manufactured at the Nedcar factory in the Netherlands (a pre-Ford joint venture between Volvo and Mitsubishi Motors) and based on a common platform with the Mitsubishi Carisma. The V40, with Drag coefficient of 0.32, was the first whole model to be introduced under the direction of the British designer Peter Horbury, Volvo’s Design Director, and was marketed in Australia, South America and the Far East.The V40 was named the ‘Most Beautiful Estate Car in the World’ at an Italian award ceremony.

In 2000 Volvo updated the 40 Series ("Phase II"), implementing a number of technical improvements, e.g. improved engine management, direct (diesel) fuel injection, extra safety features, larger brake discs, new front suspension and steering, revised rear suspension, larger tires and a wider track. A minor facelift gave larger headlights, more streamlining and larger rear light clusters as well as minor instruments and fascia re-design. The "Phase II" 40 series finally went on sale on the North American market for the model year 2000.

The 40 Series cars were equipped with four-cylinder engines, such as a 1.9 turbo diesel or 1.6 (1588 cc), 1.8 (1731 cc, later increased to 1783cc), 2.0T (1948 cc), 1.9 T4 (1855 cc, later increased to 1948cc) or 2.0 (1948 cc) fuel-injected gasoline engines all of which are derivatives of the modular whiteblock engine series that started life in the Volvo 960 and carried in both 5 and 6 cyl formats in Volvo's bigger FWD cars. There was also a 1.8 L (1834 cc) Gasoline direct injection engine provided by Mitsubishi as part of the platform sharing between the 40 series and the Carisma.

The Volvo S40/V40 series was a completely new car from the ground up, with no engines (with the exception of the 1.9 Turbo Diesel engine) carried over from the old 400 series.

The low (2.0T) and high (1.9 T4) pressure turbo variants were positioned at the top of the motor range. The 2.0T was rounded down and badged as 1.9T and was the only engine available in North America. The 5-speed manual transmission, widely available in Europe, was not certified in North American S40s, with the 5-Speed automatic as the only option. No electric CVT transmission was planned, unlike the 440 HTA / High Tech Auto CVT that had been released before the 400 series was completely phased out.

In the United Kingdom, trim levels were S, XS, SE and CD. Later on, trim levels offered were supplemented with SE Lux and Sport Lux trim designations. A limited edition 'Xi' trim level was also offered for a short run on Phase 1 and Phase 1.5 cars, often painted yellow with black-bezel headlamps.

A racing version (S40) was introduced in the British Touring Car Championship in 1997 and in 1998 the car, with Rickard Rydell, took the championship. It was also used in the Swedish Touring Car Championship and the 2003 Norwegian Touring Car Championship season

Due to the common platform, many components of the suspension and drive train are compatible with Carisma as well as theMitsubishi Lancer Evolution III, and Proton Waja.

The Volvo S40 was the first car to earn four stars in Euro-NCAP.

Engine specifications

Specification	S40 1.6	S40 1.8	S40 2.0	S40 1.9 T4	S40 2.0 turbo	S40 1.8i	S40 1.9D
Engine	B4164 S (16V)	B4184 S (16V)	B4204 S (16V)	B4194 T (16V)	B4204 T (16V)	B4184 SM (16V)	D4192 T
Power (kW/PS)@rpm	(77/105)@5500	(85/115)@5500	(103/140)@6000	(147/200)@5500	(118/160)@5100	(92/125)@5500	(66/90)@4250
Torque @rpm	143 N·m (105 lb·ft) @4200	165 N·m (122 lb·ft) @4100	183 N·m (135 lb·ft) @4500	300 N·m (220 lb·ft) @2400-3600	230 N·m (170 lb·ft) @1800-4800	174 N·m (128 lb·ft) @3750	176 N·m (130 lb·ft) @2250

S40 sales

Calendar year	United States	Canada
2000	29,862	1,682
2001	22,451	1,735
2002	15,383	1,454
2003	13,058	1,195
2004	4,726	279

V40 sales

Calendar year	Worldwide
2000	156,498 (S40/V40 combined)
2001	69,012
2002	61,475
2003	53,592
2004

Second generation (2004–2012)

Introduced in the middle of the 2004 model year, the second generation S40 (known as the 2004.5 Volvo S40) introduced a new design based on the Volvo P1 platform built at the Volvo Cars factory in Ghent, Belgium. At the same time, the V40 was replaced by the V50 estate, also based on the P1 platform and built in Ghent. The S40 was nominated for the World Car of the Year award for 2005 and won the Canadian Car of the Year Best New Sport Compact award for 2005. It was also elected the South African Car of the Yearfor 2005 by the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists.

The chassis for this car and the majority of its components were developed by Volvo, however similar mechanical components can be found in the Mazda3 and the European Ford Focus. The engine is the latest generation of Volvo's modular 5 cylinder engines. These inline fives have been continually developed by Volvo since the debut of the engine in the 850, in 1993. The top of the line S40/V50 T5 AWD, as well as the 2.4 and 2.4i, powertrain is still made by Volvo. The transmission is developed with Getrag at Volvo's Koping Transmission Center in Sweden, and the AWD system bought from Haldex Traction of Sweden.

The S40/V50 T5 (one of the several variants) features the 2.5 L B5254T3 (later B5254T7) (2521 cc) five-cylinder fuel-injected engine with a light-pressure turbocharger. The valvetrain has four valves per cylinder and is a DOHC design. The engine is transversely mounted at the front of the vehicle and was available with the M66W (front wheel drive) or M66C (all wheel drive) transmissions. In the US, the manual (6-speed) transmission was only available on the V50 in 2006, 2007 and 2010 and only with AWD and R-line trim.

2008 facelift

The S40 was refreshed for 2008. Improvements include improved audio systems, increased storage space and new safety features like Emergency Brake Lights which flash rapidly during hard braking to alert traffic behind the car. The new S40 also comes with optional Active Bi-Xenon headlights which point the light beam in the direction of the road as it curves (standard in SE Lux models). There is also an optional BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) camera located on the side mirrors which alerts the driver of passing vehicles beside the car.

The T5 model received a new engine (the B5254T7) with a performance increase of 9 hp (6.7 kW), giving an output of 227 hp (169 kW). The D5 engine became available with a manual gearbox offering 400 N·m (300 ft·lbf) of torque and an automatic transmission offering 350 N·m (260 ft·lbf) in the second half of 2007.

The 2009 model saw rear-end trunk lid changes, changing the badge from "VOLVO" to "V O L V O" with spaces between the letters and larger characters, as in the newer Volvo models.

In 2010, the new, larger, circular Volvo logo appeared on the front grille, in the US, a manual transmission was briefly available with the T5 AWD version. In North America the naturally aspirated 5-cylinder engine, all-wheel drive, and manual transmission were all dropped for the 2011 model year, leaving only the automatic, front-wheel drive T5 in base and R-Design trims. The 2011 model year was the last for the S40 in the United States and Canada.

Engine specifications (2011 model)

From the end of May 2010, a new range of engines is available for the so-called "2011 model".

The range now includes three petrol engines (1.6, 2.0 and T5, the latter only available with front-wheel drive and automatic transmission), four Diesel engines (the existing DRIVe and the new D2, D3 and D4) and the 2.0F Flexible-fuel engine that can run either on normal petrol or E85, an ethanol-petrol mixture. The updated 2.0 and T5 and the new D2, D3 and D4 are compliant with the Euro 5 emission standard (the rest are Euro 4-compliant), and the DRIVe includes a start-stop system for reduced fuel consumption and emissions. New 6-speed gearboxes are used in the D2 (manual: B6 D2), D3 and D4 (manual: M66D, automatic: Aisin AWF21).

   

                                   

Specification		S40 1.6	S40 1.6 (2010)	S40 2.0	S40 T5	S40 DRIVe	S40 D2	S40 D3 (*)	S40 D4	S40 2.0F FLEXIFUEL
Engine	Type	4-cyl.	4-cyl. Turbo	4-cyl.	5-cyl. Turbo	4-cyl. Turbo	4-cyl. Turbo	5-cyl. Turbo	5-cyl. Turbo	4-cyl.
	Fuel	Petrol	Petrol	Petrol	Petrol	Diesel	Diesel	Diesel	Diesel	Petrol/E85
	Valves	16	16	16	20	16	8	20	20	16
	cc	1596	1596	1999	2521	1560	1560	1984	1984	1999
Power	kW	74	110	107	169	80	84	110	130	107
	PS	100	150	145	230	109	115	150	177	145
	@rpm	6000	6000	6000	5000	4000	3600	3500	3500	6000
Torque	Nm	150	195	185	320	240	270	350	400	185
	@rpm	4000	4500	1500-5000	1750	1750	1500-2750	1750-2750	4500
Transmission	manual	5-speed	5-speed	—	5-speed	6-speed	6-speed	6-speed	5-speed
	auto	—	—	5-speed	—	—	6-speed	6-speed	—
Top speed	manual	185 km/h	220 km/h	210 km/h	—	190 km/h	195 km/h	N/A (*)	220 km/h	210 km/h
	auto	—	—	235 km/h	—	—	N/A (*)	215 km/h	—
0–100 km/h	manual	9.2 s	9.5 s	—	11.4 s	11.4 s	9.5 s	8.7 s	9.5 s
	auto	—	—	6.8 s	—	—	9.6 s	8.8 s	—
Fuel consumption l/100 km (urban/extra-urban/combined)	manual	9.2/5.8/7.1	10.8/5.7/7.6	—	4.9/3.4/3.9	5.2/3.8/4.3	7.0/4.0/5.0	7.0/4.0/5.0	10.9/5.8/7.7
	auto	—	—	13.5/6.5/9.0	—	—	7.6/4.5/5.6	7.6/4.5/5.6	—
CO2 emissions	manual	169 g/km	176 g/km	—	104 g/km	114 g/km	134 g/km	134 g/km	183 g/km
	auto	—	—	211 g/km	—	—	149 g/km	149 g/km	—