Car Review: Volvo V40
It is no secret, I absolutely adore the Volvo V40. I have since the day I first set eyes on it back in Verona, Italy, in 2012. It was the Volvo that changed Volvo for me! Pre V40 I had always thought of Volvo as an old man’s car and a brand that my Grandfather drove. But the V40 changed that for me. It brought Volvo in to my generation. And I got to spend a year with one as my long term test car. It was pure bliss!
The Volvo V40 has now received an update and it is still as great as ever. The V40 launched in 2012 with just about every thing you would need in a premium hatchback, so what more could Volvo do? Well a cosmetic change and of course when it launched it wasn’t launched with the Drive-E engines it offers now.
The cosmetic changes are subtle but impactful. They include changes to the lights, grille and new wheel designs. Regarding the lights, some models come standard with Volvo’s new “Thor Hammer” light signature that gives the V40 that distinct Volvo look we see on the XC90.
The interior also gets a few tweaks which includes new colour schemes. My favourite is the new City Weave which gives the car an almost vintage yet modern look. City Weave is a charcoal/blonde interior matched with a tweed-like textile pattern on the seats. It also includes a two-tone blonde/charcoal steering wheel which looks incredible. The V40 is now also available in a new set of contemporary colours which include Bursting Blue, Denim Blue, Amazon Blue, Luminous Sand and the S90 signature Mussel Blue.
The Volvo V40 is offered with three petrol engines and three diesel engines. My favourite being the D3 6-speed Geartronic. It’s powerful enough for the long open road and nippy enough for around town. It produces 110 kW of power and 320 N.m of torque. The ride is smoother than its predecessor and overall the whole experience is just as wonderful as I remember it to be.
There are very few cars that I myself would like to own. The reason being is that I am so used to hopping in to a different car every week that I think if I had to stick with one I would get a bit bored and frustrated (thankfully I do not feel the same way about my personal life, otherwise #VilliageBicycle). But the Volvo V40 is the car that would keep me feeling rather content. I love the look, the ride, the engine, the tech, the spec, the safety…there is nothing I do not like about this car. The only thing that would ever become an issue is space and that would only be if I had kids to think about. But with that said, it’s not exactly small and the boot is 335 litres which is sufficient.
And for the safety conscious people out there, the V40 remains the safest premium hatchback on the market. Need I say more?
The pricing starts at R337 700 for the T3 6-speed manual. You will pay R432 400 for the D3 I spoke about earlier. The range is topped with the Cross Country T5 AWD 8-speed Geartronic which is priced at R504 400.
Read about the V40 CrossCountry.