2000’s Volvo? Would you buy one?

[meep]

Great point about the T5. My 2009 s60 was a FWD T5. I kept it for my son, who didn’t want it, and then sold it to my neighbor’s son. They loveeeee it. In hindsight, I regretted selling it. I‘d worked all the kinks out and it was an easy car to live with and comfortable. The T5 is no slouch and will lay it down in the s60.

im not entirely sure of all the turbo variants of the 5 cylinder, but mine got surprisingly weak gas mileage. Where my NA variants were 26-27, the T5 was 22, 1 mpg better than my full-size F150 supercab. And that is with premium.

@atikovi - that’s a beautiful copy. Headlights suggest an earlier model?

 

[atikovi]

That S40 model first came out as a 2004.5 so can't be much earlier. The S60R 04-07.

 

[Elkins45]

The particular vehicle I’m looking at right now is a 2005 S40 2.4i. The other two have sold since yesterday.

 

[Astro14]

The particular vehicle I’m looking at right now is a 2005 S40 2.4i. The other two have sold since yesterday.

Not a big fan of the S40. Weird chassis. Same 5 cylinder powertrain as the P2, so, reliable in that sense, but they’re the low end of the Volvo line. Many found them small and uncomfortable.

 

[andrew_j]

A friend of mine likes I interesting high mileage cars (AMG, BMW, Volvo, Audi) in $5k-$10k range. He drives 1-3 years and sells.

One of his more reliable ones (he kept 3 years) was an S80 V8 and it was incredibly reliable vehicle. I believe a 2010.

 

[tbm5690]

My parents had an '01 V70 T5 with a manual when I was in high school...my understanding is that it was quite a rare find. I loved driving that thing and with the Turbo at altitude (lived in CO) it was a sleeper that would clobber most everything else on the road. Dad sold it with 220k+ on the clock. To date I probably had the most fun in that if any other vehicle I've driven.

 

[atikovi]

The particular vehicle I’m looking at right now is a 2005 S40 2.4i.

Maybe post a link to the ad for an evaluation.

 

[Elkins45]

Maybe post a link to the ad for an evaluation.

Price seems low on this one but I’m curious.

Autotrader - page unavailable

There's also a 2009 but it has more miles that I would prefer.

Autotrader - page unavailable

 

[atikovi]

Price seems low on this one but I’m curious.

Autotrader - page unavailable

Odd that it has just one stock photo and doesn't even mention the color. It must be a trade-in they gave no more than $1500 for, as most franchise dealers wouldn't bother putting something like that out, and are seeing what they can get for it before sending to auction for a $2,000 check.

 

[Sam_Julier]

As @Astro14 and others have said above these are wonderful cars that will last a long time if maintained well.

I’m still wishing we didn’t sell the 07 V70 2.4 at 170k.

The key maintenance items for 5 cylinder Volvos:

A clean properly functioning PCV system. If the engine is not producing a strong vacuum replace the PCV system.

Synthetic oil only. I kept the OCIs to 5k.

Clean and filtered PS fluid. You do not want to change the rack in this car. Installing an in-line filter is easy.

AT fluid cooler line exchange every 30k. Drain and fill at 15k. Adding an AT cooler can only help.

Volvo spark plugs only.

Good luck!

 

[zzyzzx]

If it's cheap enough, why not?

 

[meep]

S40 if I recall is a Mazda platform

 

[Sam_Julier]

S40 if I recall is a Mazda platform

I've always thought it was the Ford Focus platform. Does the Focus share a platform with Mazda?

 

[Astro14]

S40 if I recall is a Mazda platform

It was a joint platform - but I thought it was Mitsubishi. Not certain. Either way, I’ve driven an older S40 and didn’t like it. Newer ones, like 2012 and up, seemed good.

 

[meep]

It was a joint platform - but I thought it was Mitsubishi. Not certain. Either way, I’ve driven an older S40 and didn’t like it. Newer ones, like 2012 and up, seemed good.

I think it was the local Volvo dealer that told me it was shared between Volvo, Mazda and Ford, primarily derived from Mazdas roots. That’s not a bad thing at all - Mazda makes good stuff. It’s just to say that it’s a little different from the P2.

 

[DuckRyder]

Im about the show my age here, but volvos look like shoe boxes, i would not buy one that could not be described as a turbo brick, a regular 240 wouldn't be bad if ir didn't mind a 20 second 0-60... or was a 242GT.

My definition of a Volvo leaves out anything past a 740t.

 

[Astro14]

Im about the show my age here, but volvos look like shoe boxes, i would not buy one that could not be described as a turbo brick, a regular 240 wouldn't be bad if ir didn't mind a 20 second 0-60... or was a 242GT.

My definition of a Volvo leaves out anything past a 740t.

So, should look like shoeboxes? Or actually look like shoeboxes?

Because if it’s the latter, then, you’ve missed out on the last 20+ years of styling changes…

 

[Bailes1992]

My Father had a 2008 V50 T5 for a few years. He bought it brand new and got rid of it when it was 4 years old with 100k on the clock. On the whole it was a solid, reliable car.

I personally found it a bit odd to drive. The steering wheel felt massive, the seats were comfortable but didn't offer much in the way of support and it never seemed happy about putting it's power down or being pushed through corners. Also, weirdly I found the engine drove like a diesel and didn't want to rev, once it hit 4,000rpm it seemed to 'flatline' and not surge towards it's 7k redline. I almost felt like it was 'damped-down' by the Volvo engineers to suit what they thought their audience wanted. Considering the car was so heavily related to the MK2 Focus ST, it was quite disappointing.

That said, it came with Pirelli PZero Rosso tyres and my Father continued to use these. A few Volvo-people have told me that these were awful tyres and a lot of the complaints above were rectified by putting something else on it.

I've since owned 2 Volvo V40's which were heavily related to the S40/V50 and I absolutely loved them.

 

[Astro14]

My Father had a 2008 V50 T5 for a few years. He bought it brand new and got rid of it when it was 4 years old with 100k on the clock. On the whole it was a solid, reliable car.

I personally found it a bit odd to drive. The steering wheel felt massive, the seats were comfortable but didn't offer much in the way of support and it never seemed happy about putting it's power down or being pushed through corners. Also, weirdly I found the engine drove like a diesel and didn't want to rev, once it hit 4,000rpm it seemed to 'flatline' and not surge towards it's 7k redline. I almost felt like it was 'damped-down' by the Volvo engineers to suit what they thought their audience wanted. Considering the car was so heavily related to the MK2 Focus ST, it was quite disappointing.

That said, it came with Pirelli PZero Rosso tyres and my Father continued to use these. A few Volvo-people have told me that these were awful tyres and a lot of the complaints above were rectified by putting something else on it.

I've since owned 2 Volvo V40's which were heavily related to the S40/V50 and I absolutely loved them.

I’ve not driven that chassis.

The P2 chassis (2001-2007 V70 and others) was much more lively.

The T5 engines I own, even the 2.4T in the XC, will happily rev hard to redline, which is a lowly 6,200 RPM, 7,000 in the R, but the broad torque curve of the turbo makes the pretty responsive through the RPM range. I wonder if you had different tuning, including boost, and valve timing, in the UK. I wouldn’t think so, but your description is very different than my experience. I wonder, too, if perhaps your dad’s V50 had a mechanical problem?

 

[Bailes1992]

I’ve not driven that chassis.

The P2 chassis (2001-2007 V70 and others) was much more lively.

The T5 engines I own, even the 2.4T in the XC, will happily rev hard to redline, which is a lowly 6,200 RPM, 7,000 in the R, but the broad torque curve of the turbo makes the pretty responsive through the RPM range. I wonder if you had different tuning, including boost, and valve timing, in the UK. I wouldn’t think so, but your description is very different than my experience. I wonder, too, if perhaps your dad’s V50 had a mechanical problem?

The T5 in the V50 was the later 2.5 5 cylinder unit that was also used in a lot of Fords (on this side of the pond anyway). When I've asked about it seems to be a common complaint of this engine in the Volvo's and the non-performance Fords. A remap usually livens them right up.

I'd certainly consider purchasing one. But knowing what I know I'd be looking straight away for some suspension and engine mods to make it a bit more eager.