2004 Volvo S40 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

New Volvo S40 T5 The 5 cylinder engine from volvo is superb. This car is a real wolf in sheeps clothing. It would happily cruise all day but if wanted that little extra it was there in bucketfulls. Being a volvo, the build and interior were superb and it had plenty of gadgets to keep you entertained. Economy was impressive for a 5 cylinder turdo-charged engine but the bill were expensive so it had to go just before the warrenty ran out!Jul 31, 2008

The 2004.5 T5 is a fun car to drive. You have to get used to the pouring on of torque at the slightest press of the pedal. The Turbo is a Low (light) pressure turbo. The drive train is maxed on torque at only 1500 RPM. This is great for blasting off at lights or speeding up to highway speeds on those short entrance ramps. There is a lot of power that seems to never end. At 100 you tend to give in to your rational side and bring your speed back down to legal limits. Don't try this at home. The suspension is good. I can take many turns without slowing down. It seems the harder you go into a turn the firmer the suspension gets. There is a limit however and this was experienced first hand when one our tires, the left front, finally gave up and went to bed. The Pirelli spare is a typical donut and the jack is almost useless. It did get the car high enough to get the tire off but not without some scraped knuckles and finger tips. Our car has the optional Bi-Xenon headlamps. These are great for short range visibility. Definitely a plus option when driving after sunset. Exterior styling is not bad for a Volvo. This is not a "shoe box on wheels". Flared fenders and short backside has a love it/hate it effect. I love it. Rear defog and heated mirrors are excellent. No more wiping off the mirrors to see. Our car has the headlight washers which I don't know if those are actually worth it here in Florida but in parts of the country that have snow/sleet and generally bad weather it's a plus. Interior is comfortable for short rides under a fuel tank full. I'm 6'2" 235 lbs and I fit comfortably in this car. The visibility is good with few blind spots. The 2004.5 S40 T5 is not a quiet car. The noise level inside the cabin is greater than in other cars I've driven in. This can either be a plus or a minus. I guess being an S40 you don't get a lot of sound-deadening material. Tires play a big part in the noise level inside. I didn't mind this one bit actually. I like hearing what my vehicle is doing. I'm not sure I like the manual shift mode on the transmission. It's a 5-speed auto but with manual mode to shift up/down through the gears. Good if you want the "guy thing" rev factor or as I say.. "saving the brake pad" feature. Using the engine to brake the car as you drive past those mobile home parks that have the nerve to put up those "No Engine Braking" signs. Although meant for super truckers using Jake-brakes, I know it will annoy someone. But it really does save on brake pad wear. ;) Interior features: I like the layout of the interior of the S40. Everything is within reach and not so busy that you spend your time looking at stuff than the road. Some of the features I like/dislike are: Auto-dimming mirror - I'm unsure if this one is really worth the money. I like the fact that it dims automatically when some jerk is behind me with "miss-aligned" headlights. but c'mon... how hard is it to just flip a button on the mirror? Audio - Well... it's OK. I heard better sounding sound systems in an Aztec. They really blew it on this one. Want to upgrade your stereo? Forget it. It's completely integrated into the car. Want to add an IPod, XM or MP3 player? forget it unless you have one with an FM transmitter. Sure you can butcher your dash and try to add one but I'm not about to do that. There is no cassette option. AM/FM 6 disc in dash CD player. Radio controls on the steering wheel are nice but offers no "mute" button. You can cycle through presets or tracks on your CD. When you get to the end of the tracks on a CD the button on the steering wheel will advance you to the next CD. Cruise controls are on the left side of the steering wheel. 4 buttons. Cruise on/off, cruise temporary off, add/set speed and subtract speed. Cruise temp off is good when approaching a slow vehicle or a stop light. It works exactly like tapping the brake pedal. I suppose they decided to install this button so that the guy in the car behind you cleaning your rear bumper off doesn't panic or get ticked off at you when you tap your brakes to disengage your cruise. Auto-climate - I like this feature. Set it and forget it. When it is hot inside the car the fan comes on so high you can't carry on a conversation without yelling. But who cares, it cools off fairly quick. A couple of miles and the fan slows down and you can hear your significant other nagging you about how your driving too fast. Dash look - It's sparse. 4 gauges. Speedo, Tach, Water temp and fuel. The rest is handled by the digital driver info center. Not much to distract you but still looks good. Well thought out gauges and information. The radio/climate display automatically dims when its dark out. This is a very nice feature. The gauges are bright enough but not annoyingly lit. Seats: Our seats are leather with power Driver seat memory. They are not heated but that was an option. I like how each remote can program the car to arrange the seat and mirrors as well as the radio stations. No longer do you have to squeeze your way in after your vertically-challenged spouse uses the car. :) As mentioned above, the seats are comfortable for short drives. As in under 300 miles. Anything over that and I get cramped up and need to stretch. Perhaps someone shorter than I would get more mileage out of it before stopping. Cargo and Storage room - Here's my biggest problem with this car. The trunk is good. It holds a lot of stuff. However the drivers area is lacking some much needed storage space. The door "pocket" is pathetic. The center console is lousy and the space behind the radio dash is good enough to hold your sunglasses and that's about it. The glove compartment holds the standard amount like any car of its size. Two cup holders for small cups. Regular sized cups are going to bump. Not very deep so don't try putting in tall cups. As we found out, they do not stay in place. Coffee, however, does wipe off leather without much effort. Back Seat - Ok.. you have a back seat. Can anyone actually sit back there? If they were a child or an amputee, yes. There is so little room behind the seat it's a joke. Again, if the front seat passengers were shorter than I there would of course be more room. I "pity the fool" that has to sit behind me. They better have skinny legs. Fuel Mileage - Not bad for a turbo. We average 27-29 MPG. We drive mostly 45-65mph and about 60 miles daily. Considering my right foot is made of atomic number 82, I'm happy with the MPG I get. The safety rating of this vehicle is good. It has side impact air bags and the typical Volvo "safety cage". I would feel safe having members of my family drive this car. I push this car harder than most people would and it can definitely take it. A "normal" driver would have a pleasurable experience in this vehicle. Stability and traction control. This will assist the driver in keeping the car from sliding and losing traction to a degree. Selectively braking a wheel or set of wheels when it senses the car losing traction and sliding. I have been able to maneuver turns that sent SUVs sliding off the road or spinning out. Anti-lock brakes are the standard stuff. Yes they work quite well. After an SUV spun out in front of the car in front of us, that driver stopped short to watch the show I guess. The SUV was already off the road in the weeds and they wanted to rubber-neck. I guess the morning news was boring? I wanted to leave him behind and get on to work. They were fine. They needed to clean up their coffee and hang up their cell phone and put away the laptop and bagel before they could proceed to get their SUV back on the road but no damage was done. Other features are all 4 windows have "express" up/down. All 4 windows can open when you hold down the unlock button on the remote. All 4 windows will go up when you hold in the door lock button on the driver's door after starting the car. All doors automatically lock when you put the car in gear. The window and sunroof controls are nicely designed. Definitely a fun car to drive! Dec 05, 2007