Volvo V40

That engine isn't the most reliable out there... also used by Ford and Peugeot and is known to be troublesome.

The D5 was the one to buy.

Well, that's not encouraging :-) I'm surprised the engine is also used by Ford and Peugeot. I'd expected the whole thing to be weirdly Swedish and obscure.

Really? Ford have owned Volvo since 1999!

Chris

Shows how much I know about Volvos :-) Completely new area for me.

If she is planning on keeping the car a good while; oil & filter changes at

If she's not fussed, off load it quick at 3-4yrs old.

Tim..

Agreed. Whilst the 2.0d looked good on paper, virtually all of them have expensive HP pump / injector failure soon after 120k.

D5 will run and run and run.

Thanks for the advice. Right now, she want to keep it for ages. She's always wanted a Volvo simply because they were supposed to be safe (and the thing's even got a pedestrian airbag). Nothing I could say would make her go for anything else. Stubborn and illogical :-)

DID own Volvo. Now owned by the Chinese.

"Tim" If she is planning on keeping the car a good while; oil & filter changes at

That's a little overkill - they're very much Focus based, so you will rarely need a specialist.

No, Volvo was sold by Ford to Geely Holding Group of China in 2010

Ian

That makes them even less 'weirdly Swedish' then!

Of course, the OP's V40 is largely Ford...

Chris

And Geely of China have owned it outright since 2010.

Volvo S40/V40/V50 has used many different engines over the years. The first one was really a Mitsubishi Charisma and manufactured in the Netherland. I have always considered S40/V40/V50 as lacking Volvo identity, but OK car for the job, a middle of the road sort of car...

Only the 1.8 GDI was a Mitsi engine, and could be fraught with issues as the miles went on it, as it is inheritantly very complex for its time.... However, because it was not well understood, the problems centered around intake coking from the high levels of EGR and direct injection. Now that DI petrols are much more common, and they all now suffer with intake coking, their understanding is much better. We're regularly walnut shell blasting ports and intakes to clean out the crap and restore good running. 40k miles and less in some cases.

Keep on top of oil changes, regularly clean the throttle body & intake, pay attention to the PCV system, vacuum leaks and EGR. Drive it hard every so often and they are largely fine. We have acouple of customers with 150k+ on them running well with the right maintenance. They go as well as the 2.0 with 140hp and will do 40mpg. Use 98 octane ideally, with an additive. Standard Redex does nicely or Dexron ATF even something with plenty of detergent in it.

They switch from Direct to Indirect injection over 3000rpm. If coked up you'll get a massive flat spot at this switch over.

The 1.6 / 1.8 / 2.0 /2.0t and 1.9T4 are all Volvo 'white blocks', part of the modular all alloy units available in 4, 5 and 6 cylinder, and a true proper in-house Volvo design (with some help from Porsche). A very robust motor.

Tim..