I'm thinking of buying an 01 s40 but Consumers Reports says electrical & brakes are a problem. Have the cars been reliable?
I've owned several Volvos, all RWD, and have been happy with them. I wish they still made a contemporary 940.
thanks to all . .
Rick
I have an '01 S-40 w/ 80+ K miles. The only electrical problem was early on with head light bulbs burning out - there was a service bulletin to replace part of the harness and that fixed it up.
Brakes are a different matter. The joke w/ my mechanic is that I bring it every 3 K miles to change the brakes and check the oil. It wants to chew up rear brakes (I heard it has something to do with how the front and rears are proportioned). After I first got the car, I ran through pads and disks pretty fast but found that by taking my foot off the accelerator, I didn't need to push the brakes as hard and they started to last a bit longer. :-) The S-40 definitely likes to eat-up brakes. That said, I just love this car. It's fast (enough for me), pretty nimble, small enough to make parking easy, and generally a very nice car to drive.
Rob MacTurk
Is all true, but I have to say also that brakes works in a wonderful way and saved me at least two times from accidents (I've got a V40), so I'm not so disappointed to spend some money for them.
Hi
Jorge Luis
You are right about that - I find the brakes on the S-40 to be excellent so I don't mind ALL that much. My real gripe is the amount of brake dust - I know it's a problem w/ virtually all cars now but it would be nice if the wheels could stay clean for at least a day after washing. I've tried all the aftermarket pads and they are only moderately better than stock Volvo pads.
Rob
Hi:
I live in Bahrain ( Middle East ) and own a S40 with about 12000 kilometers ( not much mileage ).
The car has been fine so far until last week when it started to overheat quite badly. Took it it the garage and they said the ac fan fuse had blown. 3 days later, I have the same problem and I am really unhappy - feel like dumping this car and moving over to a Honda.
Dont know if you have had such issues and if this is a known problem ?
Amir
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