Volvo S40 (2004-) Review

Overview

• Next: Reliability and Quality

It looks like a Volvo S60 - or does it? Volvo's new S40 is slightly smaller, fitting just below a BMW 3-Series while the S60 slots in above - and there are many detail design differences. Top versions have five-cylinder engines much like the S60's, but this more compact range includes several four-cylinder engines, both petrol and diesel, which extend down to entry-level 1.6s.

Crucially, though, the S40 and its V50 estate sibling are based on Ford's C1 platform, which underpins the Focus, the Focus C-MAX and the Mazda 3. Volvo calls it P1 (for Premium), and former Ford product development chief Martin Leach has said that the cars all feel more different from each other than they might have done if developed on unique platforms - because each brand has tried so hard to inject its own dynamic fingerprint. Certain traits stay intact, though, as we shall see.

The other main point of interest is the S40's interior, representing a new take on upmarket surroundings. Its centrepiece is the 'floating' centre console, inspired variously by a famous bent-wood chair by Arne Jacobsen, by Palm Pilots and by Bang & Olufsen remote controls. Thin, like a flat-screen TV, the console has nothing but empty space behind it and a so-called IDIS (Intelligent Driver Information System) within it.

The top model is the T5, which is less muscular than some other Volvo T5s with 220bhp from its 2.5-litre engine. This, a 170bhp 2.4-litre naturally-aspirated five-pot and a 2.0-litre turbodiesel four, are offered alongside a 1.8 petrol, and two 1.6s - one petrol, one diesel.