The Volvo S40 is a series of subcompact executive cars marketed and produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1995 to 2012, offered as a more mainstream alternative to the compact executive Volvo S60 to compete in a lower pricing bracket. The S40 was more or less positioned against premium-leaning small family cars like the Volkswagen Jetta as well as some mass-market large family cars.
During August 1995, Volvo released its new series, with the intention of calling the cars S4[8][9] and F4.[10] However, as Audi had already reserved the "S4" name, Volvo opted to name the range S40 (saloon), and V40 (estate).[11] These cars were manufactured at the Nedcar factory at Born in the Netherlands (a pre Ford joint venture between Volvo and Mitsubishi Motors) and based on a common platform with the Mitsubishi Carisma, later used by the Proton Waja. They were also the last Volvos to be produced at the Born plant; a lineage that had begun in the early 1970s with Volvo's collaboration with DAF that had led to the Volvo 66 and the Volvo 300 series.
In the United Kingdom, it cost approximately 50% more than the related Mitsubishi Carisma. The car helped change perceptions of Volvo: "The S40/V40 range was the car that finally persuaded buyers that Volvo really could build a credible compact executive car",[12] reported the RAC. For the 2000 model year, Volvo expanded the S40/V40's market to North America, where this range went on sale exclusively with the 1.9 liter turbo.[13]
The V40, with a drag coefficient of 0.32,[14] was the first whole model to be introduced under the direction of the British designer Peter Horbury, Volvo’s design director,[14] and was marketed in Australia, South America and the Far East.[14] The V40 was named the ‘Most Beautiful Estate Car in the World’ at an Italian award ceremony.[14] The official premiere was at the Frankfurt Motor Show, in September 1995, with the V40 premiering in December 1995, at the Bologna Motor Show.[15]
In July 2000, Volvo updated the 40 Series ("Phase II"),[16] implementing a number of technical improvements, including improved engine management, diesel direct fuel injection, extra safety features, larger brake discs, new front suspension and steering, revised rear suspension, larger tyres and a wider track.
A minor facelift gave more streamlining, slightly different front wings and front bumper, and larger front indicators, as well as minor instruments and fascia redesign.
The 40 Series cars were equipped with four-cylinder engines, such as a 1.9 turbo diesel or 1.6 (1588 cc), 1.8 (1731 cc, later increased to 1783cc), 2.0T (1948 cc), 1.9 T4 (1855 cc, later increased to 1948cc) or 2.0 (1948 cc) fuel injected gasoline engines all of which are derivatives of the Volvo Modular engine series that started life in the Volvo 960 and carried in both 5 and 6 cyl formats in Volvo's bigger FWD cars.
There was also a 1.8L (1834 cc) petrol direct injection engine provided by Mitsubishi as part of the platform sharing between the 40 series and the Carisma. The Volvo S40/V40 series was a completely new car from the ground up, only one engine – the 1.9 turbo diesel – carried over from the old 400 Series.
The low (2.0T) and high (1.9 T4) pressure turbo variants were positioned at the top of the motor range. The 2.0T was rounded down and badged as 1.9T and was the only engine available in North America. The five speed manual transmission, widely available in Europe, was not certified in North American S40s, with the five speed automatic as the only option. No electric CVT was planned, unlike the 440 HTA / High Tech Auto CVT that had been released before the 400 series was completely phased out.
In the United Kingdom, trim levels were S, XS, SE and CD. Later on, trim levels offered were supplemented with SE Lux and Sport Lux trim designations. A limited edition 'Xi' trim level was also offered for a short run on Phase 1 and Phase 1.5 cars, often painted yellow with black bezel headlamps.
The Volvo S40 was the first car to earn a four star Euro-NCAP safety rating.
Volvo C70, hardtop convertible based on the same platform
Introduced in the beginning of 2004, the second generation S40 (known as the 2004.5 Volvo S40) introduced a new design based on the Volvo P1 platform built at the Volvo Cars factory in Ghent, Belgium. At the same time, the V40 was replaced by the estate V50, also based on the P1 platform and built in Ghent.
The S40 was nominated for the World Car of the Year award for 2005, and won the Canadian Car of the YearBest New Sport Compact award for 2005. It was also elected the South African Car of the Year for 2005 by the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists.
The chassis for this car and the majority of its components were developed by Volvo, however similar mechanical components can be found in the Mazda3 and the European Ford Focus.[31] It had the latest generation of Volvo's modular five cylinder engines.
The inline fives were frequently improved upon by Volvo since the engine's debut in 1991 for the 1992 model year Volvo 850. The top-of-the-line S40/V50 T5 AWD, as well as the 2.4 and 2.4i, powertrain is still made by Volvo. The transmission is developed with Getrag at Volvo's Koping Transmission Center in Sweden, and the AWD system bought from Haldex Traction of Sweden.
The engine is transversely mounted at the front of the vehicle and was available with the M66W (front wheel drive) or M66C (all wheel drive) drivetrains. In the United States, the manual (six speed) transmission was only available on the V50 in 2006, 2007 and 2010 and only with AWD and R-line trim.
The initial 2.0 diesel engine was the DW10, produced by PSA. A new range of engines and transmissions were introduced at the end of May 2010 (see "engine specifications" below).
There was also 1.8 L (Mazda L engine) petrol version available in the European markets.
Volvo S40 parked next to Volvo V50, a station wagon variant.
Volvo launched an advertising campaign for the S40 titled The Mystery of Dalarö, using a documentary style video approach. The eight minute film was credited to fictitious Venezuelan film maker Carlos Soto. In fact, as was disclosed later, it was directed by Spike Jonze.
The film is set on 25 October 2003, where 32 people supposedly purchased a Volvo S40, at the same local Volvo dealership in Dalarö, a small village to the south east of Stockholm.[32] In addition to this film, a four minute documentary of the documentary, calling into question the validity of the events, was posted as Soto's "personal edit" on his alleged homepage.[33]
The S40 was the first Volvo car to be launched in China by the brand under the Changan Ford joint venture and commenced production in March 2006. Engines choices consisted of the 2.0, 2.4 and 2.5 litre petrol engines paired with either a 5 speed manual or 6 speed dual clutch gearbox.
The S40 was refreshed for April 2007. Improvements include improved audio systems, increased storage space and new safety features like emergency brake lights which flash rapidly during hard braking to alert traffic behind the car. The new S40 also comes with optional active bi xenon headlights which point the light beam in the direction of the road as it curves (standard in SE Lux models).
There was also an optional BLIS (blind spot information system) camera located on the side mirrors which alerts the driver of passing vehicles beside the car.
Volvo released the 2.0 litre diesel Powershift on the third week of February 2008, except in Ireland, where it was released in the last week of May, because of delivery intervals.
The T5 model received a new engine (the B5254T7) with a performance increase of 9hp (6.7kW), giving an output of 227hp (169kW)at the crank The D5 engine became available with a manual gearbox offering 520N⋅m (380ft⋅lbf) of torque and an automatic transmission offering 490N⋅m (360ft⋅lbf) in the second half of 2007.
The model of 2009 saw rear end boot lid changes, with wider spacing of the 'Volvo' lettering and larger characters, as in the newer Volvo models.[34]
In 2010, the new, larger, circular Volvo logo appeared on the front grille, in the United States, a manual transmission was briefly available with the T5 AWD version. In North America, the naturally aspirated five cylinder engine, all wheel drive, and manual transmission were all dropped for the model year of 2011, leaving only the automatic, front wheel drive T5 in base and R-Design trims.[35] The model year of 2011 was the last for the S40 in the United States and Canada.
Engine specifications (2011)
From the end of May 2010, a new range of engines were available for the so called "2011 model".[36]
The updated 2.0 and T5 and the new D2, D3 and D4 are compliant with the Euro 5emission standard (the rest are Euro 4 compliant), and the DRIVe included a start-stop system for reduced fuel consumption and emissions.[37] New six speed gearboxes are used in the D2 (manual: B6 D2), D3 and D4 (manual: M66D, automatic: AisinAWF21).[38]
Specification
S40 1.6
S40 1.6 (2010)
S40 2.0
S40 T5
S40 DRIVe
S40 D2
S40 D3 (*)
S40 D4
S40 2.0F FLEXIFUEL
Engine
Type
4-cyl.
4-cyl. Turbo
4-cyl.
5-cyl. Turbo
4-cyl. Turbo
4-cyl. Turbo
5-cyl. Turbo
5-cyl. Turbo
4-cyl.
Fuel
Petrol
Petrol
Petrol
Petrol
Diesel
Diesel
Diesel
Diesel
Petrol/E85
Valves
16
16
16
20
16
8
20
20
16
cc
1596
1596
1999
2521
1560
1560
1984
1984
1999
Power
kW
74
110
107
169
80
84
110
130
107
PS
100
150
145
227
109
115
150
177
145
at rpm
6000
6000
6000
5000
4000
3600
3500
3500
6000
Torque
Nm
150
195
185
490
240
270
350
400
185
at rpm
4000
4500
1500–5000
1750
1750
1500–2750
1750–2750
1750–2750
Transmission
manual
5-speed
5-speed
—
6 speed
6-speed
6-speed
6-speed
6-speed
auto
—
—
5-speed
5-speed
—
6-speed
6-speed
—
Top speed
manual
185km/h
220km/h
210km/h
275 km/h
190km/h
195km/h
N/A (*)
220km/h
210km/h
auto
—
—
235km/h
275 km/h
—
N/A (*)
215km/h
—
0–100km/h (0-62 mph)
manual
11.9 s
6.8 s
9.5 s
5.7s
11.4 s
9.5 s
8.7 s
9.5 s
auto
—
—
—
6.2s
—
9.6 s
8.8 s
—
Fuel consumption l/100km
(urban/extra-urban/combined)
manual
9.2/5.8/7.1
10.8/5.7/7.6
—
—
5.2/3.8/4.3
7.0/4.0/5.0
7.0/4.0/5.0
10.9/5.8/7.7
auto
—
—
13.5/6.5/9.0
-/-/10.1
—
7.6/4.5/5.6
7.6/4.5/5.6
—
CO2 emissions
manual
169 g/km
176 g/km
—
104 g/km
114 g/km
134 g/km
134 g/km
183 g/km
auto
—
—
211 g/km
—
—
149 g/km
149 g/km
—
(*) Available from September 2010
Note updated: In 2012 the last variant of the S40 2.0 Comfort, was the same 2.0 Petrol Engine, but with a PowerShift 6 speed automatic transmition. Adding to this, was a little differences in headlights and tail lights.
↑ Standard in North American models and only available in North America rebadged as 1.9T
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↑ Av Redaktionen (22 September 2010). "Audi S1 var nära, mycket nära"[The Audi S1 was close, very close]. Auto, Motor & Sport (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-20. Retrieved 2018-01-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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