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New S40/V50
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'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
-juice
What happened to the passenger cloth seat w/ manual lumber, cushion height & angle adjustment in the All Access Drive? I told everyone the good news that this is the best car in the world w/ the best pair of front seats, & now...
Volvo, are you listening? If you don't bring this adjustable passenger seat back by the time I'm getting the stick 2.4i, then I'm gonna tell people that Volvo has deceived us!
& this gussied up "Mazda3" doesn't deserve to cost this much higher, since the shorter rear leg room needs to be alleviated by the raise-able front passenger seat.
Aisin Warner builds Volvo's tranny's. Volvo designs them. Getrag supplies the S40's gearbox.
Volvo wants to invoke the "R line" to enhance the rep of the new S40.
The 5 cyl engine is Volvo's own design. The S40 engine is smaller, shorter and lighter than the 5 cyl in the S60 and S80.
creakid
The ride and drive cars were all Euro spec. NOT US spec. If you honestly don't believe the S40 in total is worth the price hike over the Mazda 3, Don't buy one!!!!!. Don't buy one and then say you were decieved. No one has decieved you, Volvo said the ride and drive cars weren't for the US.
I've been laughing at those expensive leather seats that provide less comfort than cloth in the hot sunny S California. The S40 forces you to buy leather, moonroof, auto climate AND turbo in order to get the 8-way passenger seat w/ lumbar.
While the $23k Passat auto includes both front cloth seats w/ height & lumbar but no tilt. Can't wait to see the upcoming Passat!
-juice
& the old S40 is advertised for under $20k.
-juice
I wonder how will the Chevy Cobalt behave. The Euro version of it -- the new Astra -- is already seeking Lotus's help to tune it!
I think the 2004.5 S40 is so cool! I like the bull nose styling, short overhangs, and the interior looks nice too. The styling is very BMW 3 series meets Lexus IS300 (which I like). Volvo seats are ultra-comfy.
The car is priced very well in this super competitve segment. You get a lot of features for your dollar as well.
I read originally that the car was also going to be available with AWD as an option on the T5 and that Volvo was going to bring an R version of the S40 here too. Is this still true?
I'm excited for a T5 AWD w/ a six speed!
All the magazine reviews for the car so far have been stellar!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
Torque steer was eliminated completely. It was more neutral in general.
The AWD option was worth every penny for the upgrade, in fact I wouldn't get the S60/V70 without it. It's also very quick-acting and engages smoothly. Impressive.
-juice
So now we have 4 different combinations:
2.4i w/ 6"-wide rims
2.4i sport w/ 6.5"-wide rims
T-5 w/ 6.5"-wide rims
T-5 sport w/ plus-1-diameter 17"s
So far one Brit magazine found the T-5 flawed because the ride over bumpy roads isn't so great & suspected the 17"s to be the culprit.
According to my yrs of "Focus" experience, the firmer setting is less than ideal for comfort, such as the Euro-spec suspension found in the Street Edition Focus sedan/wagon, or the one-choice Mazda3 suspension. Eventhough either one is lowered like the Focus SVT suspension.
According to my test drive in the Volvo All Access Drive event, both 2.4i w/ 16"s & T-5 w/ 17"s handled great w/ little roll, but the bumps weren't thrown into the test tracks for us to experience. I wonder why. I'm sure these cars we drove are equipped w/ the sport suspension.
As I pushed down the corners from outside the car w/ my body weight, I discovered that the T-5 on stage actually has a softer suspension w/ slower rebound for relaxing ride comfort more so than the red 2.4i below the stage.
I think my future test drive of both suspensions over bumpy roads should confirm that only the std suspension will ride sufficiently comfortably to compete w/ the std 325i while the sport suspension is design to compete w/ the rest of the 3-series w/ sport suspension.
Sounds like the T-5's std suspension w/ 6.5"-wide rim is the right combo for me, since I corner pretty fast & will find the 2.4i's std 6" rim too narrow to hold the tires from dragging the sidewall.
So if I buy the 2.4i w/o sport suspension, then I still have to spend at least several hundred bucks more to change the rim size.
So when driving the stick shift at low rpm & need an instant burst of power such as when a lane-change opportunity suddenly opens up, is it faster to step on the turbo engine & wait for the pressure to boost in about 1/2 second? Or is it faster to down shift, turbo or non-turbo, to use the normally-aspirated power already exists in the higher rpm range?
During the '80's, Honda invented an "auto 1/2-gear down shift" feature for the manual-tranny Honda City when the driver floors the throttle as if when he needs to pass another car right away w/ no time to down shift.
I think the soft-response effect of the turbo engine should help to damp some manual cars' jerkiness.
The only disadvantage of the turbo is when the boost comes on just a tad later, will it be too strong that you have to back off the throttle again? Such as when you need to fine tune a line when cornering. Or I simply have to use a lower gear to run at higher rpm in order to avoid using turbo-boost while fine tuning a line?
Unlike the weak-low-end TSX's engine that having close ratios in its 6-sp manual seems to be a necessity. The T-5's super-flexible engine can afford to keep the first 5 gears wide apart, while the 6th is just a luxury "silent" gear that also keeps the hwy fuel consumption economy-car decent! This is something the Mazda3 owners envy.
Otherwise, the $2800 T-5 upgrade sounds like a bargain w/ the right-size rims, fog lights & one more taller cruising gear to saves fuel, noise & engine wear. Plus pwr driver seat, T-tech fabric, leather shift knob, steering-wheel audio control(worth $45 to deduct the price off the $895 stereo upgrade), trip computer, dual-zone auto climate control(hopefully the charcoal filter w/ smog-detecting recirculation will be included for N.A. by '05) & trunk 12-Volt socket.
Anyone seen the base T-5 w/o the pwr passenger seat? Does it have wood or aluminum trim? The brochure lists both std.
w/ any car in a cornering situation @ speed you should use the lowest gear practical.
This way you can stay in the engines power band and build power coming out of the turn.
For example, you wouldn't take a curve in a Honda S2000 in 5th gear, you'd be in 2nd or 3rd to stay in the engines power band.
The wood center stack looks thicker as if it was intentional to use a piece of thick curved wood as part of the structure in this FANCY interior design.
The aqua-transparent looks gross & messy.
A glossy piano-black, which is not available, should look nice despite ruining the visual contrast w/ the tiny black switches.
Now I have another $-saving reason to upgrade to the std T-5. ;-)
For only $500 more than the 2.4i w/ auto climate control, which requires the premium package that consists of moonroof & leather, you can get the std T-5, which has everthing(auto climate, wood, pwr driver seat, etc.) in the 2.4i's premium package except the moonroof & leather, everything in the 2.4i's sport package except the firmer suspension, & even part of the 2.4i's convenient package(trip computer) plus the T-5's exclusive trunk 12-volt socket. But it is the T-5's manual tall 6th gear I'll be proud of. ;-) Imagine a powerful sports car that also cruises relaxingly.
& while cruising, the on-demand full-torque thrust is just half-a-second away starting at 1500 rpm! & if you don't like the half-a-second delay, you can always down shift to any of the several gears available & see which way is quicker. Sounds like either way will be fun!
In the past, you could actually do Euro delivery and configure a car in a way that wasn't available in the US (much more ala carte, with a whole slew of stand-along options). IIRC, on the S60, you could get the base car w/power passenger seat (N/A at all normally), Homelink by itself (package only normally), and a bunch of other tidbits.
Just a thought about how to get your somewhat unique configuration and color.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
I was extreemly disappointed in the interior. It looks really cheap and the center console is a joke. I felt like I was in a rental.
It was a good idea but looks like Volvo screwed this up. No way is this worth 27.1K for leather and moonroof. This is an over priced Ford Focus.
You might be better off waiting for the 2-series though. But there was a recent article in AutoWeek about how it's going to be VERY difficult for the Euro brands to keep from raising their prices because of the strength of the Eurodollar.
The 1 and 2 series were originally expected in the US as soon as this fall.
Not anymore. It may be canceled for good.
Other than that, it's a perfect 2+2 w/ poor rear leg room.
If the production version can be tuned to ride comfortably, then I'll be interested in the notchback coupe w/ a wide rear glass width not found in the new S40.
If you look at the New S40 book, there isn't anyone in there over 27 years old. After looking at the car today, I can see why. I signed up for the drive event but now I don't feel like going.
Here are the other cars I have been looking at with short comments. Tell me what you think.
BMW 3 - Not reliable, everyone has one because of leasing deals. Arrogant dealers and service. Too expensive. Most of the car is made in Germany and the transmission is made in France. Not exactly my two favorite countries at the moment.
Audi A4 - Not reliable, 4 cylinder too slow and just as much or more expensive than 3 Series with 6 cylinder option.
Mercedes C240 - More expensive and more problems.
Acura TSX - Not bad but at $27K, too expensive for 4 cylinder. Dealers were not discounting when it first came out. I may revisit this one now.
Infinity G35 - Great performance and reliability, a little cheap on the inside and plain on the outside. Too much power for me .
VW Passat - Great reviews but not sporty enough.
VW Jetta - Nice looks both inside and out but terrible long term quality and made in Mexico.
Volvo S60 - Nice both inside and out. Ride is not sporty enough. Wide turning radius and headrest are too big which blocks your side vision. Not enough pickup with standard engine. I would only consider with the $4-5K factory discount.
Infinity IS 300 - Great performance and reliability. Terrible looking dash with the 3 big circles. Looks like a old fashioned washing machine dial. Center console has too many colors. Exterior is very boring.
Toyota - (the car company that pays off Jesse Jackson). Don't really have anything for what I am looking for but may look into the Solara Convertible.
Saab 9-3 - Not bad inside and out. Didn't have great reviews.
In the same issue, the new FWD S40 T-5 w/ 17"s was criticized badly including the lack of the 15% final polish in ride comfort found in the Jag & Beemer. Of course, the A4 rides even worse.
"Good grip but steering lacks feel when cornering; ride and body control suffer when pushing on"
"Push the T5 hard and it quickly becomes apparent that this sort of approach is not really enjoyed by either the car or driver. When you want the steering to tell you what's going on it goes all tongue-tied, denying you th sense of accuracy the best sports saloons offer. The system also lacks feedback once on lock. Body control that had seemed well judged at lower speeds starts to fade, allowing the car to lurch on its springs and pitch and yaw until progress becomes ragged."
"Below 2000rpm there's very little action and the boost arrives with such a polite surge it removes much of the excitement from driving the T5. Very soft throttle response makes meting out the power frustratingly inaccurate, too."
"For
Well made, rapid, comfortable, individual
Against
So-so handling, lazy engine, knobbly ride"
At this price, the turbocharged-2.5 S40 only has similar 0-60mph time as the normally-aspirated-2.5 325i! W/ no better rear seat room than this RWD rival, plus the cancellation of charcoal filter & manual passenger seat-height adjustment for N.A....
I might as well invest in a better-resale stripped $28k 325i & install a $2k factory cloth sport seat w/ 4-way lumbar.
Both the Volvo & Beemer offer bi-xenon. AUTOCAR did like the the S40's.
It was deceiving. The cars on the track had sport suspension so they handled great but that's because there were no bumps available for testing. The T-5 on stage had no sport suspension, so when I compress the corners outside the car, it felt like it has a relaxing ride(amazing for a car that cornered like that on the track! But that's a different set up).
The G35 is a little crude including the so-so steering precision even though it doesn't lack feel. The ride might be a tad shallow, while the off-throttle oversteer(w/ std suspension, per CR) & the RWD power tail slide are bare kept in check w/ the stability control switched on.
The upcoming redesigned Lexus IS maybe quite an attractive proposition. The drawing seems to look not too different from the present car w/ a nice rear glass width.
Sounds like all you're considering is luxury nameplates, mostly. In those cases, they're much less likely to haggle, and you pay for that nameplate (admittedly, you pay for some other things you can't get in other cars too, but that nameplate invites a premium).
The '06 cars are coming just over a year away. There's the German-made new Passat blown up from the new Golf/Jetta V w/ Focus-type rear suspension. Like the transversely-mounted-engine Passat back in the early '90's, it'll be super roomy again.
I drive a 1988 325 coupe with 240K miles and was holding off as long as I can. I was hoping to get a new car this spring.
Is there anything else coming out soon that is newly designed ?