Ten's Volvo V40

TenEightyOne · Nov 16, 2019

Mrs. Ten and I have been looking at cars for some time, we were planning to buy new or nearly-new. In the end we've decided to get something a little older and to keep the remainder of the savings for a house move that our jobs might require.

We're now the proud owners of a 2012 Volvo V40. It's the diesel D2, something I thought I'd never do... but I love it. No pictures yet because the torrential rain hasn't let up for long enough, but the zero road tax and great mpg are keeping me thoroughly warm inside. It's a Lux so I have the stress of having white leather seats. Hmmm.

Here are a couple of photos from the run into town to collect Mrs. Ten. The urban MPG is a revelation after the Mazda 6 that I scrapped yesterday with a sigh of relief. The front wheel bearings needed changing and they were worth more than the rest of the car.

I'd also like to point out that while I am in a Disabled space there are about 40 more nearer the shop that are unoccupied!

lbpomg95 · Nov 16, 2019

As a fellow Volvo owner, I approve! White leather's easy enough to keep clean with the right products, you needn't worry too much! It looks so much nicer than black seats either way. Looking forward to more photos!

SVX · Nov 18, 2019

Very interested to see how this goes. Been really looking at getting a T4 lately, and the design really captivated. Congrats on the purchase!

TenEightyOne · Nov 18, 2019

Only a few hundred miles so far, too rainy to get any pictures, but love it. With a car full of four people and their gear yesterday it pulled like a train and still did 70mpg. The boot space could be a little more but most of the time it'll just be two of us making journeys. The ride's firm, and I know that's something that some people complain about, but I really like it.

I only have one complaint and that's a minor niggle - the speedo isn't that clear, and there's no mark for 30mph. Coming from an eager, noisy 2.0 petrol to a quietly thrumming diesel I'm still having to keep an eye on the speedo around town, particularly at this time of year when there are lots of Blow Into The Tube events set up around the main roads. for the public to enjoy. I'm finding it hard to spot 30 at a glance but I guess I'll have my ear in soon.

Mrs. Ten thinks there are too many buttons but then it took her six months to get her head around wheel controls on computer mouses.

TenEightyOne · Nov 18, 2019

More photos, including the slightly annoying (imo) speedo.

yas · Nov 18, 2019

Nice, light interior is best to keep the feeling of space. Drove a V40 D2 a year ago and it is pretty much perfect for this size. Congrats!

lbpomg95 · Nov 18, 2019

Nice to see a manual gearbox too!

TenEightyOne · Nov 18, 2019

yas
Nice, light interior is best to keep the feeling of space. Drove a V40 D2 a year ago and it is pretty much perfect for this size. Congrats!

We didn't plan on something quite so light, but we'll see how it goes :lol:

lbpomg95
Nice to see a manual gearbox too!

It was never in question :cheers:

lbpomg95 · Nov 18, 2019

TenEightyOne
We didn't plan on something quite so light, but we'll see how it goes

It was never in question

Good on ya

I used to work for a franchise that included a Volvo dealer - you'd look through the stocklist and I'm sure about 60% of the V40's were auto, and almost all of the other models were auto - I've been wanting a 5 cylinder manual Volvo for ages!

TenEightyOne · Feb 22, 2020

...aaand it's going.

It's been a nightmarish four weeks and I can't comment much more until one final legal wrangle is settled, but the car is being made to go away forever on a big lorry. I'm gutted, loved that car

In better news it's coming back as a 2.0 V60, all being well.

Joey D · Feb 26, 2020

TenEightyOne
In better news it's coming back as a 2.0 V60, all being well.

T5 or T6? I think all the S60/V60 line now gets a 2.0L, it just how much boost do you want on it.

TenEightyOne · Feb 26, 2020

Joey D
T5 or T6? I think all the S60/V60 line now gets a 2.0L, it just how much boost do you want on it.

This will be a 2013 2.0 D3, all being well, lower emissions and very cheap on road tax. Not the zero road tax of the V40, but close enough.

yas · Feb 26, 2020

Last gen was also pretty much mostly 2l.
Anyway, the V60 is a better car (outside of town) than the V40. I must admit it took me some time to warm up to it, but now I wouldn't change it, long drives are a pleasure. Is that the 5cyl one? If so, the sound inside is so much better than any of the vacuum cleaners that came after that.

TenEightyOne · Feb 26, 2020

yas
Last gen was also pretty much mostly 2l.
Anyway, the V60 is a better car (outside of town) than the V40. I must admit it took me some time to warm up to it, but now I wouldn't change it, long drives are a pleasure. Is that the 5cyl one? If so, the sound inside is so much better than any of the vacuum cleaners that came after that.

It is indeed the 5 cylinder. I was very impressed when I drove it, quite different to the V70 I'd also looked at. The engine size options in the earlier versions are pretty much the same as now, 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 2.5 or 3.0. The 1.6 seems a little underpowered for the V60 although it was very nice in the V40, fuel injector failure notwithstanding

The 2.5 and 3.0 engines are petrol, the other sizes are available as either.

Joey D · Feb 27, 2020

TenEightyOne
This will be a 2013 2.0 D3, all being well, lower emissions and very cheap on road tax. Not the zero road tax of the V40, but close enough.

Oh nice, my S60 is a 2013 and I love it. Although I have the 3.0L T6 in mine because the US is allergic to diesel cars. I wish I could've found an R-Design V60 when I was looking but the closest one was in like Denver and that was a bit further than I wanted to go for a car.

TenEightyOne · Mar 10, 2020

Here's the V60. Not quite as swish-looking as the V40 but (despite being a bigger car) a lot more fun to drive. Black leather interior, and this one has the Nav-pack. I love it

mustafur · Mar 10, 2020

The V40 looks like another one of those cars I can't tell if it's a Hatch or Wagon lol.

I don't mind them though.

TenEightyOne · Mar 10, 2020

mustafur
The V40 looks like another one of those cars I can't tell if it's a Hatch or Wagon lol.

I don't mind them though.

The only complaint we had while we had it (apart from the engine not working

) was that the sexy boot hatch was just too awkwardly shaped. On the V60 it's much more practical, and obviously has a bit more space in there too.

yas · Mar 12, 2020

Make sure that nav pack has its latest updates installed as it will allow you to load a newer set of maps yourself (although it takes a while, quite a while) - https://www.volvocars.com/uk/support/downloads/maps/iam21/europe
Those are a bit aged now, but I believe they are set to release one final set this year.

TenEightyOne · Mar 12, 2020

yas
Make sure that nav pack has its latest updates installed as it will allow you to load a newer set of maps yourself (although it takes a while, quite a while) - https://www.volvocars.com/uk/support/downloads/maps/iam21/europe
Those are a bit aged now, but I believe they are set to release one final set this year.

I believe it's had that done along with the required software upgrade but I haven't checked... although I will now! Thanks for the advice

Fastcarguy · Mar 14, 2020

I am still curious what kind of legal issues would force you to get rid of a car you've had for about 4 months, but anyway, that is a slick looking Volvo. Very nice.

TenEightyOne · Mar 14, 2020

Fastcarguy
I am still curious what kind of legal issues would force you to get rid of a car you've had for about 4 months, but anyway, that is a slick looking Volvo. Very nice.

I think I can say more at this point.

Mrs. Ten was on her way home to East Yorkshire via North Yorkshire when the car suddenly stopped working about halfway between York and our home. The RAC had to pick up the old wreck, and her car, and diagnosed a failure of one or more fuel injectors. The following morning the garage that the car was delivered to performed a diagnostic test and confirmed the injector failures and also diagnosed a faulty battery that had rendered some of the eco-Drive functions inert, and a failing gearbox something-something bearing.

We'd had the car between 30 days and 6 months so, from a legal point of view it's easy: under the Consumer Right Act of 2015 the customer has the right to presume that faults outside normal wear-and-tear were in existence at the time of purchase. The customer has to give the dealer an opportunity (and only one opportunity) to repair these faults. Unfortunately the dealer said it wasn't their problem and that they didn't want to know (literally).

Here's the difficult part: we had access to an astonishingly low-interest credit deal that we took advantage of to protect some of our savings. We used this deal through the credit broker who put the finance in place through a third-party company, the broker then transferred the cash to the car dealer who then delivered the car to us. The dealer's claim was that the credit broker was actually our "supplier of goods" under the terms of CRA 2015. We took some legal advice and were told that the dealer's view was in error, we were given the same advice by the extra-ordinarily helpful specialists at the Financial Ombudsman. The credit broker shared our view and began two processes: contacting the dealer (who by now were only communicating through a solicitor) and unwinding the third-party finance deal. For our part we issued signed notices under advisement to the dealer explaining that they had a fixed length of time to take advantage of their single repair opportunity otherwise we'd consider them to have forfeited that right.

The nature of these legal shenanigans is that they take some time to mature. However, about a fortnight ago everything began to fall into place and the the V40 went to an independent investigator for a full examination which confirmed the faults, the credit broker began formal proceedings against the dealer, and the third-party finance provider cancelled our deal and provided a new one for a different vehicle. The broker became the owner of the vehicle and is continuing action against the dealer in a process that's completely independent of us and, TLDR, no longer our problem.

And so now we have a V60 and we're listening nervously to every rattle and creak it makes as it winds along the country roads

Ten's Volvo V40

The White Comet