V40 or V50 or ?

Post by **rmmagow** » 24 Oct 2012, 10:42

I do already own a 98 V70 AWD and am pretty happy with it. I am beginning to think to get my wife a Volvo and am strongly thinking about a V40 or V50 to add some variation to my Volvo mix. I am totally unfamiliar with these two platforms and have some simple questions.
1. Are they full-boat "real" Volvos with the safety and quirkiness I've grown used to? From another V40 post about changing tranny fluid, sure appears to be familiar.
2. V40 vs V50. Is this mainly a motor thing, 4 cyl and 5 cyl? Is the 5 cylinder engine still thought of as the Volvo "white" block like the one in my V70?

Both look pretty good but I do want to avoid any strong weaknesses that either of these two models may suffer from. I do my own wrenching FWIW.
Thanks

mbreed · Post by **mbreed** » 25 Oct 2012, 11:58

No S40 is a real Volvo. Early S40's are mitsubishi galants. And the newer ones are Fords Focus'. The newer 5 cylinder is all new.
The newer S40 is bigger than the older S40. The newer S40 is also bigger than the S60. S70 and S60 are the last real Volvo's. But I would pick a new S40/V50 over the old S40/V40.

PDLarson · Post by **PDLarson** » 23 Dec 2012, 09:16

I came looking for the same info. I read about V40 and V50 on Wikipedia and it helped. I really like the looks of the 2004 and newer V50. What scares me is that even in this forum, not much chatter about them. If we are doing our own wrenching, we may be on our own much more than with the V70s.

What did you decide to do or find out?

atikovi · Post by **atikovi** » 24 Dec 2012, 11:52

Got a 2005 S40 AWD which is just a V50 with the sedan bodystyle. Have over 250,000 miles on it (from the previous owner) but it still feels as tight as a 50K car. All late model Volvo's are pretty much the same safetywise so it all comes down to simple physics in that the 40 series is the smallest and lightest Volvo made.

atikovi · Post by **atikovi** » 24 Dec 2012, 11:59

PDLarson wrote: If we are doing our own wrenching, we may be on our own much more than with the V70s.

Not a whole lot of difference between 850, 70 series or 40 series 5 cylinder engines as far as I can tell. Just did the timing belt and water pump on my 05 S40 and it seemed a lot easier job than on an 850 I did years ago. Or it could just be that I've got better at wrenching.