IF I was asked to sum up this week’s test car the Volvo V40 in a few words, I would say, smooth, safe and comfortable.
Volvo has always had a great reputation for safety and the new V40 is officially the safest car ever tested by the Euro NCAP. It achieved a 5-star rating and it also got the highest score ever recorded by the crash test regime.
n the individual measurements in the tests, it achieved 98 per cent in adult occupant protection, 75 per cent in child occupant and 100 per cent for safety assist.
The V40, which replaces the S40 saloon and V50 estate, will probably compete with the Audi A3 and BMW 1Series and also with the very popular Ford Focus. The chassis is the new car is a mixture of the Ford Focus, from the time when Ford owned Volvo and their own S60.
At first glance the car looks like a stretched limousine. There seems to be a lot of metal at the front and then it suddenly seems to stop near the back. However, there is still a decent sized boot and even though there was space left in the boot for a spare wheel, all you get it a repair kit. I drove a light blue version, but the hatch or fifth door was black which made the rear end attractive.
When you sit in the brightness of the seats would almost dazzle you and my first thought was that with children on board these seats might be difficult to keep clean. Overall the interior which has very comfortable seats, is very classy looking and somehow I expected it to be an automatic, but it’s a regular six-speed manual gear box.
There is a brilliant reversing camera which brings up two yellow lines on the screen on the dash to help you reverse. And if you are not reversing you can simply press the camera button on dash and see what’s happening behind you. And you won’t have to worry about rear-ending another car in heavy traffic. Thanks to gadget under the bonnet which can detect if a pedestrian walks in front of you, the car will stop automatically, but you must not hit the brakes yourself.
I drove a 1.6 diesel version with the now familiar stop-start technology and it was very economical, even in city driving. Definitely one of the most frugal engines I have driven this year.
People asked me if the view though through the small rear window was restricted, but I thought it was fine. I liked the idea of the old-fashioned handbrake, but it was located so far away from the driver that it would be best suited to the front seat passenger to use.
Overall a very classy motor, which should help Volvo get new Irish customers. Prices start at
?¬26,995 and if you have plenty money to spend you can customise the car to your own requirements as there are lots of extras available.