HJ gave this a great review, and I'm very keen on buying one.
But trawling around other motoring websites and consumer reports (both UK and US) shows a lot of owners complaining of electrical niggles.
Flat batteries, radio not working, all sorts of warning lights coming on - sounds like the car is beset with electrical gremlins.
Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks.
Ykl
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Although I have much experience with many Volvo models I only have limited experience of the current generation S40, and the V50. Here goes anyway, limited purely to build quality issues since that's the thrust of your post. If you are interested in other aspects such as what they are like to drive, fire away.
S40 2.4i 170
An Avis rental in Sweden for a week.
A smashing car trying to get out; basically well built and without a single squeak or rattle, but with some equally basic faults in this early production model:
> Rear light clusters askew; with the pronounced "shoulders" running down the flanks of the car this was very obvious
> Rear window upper rubbers came down with the window glass and had to be manually pushed back in to place before the window could be closed
> Boom-box stereo; a very muffled sound with dire tonal quality even after fiddling with the (dead easy to use) multifunction buttons. A far cry from the stonking Dolby Surround setups standard (certainly when I ordered my V70) in UK market S60/V70/S80s.
V50 1.8
My sister in law's.
About a year old now.
Nothing to report; totally devoid of production gremlins and without a single fault. She's delighted with it.
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I have a Volvo V50 2.0D SE (one of the first in UK)
Bought my car from Volvo with lots and lots of extras (RTI Sat Nav, Bi-Xenon Headlights, Premium Sound and Family Pack)
Had some minor issues that Volvo UK solved and their customer service exceeded my expectations.
Absolutely no problems with my car, runs at 43 mpg.
I would recommend highly.
Good Luck
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Remember that complainers tend to be more vocal than satisfied owners, therefore it's easy to get biased views when looking at things such as this.
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When my S60 was in for service a couple of weeks ago I mentioned to the service manager I liked the look of the V50 and he rolled his eyes and told me not to bother and stick with the S60.... :-(
Apparently they have had many electrical issues and the quality is a world apart from the bigger Volvos. Now they have put the bigger 2.4 diesel in the V50 I?m still tempted and I?d definitely have another Volvo. Compared to Audi their dealer network and customer service is a world apart?..
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Not the best reliability in the world...
...but then neither was the previous generation of S40/V40!
check out www.vvspy.com for more info - though do remember that they're all volvo-heads and have an unhealthy interest in the marque, so they're not exactly unbiased... that said, you'll get a feel for what problems are common.
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MoneyMart
Current car: 55-reg Audi A4 2.5 V6TDi Quattro flappy-paddle
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- I've had 3 different S40/V40s - new and used - since 1999 and all were faultless.
Main gripe with the new V50 would be its cost - it seems way overpriced for a small-ish car?
BTW, Volvo sales rose almost 20% in Russia last year - and their best-selling model there was the S60. If they can survive the Russian winter they can't be that bad, eh?
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BTW, Volvo sales rose almost 20% in Russia last year - and their best-selling model there was the S60. If they can survive the Russian winter they can't be that bad, eh?
Just a guess, but isn't the endless damp of a British winter likely to be tougher on a car's electrics than the dry air of a winter where the temperature stays below -10C ?
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