Hi all,

I'm new to Volvo (although my family had two 240 about 20 years ago) and I have recently been looking at the V40.

I'm wondering if there is anything that I should be looking for in a used model (i.e. particular trouble areas, maintenance issues, recalls). What is reliability like?

I found one on a used car lot with about 93K. Apparently dealer maintained but I found out the the oil was changed every 12K with regular oil. Are there any concerns with this?

Also, I read somewhere these cars are known to have "brakes issues", any comments?

Are the turbo units generally robust? Should they be cooled down in any particular way/turbo timers?

Any other thoughts are welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Are the turbo's robust on the V40? If robust you mean beefy like powerful or big. No they are not. You can get decent power with a turbo upgrade and or some other upgrades to make your car perform better.

However I think the v40 drives like a Cavalier and is junk.

I was merely asking if the turbo units are reliable on these cars. In Canada, I believe the V40's are only available in the 1.9T.

Thanks for your reply...anyone else have any other thoughts?!?!?

They are overall good cars,
Make sure you find one that was serviced regularly.

I have driven some that will break the tires loose taking off while at 30 MPH.

They had a recall on the Brake Vaccum pump.
They wear rear pads a little fast but the braking is very well.

Thanks for the advice, tech.

With regards to the one that I saw, it was serviced at the dealer regularly at each 12,000 km with regular oil (not synthetic) and not anymore frequently. Is this a concern? The one thing that I noticed when I looked at the oil filler cap was a bit of soot collection, it worried me a bit but I'm not totally sure what happened there. Any thoughts?

Thanks again.

Was it like powder or Sludge?
What does 12km convert to in milage?
The intervals are 7,500 miles.