I recently worked on a 2001 Volvo S40 which came with the 1.9L turbo four cylinder engine as the only option in the USA. I noticed in my research that only five years of Volvo used the 1.9T engine. The 2000-2004 S40/V40 models. After that they switched back to all five cylinders.

So my question is, why did the 1.9T have such a short run? It seems like a fine power plant to me from driving the car. Plenty of pickup. That said I'm not that familiar with Volvo engines and I know the 5 cylinder turbos are significantly more powerful, though slightly less economical.

Other engine configurations seem much longer lived and more loved. Is there anything specific wrong with the 1.9T? Did it have reliability issues? Or was it really just not as good as the other engines Volvo had on offer? I know there were better engine options in Europe, but that still doesn't explain the engine being dropped here.

Thanks!

 

blame the focus groups run by the Volvo US people! Europe got treated to some extra engine options including a 1.9T with a 14T turbo pushing 200+ HP. When the Gen2s came out, the entire platform got mainstreamed to share boxes with the 60/70s. That gave the model NA and T5 options so not a bad thing.

 

Yeah, I suppose you can't complain that it was then upgraded to the 2.5L five cylinder turbo, hahaha. Just wondering because a five year run for a whole engine platform is fairly short in the car world in general.

On another note I did read that's one of the most common upgrades. Swapping the 12T I believe it is up to the 14T like they could get in Europe.

Another odd thing is that the 2000-2004 S40 seems to have the most expensive fuel filler neck of any Volvo there is.

 

Never sold a fuel filler neck - but (yikes) they are indeed expensive. The S40 was a joint venture with Mitsubishi - might have something to do with it. I had a V40 for a few months and enjoyed driving it - until I got rear ended by a kid while he was texting and the Volvo was totaled.

 

the most annoying thing I've found about our gen1 S40 is the springs are very long and tend to break - most death stick compressors can't grab enough coils for the fronts to compress straight (I've had 3 of 4 springs break so far). Also the 2000s use a light weight strut bearing - which got upgraded for the 2001-2004 models. Wish I had simply swapped out the struts to the newer part and upgraded the mounts in hindsight.

 

The first gen S40/V40 never got a lot of attention and seem to be snubbed as not being a true Volvo. This is likely because they were a joint venture between Volvo and Mitsubishi at the Nedcar facility in Born, Holland. I believe the Mitsubishi Carisma was its counterpart, similar to the Lancer. The design was already 4 years old when it came to the US. The 1996-2000 (2001 SE) had suspension issues which were corrected with the Phase II version 2001 - 2004. The Phase II really is not a bad car.

The next generation S40/V50 gets a little more love though folks rag on the use of Ford parts. These cars were a joint venture between Volvo, Ford and Mazda and share many components with the newer Focus and Mazda 3.

I think by now Volvo fans have gotten used to the involvement with other manufacturers and now... Geely.

 

The P1 wasn't a joint venture. Ford owned Volvo at that time. Mitsubishi did not. The current Volvo's are engineered by Volvo, not Geely.

 

Yes, at the time of the design of the P1, Mitsubishi was out of the picture and Ford owned Volvo and a big share of Mazda. Much of the P1 chassis was a collaboration of Volvo, Ford and Mazda as is easily seen in the suspensions. I see this as a good thing from a handling standpoint, though much of the Ford stamped parts seem to be a weak link. Various other components are also shared or are very similar between the 3 mfgs., like the heater core which is found in several Fords and I think the Mazda 3. Really this was a great economic move and a win for all three and the customers.

Back when I had my '02 S40, I was rather snobbish about the P1 S40/V50. However, after owning my V50, hands-down it is a superior car in pretty much every way. That is not to say that the Nedcar S40 is bad. My son just bought one and it is solid.

Since the Geely buyout, Volvo has tried hard and fought hard to keep Geely out of the design. With the latest generation, we are seeing more Geely involvement in the manufacturing, hopefully not in the design. A few models are being or soon will be manufactured in China. Geely may have also been a good move for Volvo. When the Chinese want to succeed, they will throw all resources in and I think that they have done that for Volvo. Volvo cars have really stepped it up and you can't do that without a lot of financial backing.

 

We have already sold a few S60L's that were manufactured in China - no difference in quality. First time I ever saw a Volvo VIN not starting with a 'Y' - kind of weird!

 

The S60 Inception is made in China, sporting a 3" linger wheel base and overall length. Audi did similar with a longer wheelbase car made for the Chinese market.

I always found it ironic that a company with possibly the most unsafe cars in the world, scoring "ZERO" would buy one of safest car companies in the world. Here's the Un-safest car we could find | The Smoking Tire

 

Guys, as I type this in Shanghai I am here to tell you that it has only started for Volvo. The Chinese way is simple but effective. They have moved Planned Obsolescence to a fine art. The first Volvos will be perfect. Then over time, slowly, the Chinese will make everything a tiny bit cheaper, a tiny bit smaller. They will wring every bit of profit out of our cars. Over a long time the quality will decline until it's just another piece of junk. I see it everyday. God help Volvo.

 

I don't know about that. Volvo has some big plans. And aside from funding, the Chinese haven't had much influence on these. The SPA platform is going to help Volvo, at least with regard to the plans I'm aware of.

 

And the Chinese are counting on your ignorance. I see it everyday. Maybe one day they will change their methods? And maybe one day pigs will fly.

 

I still don't know. They are building a plant in the US. And the recent news about the autonomous XC90s with Uber is pretty big. You could be right... I just hope not.

 

It is just so rampant here. Amazing stories of corruption and greed. Chinese Capitalism is running wide open without much control. When something goes horribly wrong (melamine in the baby formula, remember that?) the authorities come in and chop off heads. But the damage is already done.

Now I too am hoping the Chinese approach Volvo differently. Certainly they know that once you get a bad reputation for low quality cars, i.e. Kia and Hyundai, you will have a hard time recovering. Even Ford and GM are still trying to overcome the bad rep from planned obsolescence in the 1970's. Chrysler never did recover. The Japanese came in with cheap reliable cars and kicked domestic makers in the head. So, will Geely have watched the previous carnage and learned?

 

Hard to say. There is a lot of national pride in certain circles of China, central government especially. If they want to make Volvo one of their crown jewels, quality will stay good. China has wanted Volvo to aim more at the upscale market and they are not going to get there by cheaping out. Volvo proper has done a good job maintaining its identity and cautiously accepting some of Volvo China's desires. It may come down to how well they can maintain that posture.

China can be ruthless when it comes to business but if someone makes a black mark for them, heads roll.

 

literally

 

Ah! The front left spring in the 2001 I was working on is broken! Sad to hear it's not an isolated issue. I did notice it was quite a tall spring.

 

Also, all the chat of the new Chinese ventures aside, I will say the 2001 I worked on actually seemed like a rather quality vehicle overall to me. Small notes like the quality of the battery connectors and wiring, the solid grounding, the quality of bolts used, etc.
There are definitely some areas for improvement, but it seemed like a solid and well put together car. Didn't make me want to switch from my Japanese brands, but I liked certain aspects a lot. Partnerships with Ford seemed to have typically worked out better than partnerships with GM or Chrysler, or Mitsubishi, hahaha.