Well we just bought our first Volvo (2010 S40 T5 with everything) and so far we just love it! Just wondering what to expect from this manufacturer. Our car had 12 miles on it and so far the fit and finish seems pretty damn good, trying hard to find anything out of place or at least a rattle or odd noise but nothing!

 

hahaha try my s40 97 model, OMG it sounds like a go kart and smells deep of petrol lol, give it another 10,000 miles then check again to see if you find anything rattling, my rattling is coming from my cat convertor and the smell from my exhaust with a hint of white smoke lol.

you got a good car on your hands, especially the 2010 model, not had many problems with mine, however keep an eye on your constant speed control valve that regulates your rpm's, they tend to stick every now and again lol

 

Are there any similarities between a 1997 and a 2010 S40?

My experience with my 2009 S40 (up to over 9500 miles now) has been pretty good...had an angle gear leak fixed under warranty at about 4000 miles (which appears to be a common problem on Volvos based on Internet searches) and I'm having a check on my transmission done next week (may be normal behavior). Previous recent experience has been with Japanese brands (Subaru, Toyota, Acura) and the Volvo is definitely the most refined car I've owned so far. I'm used to Japanese car reliability (basically trouble-free for at least 100K miles), so I still have concerns about long-term repair costs after the warranty expires...but I have over 50K miles to go before that's a factor.

 

You have a great looking car.

Having owned the previous generation S40 and the present generation V50 I can say that there is one similarity. The badge that says V O L V O.

They are completely different cars. The previous was a joint venture between Volvo and Mitsubishi and built in Born Netherlands. The early years (up to 2000.5) were more problematic. The present is a Volvo (with some Ford parts) and built in Ghent.

For reliability, I have to say that Volvos are not up to the Japanese standard and tend to be hit and miss. After having owned 3 Volvos I can say that they do tend to have a few annoying but fixable issues that come up but nothing major. After I bought my '02 S40 I swore it would be my last Volvo. That was until it got totaled and I walked away without so much as a back ache. I bought the V50 as a CPO and love it (owned it 2 years and have driven it 35K miles).
Stan

 

My last vehicle was a 02 Nissan Altima 3.5. We put over 100,000 miles on it and it never had to go back to the dealer for anything. With any luck the problems will be small if any,
the way I look at it is "anything with that many parts put together eventually something comes loose or needs to be replaced" Anybody had any luck disabling the DRL's? I want to install a HID kit.

 

Disabling the DRLs is done in software. Unfortunately, it takes a trip to Volvo Service. I had it done to mine with the thought of installing a HID kit.
Stan

 

I just talked to my dealer and they said if they could disable them they would at no charge.

 

I had to pay to have mine disabled.
Stan