SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Crossing boundaries: 2017 Volvo V40 CC D4 Inscription Geartronic

City car with attitude

Posted: 25 February 2017

The cheat sheet
Base price: R511 900
Price as tested (incl. metallic paint): R563 500
Engine: 1969 cc, DOHC 16-valve, four-cylinder, turbodiesel
Power: 140 kW at 4250 rpm
Torque: 400 Nm between 1750 and 2500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 7.5 seconds
Maximum speed: 210 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7.2 l/100 km
Tank: 62 litres
Luggage: 324 – 1021 litres
Spare wheel: Spacesaver
Maximum (braked) towing mass: 1500 kg
Warranty and Maintenance plan: 5 years / 100 000 km

There was a time when Swedes and Finns ruled the rally world. Volvo literature, back then, put it down to 80 percent of those countries’ roads being unpaved.  Consequently every Gunnar, Erik, Malin and Hannu honed their driving skills daily - over rough, muddy or ball bearing–strewn public thoroughfares. (“Ball bearings” are slithery, small, loose stones.) It made transitioning to special stages barely noticeable.

Volvo built its cars accordingly. I owned a couple of 144s from that era and the specs make interesting reading. The carburettor fed, two-litre, B20B pushrod engine made 118 bhp (88 kW) and 123 lb/ft (167 Nm) of torque, which is laughable by today’s standards. More to the point it boasted a 609-litre boot - not bad for a sedan without collapsible seatbacks - and ground clearance of 8.3 inches or 211 mm. To put that in perspective, today’s XC 90 stands 238 mm above the rough stuff while XC 60 offers 230 mm. Some so-called SUVs have as little as 150 mm ground clearance.

This puts our test vehicle, a V40 CC and its 145 mm, more into the category of a city car with attitude. It differentiates from plain V40s by adding 12 mm of clearance, different wheels, choice of two more engines and some SUV-like trim panels. The extra height ups its Cd from 0.29 to 0.32 while the cladding officially adds seven kilograms. Zero to 100 sprint time with the D4 engine increases from 7.2 seconds to 7.5 and top speed drops from 230 km/h to 210. 

Be that as it may, this combination is sufficiently vigorous to satisfy most users’ needs. It pulls strongly, rolls on from cruising speeds well and never seems flustered. Its eight-speed automatic keeps you in the “right” gear all the time and can be used in manual mode by slipping the stick across and “rowing” as your fancy takes you. There are no paddles. The torque band is wide enough to roll on from 120 km/h in top gear (about 1750 rpm) to deeply within ticketing territory before running out of grunt.

Standard equipment at Inscription (higher) level includes LED headlights, 18” alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, automatic electric windows all around, electric front seats with memory settings for the driver, manual lumbar adjusters for both, leather upholstery, an eight-speaker sound system with all the expected features, cruise control, automatic wipers, self-dimming interior mirror and puddle lights.

Safety kit consists of ABS with EBD, brake assist, hill start, stability- and traction control, seven airbags, tyre pressure monitoring, City Safety with full auto-braking and Tracker Connect. The other safety items Volvo likes to boast about come in a Driver Support Pack priced at R32 500. It gives you blind spot information, cross traffic alert, driver alert (drowsiness warning), active high beam, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, pedestrian detection and a rear parking camera.

A Techno Pack at R16 750 adds front seat warmers, even smarter LED headlights with active bending, satnav, keyless entry and start, park pilot and three levels of steering feedback. This function is selected in Menu – My Car - Car Settings rather than by means of the usual switch. I found the Sport mode very heavy, with Normal quite firm enough for quick driving.

I must confess to a couple of awkwardnesses with this car. First, there are too many buttons to guess at while driving and too many gadgets tucked away in menus. My second is about V40’s styling. Its wedge-like coupé look makes the windows too narrow for decent views outward. This, together with big rear head restraints and the test car’s dark hood lining, made it feel as though I was driving a cave. Folding the restraints down when not in use helps a little and choosing light coloured roof upholstery would relieve its dark ambience.

Briefly, the V40 CC D4 is a brilliant car although I have a couple of requests. Reduce the number of gadgets, make them simpler to use and fit bigger windows. But keep the elevated ride height.

Test unit from Volvo Car SA press fleet

For further information and detail, please visit the following V40 pages:

2013 Volvo V40 T4 Elite

2013 Volvo V40 D3 diesel

2014 Volvo V40 Cross Country T5

2013 Volvo V40 T5 R-Design

2015 Volvo V40 T5 R-Design

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What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the relevant test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
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