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What do we think about volvo v40 diesel cars?
mark chandler - 12/9/11 at 09:43 PM

I am looking for a ~£1000 tow car to drag the BEC around, so what do we think of volvo v40's diesel estate?

Wanting something good on fuel as it will be used to commute around london, I do not like passats BTW, these look nicer than 406 peugoets.

Steve Hignett - 12/9/11 at 09:47 PM

Send a U2U to Liam Mcaffrey, I think he's had a couple and swears by em!

zilspeed - 12/9/11 at 10:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mark chandler
I am looking for a ~£1000 tow car to drag the BEC around, so what do we think of volvo v40's diesel estate?

Wanting something good on fuel as it will be used to commute around london, I do not like passats BTW, these look nicer than 406 peugoets.


I just got shot of a Eurovan.
(Citroen Synergie / Pug 806 / Fiat Useless.)

Mine was a Synergie.

Fantastic for moving stuff / towing.

Not at all a desirable thing, but just a great barge and good economy with the HDI engine.
A grand buys a nice HDI with nice spec.
Big enough that you can camp in it with the back seats out.

djtom - 12/9/11 at 10:22 PM

No idea about the diesel lump, but I have the 1.9 T4 petrol turbo V40 and it's great. Tough, cheap and quick. Cost me £500 a year and 25k ago, and I'd probably get that back now. It needed a couple of lower front balljoints, but that's about all. I think I read that it's based on a Mitsubishi Charisma chassis or something similar, so don't expect sparkling chassis dynamics, but they eat up the miles in a nice comfy quiet way.

Mile is bloody expensive to run mind you, I get 25mpg in everyday use, and 30-32 on a run if I'm lucky. It does have 200bhp though, and I do like to use all 200 of them! I'm thinking about LPG'ing it at the moment, it would be cheaper and more fun than buying a diesel Golf!

T.

tomprescott - 12/9/11 at 10:45 PM

My dad had a synergie for several years, served us pretty well as a do-it-all car, could quickly and easily swap out lots of seats to a fairly large flat floor that could shift lots of rubbish. Was well capable of towing and parts are readily available in most scrap yards now.

My Mum had a v40 for a while, she was put off by a dodgy suspension knock but apart from that the car seemed pretty good, I would have thought it a capable tow mule. Another option could be the 1.9 turbo diesel saab?

norfolkluego - 13/9/11 at 11:03 AM

I use a V40 2 litre petrol as a tow car.

Tows just fine, probably not as good as a big 4x4 but plenty good enough and will return 40mpg when towing. One hell of a lot more comfortable than a 4x4 too.

Benzine - 13/9/11 at 11:33 AM

My parents had an 02 V40 diesel, I was on the insurance for a while so I could borrow it. Only thing that went wrong was a the electric window switch, other than that it was great