Well, I guess it's official now. Volvo has joined the mainstream, leaving Saab all alone to carry the quirkiness torch.
That's not to say that there aren't some other oddball rides out there in motor land -- the French are still making cars, after all, even if they no longer import them to the United States. But for much of my lifetime, the two Swedish fish were so far outside the automotive norm that anyone who drove one was considered a strange duck, indeed.Oh, I don't mean that driving a Swedemobile would get you investigated by the House Unamerican Activities Committee, but it wouldn't go unnoticed by your neighbors, either. "Max? Oh, he's nice enough, I suppose, but, you know, he drives a Volvo!"
The implication being that Max might also roll naked in the snow by the light of the full moon. Who knows what those Scandihoovians do when they're alone?
But that's all over now. If you want to show the world that you march to the beat of a different drummer, you'll have to find some other way. Buying a Volvo won't cut it anymore.
Instead, with its new S40 compact sedan and V40 small station wagon, Volvo is offering buyers of loaded Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys something else to think about.
I doubt that Volvo's decision to try for a bigger piece of the world's automotive pie can be credited to Ford Motor Co. -- Ford hasn't owned Volvo long enough to have created the current transformation -- but Ford clearly hasn't stood in the way of Volvo deciding to stop building safe but boring cars that look like the box they came in.
We took a look at the S40 sedan earlier this year and found it worthy. Now it's the V40's turn.
The question of whether the V40's wagon/hatchback design is more or less attractive than the S40's sedan/trunk setup is a matter of personal preference and taste. Some people, especially young men, hate the wagon look, associating it with the cars in which their mothers drove them to dentist appointments.
On the other hand, the small imported sedan look is associated with generations of BMW 3-Series cars that cool frat guys drove in college.
But wagons have always been an important part of Volvo's lineup, and I've always felt their wagons made better looking boxes than their sedans. Boxy implies utilitarian, and wagons have more utility than sedans. (The V in V40 stands for "versatility.") The wagon's 30.2 cubic feet of cargo space is capacious, indeed, for a car of this class.
Either way, there's nothing boxy about any of the new Volvos and certainly not their new 40-series entry-level offerings.
From the driver's perspective, there's no difference between the two cars. Both are powered by a 1.9-liter four-cylinder engine that generates 160 horsepower with the assistance of a turbo charger, a device that makes this vehicle competitive with most V6-powered compacts on the road.
In fact, the nature of the turbo makes it feel even more powerful than a V6. I haven't driven any car with a half-dozen cylinders lately that shoved me in the back the way the V40's four-banger does when the turbo kicks in. It's a marvelous feeling and one that encourages you to floor it more often than necessary just for the fun of it.
Which may be why I didn't come close to the V40's EPA fuel mileage rating of 21 mpg in city driving and 28 mpg on the highway. I got only 18 mpg in mostly freeway driving at legal speeds. That isn't bad compared to the full-size sport-utilities that are so much the rage these days, but for a smallish wagon my V40 test car seemed pretty thirsty.
It was also pricier than it needed to be. Unlike most import cars, Volvo offers a host of options, most of which usually turn up on their news media test cars. Base price for the V40 is a very competitive $23,900 ($1,000 more than the S40) but some $6,000 in options pushed it up into $30,000 territory, which drops most of the Camry/Accord tire kickers off the radar scope and brings the luxury lookers into play.
I'd skip all the options except the seat heaters (sun roof, no; bun warmers, yes) thus converting the V in V40 from "versatility" to "value." Everything you really need is standard on the V40.
Including all the safety stuff on which Volvo has built its reputation. Anti-lock brakes, dual front and side-impact airbags, the industries most sophisticated headrest anti-whiplash system, three-point seat belts, five padded head restraints and daytime running lights.