 Hatchbacks - I like 'em a lot. Always have, always will. Fast hatchbacks are obviously even better, because who doesn't like a fast car? I also like sleepers. There's few things as satisfying as smoking the car next to you because the driver didn't know the car you're in is actually fast. I think that's bound to happen often with the Volvo V40 T5. This thing is a hot hatch that's not marketed as one, but it could be. I'd seen the press pics of the car before of course, because it's part of my job, but the way this car looks in the metal is different. It looks a little longer, a little lower and one hell of a lot sleeker. The Volvo V40 T5 is a very, very pretty car. It's that usual story of looking at something but not seeing it, and having one in the driveway meant it was the first time I saw one properly, up close. It has great lines and curves and features the typical Volvo front end with the iron symbol standing proud in the front grille - it's unmistakably Volvo. The rear of the car also screams Volvo with the high-mounted taillights on each side of the hatch lid (I could be wrong, but I'm sure Volvo was the first manufacturer to mount their taillights up high like that). The T5 badge tells you that this is the daddy of the range, because there's a T4 and 5 is higher than 4. The dual tail pipes are quite unassuming though, I'd expect bigger and fatter ones. Well, that's what I expect after driving the car and seeing the stats on it anyway.   Yeah, like I said, hot hatch qualities are found throughout this V40 T5. Under that sleek bonnet you'll find a 2.0 (well 1969cc if you want to be exact) 4-cylinder engine with direct injection, and more importantly a turbo. This thing churns out a pretty damn impressive 180kW of power with 350Nm of torque. I knew it was strong after I drove it, it has proper hot hatch power that could make some Germans a little envious. The power delivery is linear through the gears, when you put your foot down it starts going with no letting up. On pull off there's a bit of torque steer too, which I like, but after that there's no drama at all. The 8-speed Geartronic auto is good, seamless changes give the V40 T5 a very upmarket drive and feel. Sport mode makes this a little more aggressive and the car revs a little higher for a little longer. If it somehow changed the exhaust tone at the same time I'd like it more. The car could do with a little more excitement, but then again I think the guys who will be buying this car might not be after excitement anyway. With the way the car goes and handles I'm surprised I don't see more of them at track days or car meets. Ok, I do know why but I'll get to that later...  Inside the Volvo V40 T5 it's great. There's a full leather interior with front seats bordering on sporty, but seeing as sporty isn't the point of the car they're spot on for the job on hand - sitting comfortably. The dash layout and seating position also works well, I'm not tall but was able to set things up comfortably. The centre console is interesting, the layout is simple enough to use and easy to reach when not using the steering-mounted controls to change things. The part that looks like an old school mobile phone layout has a cluttered feel, and my wife made sure to tell me she wasn't a fan of it. I didn't mind, in fact it was good fun using it to enter website addresses for the browser (yeah, this car has the interwebs). Kids of today will never know the struggle of having to use a touchpad like this, especially when you have to type the letter W three times in a row. The climate control is simple to use, the heater was extensively tested being winter and I can report it works as a heater should - it made me warm. One thing the Volvo is missing, and seeing that Volvo somes from Sweden where cold weather is par for the course, is heated seats. I'm pretty sure that's just down to ticks on an option list though, I can't see these cars being sold on home ground without every possible feature that can make you thaw out. The clocks in the V40 are awesome, I love the look of them and the way you change them to suit your mood. They're completely digital and there are three themes you can have displayed, Eco, Elegance and Performance. Obviously Performance was my favourite. In this mode the screen shows a tacho in red with the car's speed displayed in the centre, on the left there's a heat gauge and on the right a power gauge that shows how much power you're using. Eco mode turns the screen into a speedo and the side screens show fuel consumption and rev, all with a green tint. In Elegance mode it's similar but with a different style speedo and it's in black and white. Scrolling on the left stalk changes the info displayed on the left and right screens. Setting up the car before driving is half the fun! There is a pretty comprehensive set of menus on the infotainment system, you can set all sorts from the interior lighting colours and intensities through to enabling the Active Bending Lights. You'll easily spend over an hour playing with everything, well I did anyway.
 The Volvo V40 range is advertised as being the most "Intellisafe" Volvo to date, and this is where loads of driver safety aids come into play. Driving this car is like driving in a super safe cocoon, a bubble of technology that wants to keep you from meeting your maker in as many ways as possible. Features added to the V40 T5 include some amazing things, like the world-first Pedestrian Airbag Technology, Lane Keeping Aid with haptic auto steering, a Park Assist Pilot, automatic Road Sign Information reading, Active High Beam and a Cross Traffic Alert radar system at the rear. There's some very clever tech sitting in a windowless room somewhere working hard to invent cool things for cars to use, and they're clearly doing a good job. Here's what the press release has to say about the various bit of tech.
 
In my week with the car I never got to experience any of the clever tech for myself besides the City Safety system making me absolutely kak myself. I was parking in a mate's driveway and was driving up at a normal driveway speed. I'm not sure what a normal driveway speed is because I never really keep my eye on the speedo when drivewaying. The end of the driveway was on sand and there was a tree overhanging, which I suspect one of the safety systems thought was a car, a truck or a pedestrian because as I was about to start braking to park, the car slammed on brakes and a text warning flashed on the screen and there was a noise through the speakers. I didn't see the text warning properly because I was looking out the side window at the time. I wasn't too bothered with what it said, I was just happy the wheels didn't lock up because a Boerboel got wedged in them. I did get to scare a few GTi drivers though, which was priceless. This car is pretty rapid. As I said, there's heaps of hot hatch in the V40 T5, but it's still not one. It's more grown up and I don't expect to see people in the performance car circles that I know wanting one. Well there are a few guys who are going to be taking a closer look at the V40, but with the price of the car I expect a GTi or ST would be more in their budget for a hot hatch. There is an R-Design version that's a little sportier and a has a bit more power that would satisfy the hot hatch lovers. The Volvo V40 T5 is pricey when you do a direct comparison, but when you add in all the safety features and tech that's loaded into the car and go spec for spec, it is worth a look. I could live with one, easily. 
Pricing:V40 T3 Manual Kinetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R322 900.00
V40 D2 Manual Kinetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R328 500.00 V40 T3 Manual Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R 354 200.00 V40 D2 Manual Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R 360 100.00 V40 T3 Geartronic Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . .R371 800.00 V40 T3 Manual Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R374 400.00 V40 T4 Manual Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R375 100.00 V40 D2 Manual Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R380 500.00 V40 T3 Manual R-Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R382 000.00 V40 D2 Manual R-Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R388 100.00 V40 T3 Geartronic Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R392 000.00 V40 T4 Geartronic Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R394 000.00 V40 T4 Manual Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R395 600.00 V40 T3 Geartronic R-Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R399 500.00 V40 D3 Geartronic Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R404 500.00 V40 D4 Geartronic Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R413 800.00 V40 T4 Geartronic Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R414 600.00 V40 D3 Geartronic Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R425 400.00 V40 T5 Geartronic Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R431 800.00 V40 D4 Geartronic Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R432 200.00 V40 D3 Geartronic R-Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R432 800.00 V40 D4 Geartronic R-Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R441 000.00 V40 T5 Geartronic Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .R450 300.00 V40 T5 Geartronic R-Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R459 300.00 All Volvos are standard with 5 year / 100 000km Warranty and Maintenance Plan (Volvo Plan). 5 year / unlimited mileage Roadside Assistance (include a Skytrax tracker unit – hardware & installation) DataDot application. For more info or head on over to www.volvocars.com/za |
