Volvo V40

With the demise of the 240 in the early 90s and a proliferation of larger and more luxurious models throughout Volvo's lineup, Volvo found itself without a good entry-level model. For their new small car, Volvo teamed up with Mitsubishi, co-developing a compact, front-wheel-drive platform for production at their joint-venture factory in the Netherlands, with the first of these so-called "NedCars" going on sale in 1995.

In the USA, we wouldn't get the first-generation V40 compact wagon in the USA until model year 2000, even though it was the V40 (and its platform-mate, the S40 compact sedan) that started the modern Volvo model nomenclature: S for sedan, V for "versatile" (wagon), XC for Cross Country, and numbers indicating size, with 40/50 being compact, 60/70 being midsize, and 80/90 being full-size.

Powering these new small Volvos were new four-cylinder derivatives of the by-now-ubiquitous "white block" all-aluminum Volvo inline engine. In the US, all models came equipped with various versions of the 1.9L "2.0T" light pressure turbo, backed by either a 4-speed AW50-42 in 2000 or 5-speed AW55-5X automatic transmission from 2001 onwards.

We've found NedCars to be generally reliable, but we've noted suspension issues on 2000 models that have sometimes been remedied by front-end rebuilds with all 2001+ parts; if you're looking at suspension parts like control arms or struts for your early NedCar, it's worth double-checking which components are currently on your car before you buy.

When the larger, P2-platform based S60 midsize sedan debuted in 2001, the wagon equivalent became the V70, with Volvo electing to follow that naming convention (S60/V70) with the V40's next-gen replacement: the P1-based V50.

Model information is based on the USA vehicle market. Other model variations may exist outside the USA.