Published:
3 January 2024Whichever way you look at it, the case for the Volvo V40 is strong here.
Prices on the used market start from around £3000 for leggier examples, but tidy newer ones with less than 30,000 miles (and in top-spec trim) can be fetched from around £12,000.
Economy is competitive, albeit not outstanding in the case of the D3. At the time, our test car averaged 45.9mpg, and its touring economy result (51.7mpg) was acceptable. It’s good enough, just, to prevent you from questioning the wisdom of putting a five-cylinder engine in a car like this.
The D4 model, which has a slug more power, matches the D3's official figure of 65.7mpg and 114g/km, but choosing the Geartronic automatic version of either model causes those numbers to look far less favourable.
More fiscally sensible is the D2, which is the only diesel to pack a more conventional four-cylinder configuration. Its 1560cc unit returned an official figure of 78.5mpg on the combined cycle, and emissions of 94g/km.
The turbocharged petrol engines both recorded 50mpg-plus on the combined cycle, and emissions of 125 and 129g/km are comparable with the D3 and D4 models.
