The VEA 4-cylinder engine (2L/Volvo) is excellent in terms of both economy and (in D4 guise) power and performance.

And generally it’s far smoother than any 4-cylinder engine has any right to be. An excellent installation with no diesel wobble at tick over.

The 8-speed auto box is also great.

The D4 V70 with the VEA engine and Geartronic auto box is generally a big and powerful smoothie and you can either dawdle idly down country lanes or show many a car a clean pair of heels.

I have a 2011 (2012MY) 215 D5 Rdesign V70 manual and love it. Plenty of power, around £145 a year road tax, tows my caravan well and average low 40 mpg when just driving normally but I do alot of town driving in the day in that with work. Motorway to and from work for 9 miles most days each way and no Dpf issues and just under 80,000 miles. Service myself with oil and parts from volvo as with discount it's just as cheap as local motor factors for me. Only main issue I had was the alternator bearing going and normal wear and tear. Buy tyres when a deal is on as I save about £25 per tyre including fitting.

How do people find the manual on the D4 and D5 - haven't tried one myself, but it was fairly heavy and ponderous on my old 850?

If you mean on the VEA engine then mine is at least as good as any other manual vehicle I've ever driven

Thanks Zebster, that's good to hear.

The auto on my early P3 D5 is super smooth but slushy. I tried the 8 speed on a V60 petrol and was very impressed - it seemed to approach DSG change speeds

You can also get the Mazda 2.0i petrol engine (naturally aspirated 2.0-litre 4 cylinder) which is chain driven... same engine from the V50 and S40.

VERY rare to find these though and is 5 speed manual only, but they definitely do exist.

Very easy to service and ample working room.

???? Had a 1994 850 2.5 10V and the gearbox was like a switch - it was excellent. It's pretty much the same gearbox that's used today....

No problems on my D5, smooth and light.

I have a 2011 manual D3 (163). It's not as slick as the P2s that I've experienced. I think the box itself is ok, but the linkage is possibly a Ford item, and not that slick.