Yeh they are great cars, im defenitly on the look out for one but I think I will take my time over this for the right example and color I think.

But although these cars are really nice and perfect for practicality would this cure your boredom which you have for the T5? or would you mod your T5 or source a more fun handling car?

You also have to remember, the T5 is a fast cruiser, it's not meant to be 'fun', it's more built for comfy driving with a bit of go when needed with room for kids in the back...If you're bored of the S40, the XC will be even more dull....

The XC is the same demographic as the S40 + a dog :D

If you want something fun, get a Fiat 500 Abarth, a Renault Clio 197, Fiesta ST etc....Small, quick and designed with a chassis/suspension setup to be thrashed about.

A girl at my work has a 595 Abarth, being curious I asked her to take me out in it, it's brilliant. Hers has got the performance pack which has Koni coilovers and a whole load of extra bits - It's a hoot!

Got a lot of time for these. They look good and some sound fantastic!

It's the only Fiat 500 a guy can pull off :D

But agreed, they're fantastic little cars.

Haha I agree! :teeth_smile:

I've had my S40 for 10 years, I like the way the engine is both lazy and pulls like a train. I like the condition of the paintwork and the interior. I like the fact I've never had any electrical faults or warning lights. I liked that the model ran from 2004 to 2012?? so the car looked in date for a long time.

What I don't like though:

It is beginning to look dated now.
It doesn't like being thrown around, has a disconnected feel to the steering.
The Ford suspension is a PITA constantly.
Car is very picky about wheel alignment.
It rides choppy at low speed and then wallowy on country lanes.
Brakes are poor.
Fuel consumption poor but livable...just.
Road Tax!

Wow, I had to actually read your post twice as I thought I missed out on translation, then had to check the date of post (in case it was posted in 2008 when car was 1 year old from new) and then I concluded we must be talking about different cars :tounge_smile:
jokes aside, I wouldnt call my car unreliable either, althought after 60k miles / 3 years done I cant call in flawless ether. Easy to drive - yes, fun to drive - YES, reliable - mostly yes.
But soul-less ? NEVER. It feels to me like my car has its own personality with its own fuffs/tantrums and good/bad days :} I grown to love it so much (after first 3 months of "yea, I think I will sell it...) and really dread the fact that with years passing by its less and less life left in it and one day it will just not be justified to keep it under life support.
I still smirk when accelerating, when hearing 5pot growl and when I see people looking oddly on hissing and growling Volvo estate. I also love the fact that I am doing my daily comute of 60 miles both ways in comfortable car that doesnt want to shake me to death but can also go like a rocket when needed to, and on other times like just yesterday can easily carry 180cm flatload in the back without even considering "will it fit?"
Plus, being AWD+manual+Sport SE, knowing its one of its kind in my country and one of the very very few in nearby UK makes my PrideOfOwnership go to the roof.
So as for myself - no, I didnt get bored of it and still cherish it every day as much as I have for past years. It hurts to pay so much for road tax and some other surprises that happens but hey, what can I do? Put my back-end in hybrid Auris? :tongwink:
oh and to be clear - I am 100% sure cars like mentioned 595 (that I seriously adore) or any other have-fun-period cars like MX5 or Cayman or any other things will provede 10x more fun and pleasure in driving because are different breed and made with other purpose. But not being able to have 2 cars and needing nice dailydriver to comute with smile on my face, Ill take my T5 any time :cool:

I think I'm bored of it because it doesn't have a personality...it doesn't have any quirks which require ME to adapt to it. I guess that's just how modern cars have become. The car is very fast and capable even with just an aftermarket anti-roll bar, but it doesn't feel interesting in the long term. I think Id feel the same about a Golf R despite the ludicrous performance.

The P2 S60 that I sold off last year was a much more interesting car because it required YOU to learn how to live with it. For example it was difficult for passengers to even climb into the rear seats because of the sloping roof line + no rear leg room. Yet when they DID contort themselves into the seat, it was the most comfortable seat they'd ever sat in.

Or the fact that you could fit many wooden posts (3meters) in length through the ski hatch and rest them on the dashboard, but you couldnt get a decent sized cardboard box in the boot, because the boot opening was like a letter box.

Or how you cannot drive forwards into a parking space, because the turning circle was too big.

Or how the handbrake design meant the car always rolled back slightly on inclines.

S40 just doesn't have any of these quirks, and I think that's why I'm bored with it!

Right I see what you are trying to get at, but to be honest the S40 was build to be a comfort, practical, safe, reliable, cruiser. All those quirks you listed are really defects and with time obviously cars have got better, any car you upgrade to will be a similar thing.

So its either you get a really old car with the defects you are after or you can mod your current S40 which is on a reliable platform. My S40 has tonnes of quirks which keep me massivle happy with it but its far from standard so if you like the rear anti roll bar mod you did I would suggest going a bit further in the handling area.

My S40 quirks.

- My rear anti roll bar mated with the coilovers make the rear end of the car step out incredibly easily. Lift of over steer is part of its handling characteristics. I could soften this to fix this problem but love it how it handles as its incredibly good fun and as firm as a rock.

- I guess a quirk for me is that these cars look quite simple that its boring to a lot of people and understated for the engine that it has.

- Love how exhausting the car is to drive! feels massivly involved with how it handles with the handling package it has. Its completly different to the norm S40 where it just doesnt do long distances now and only likes short distances or tracks.

I could list out loads of other quirks but you get the idea

I kind of agree with you on how you're feeling with your S40 but I guess thats why I have done all these mods and can defenitly say its a completly different car. So I guess its either you get an older car or a supercar but even the supercars are now becoming very convenient mile crunchers with comfort.

As others have said it's fundamentally not a very exciting car. It's very competent at being a family workhorse, with enough power and torque not to be hard work, and a bit of interest from the 5 pot powerplant (although by making it a sensible LPT they've taken away the laugh out loud power delivery of the old HPT T5 engines).

I've come to really enjoy every (5 pot) Volvo I've had because it is just so good for the job at hand, but I never bought any of them for their incisive road carving abilities, although they have all been more than good enough to enjoy a 7/10ths drive down an intersting stretch of road.

All cars are a compromise and by trying to make a FWD, nose heavy family car fun you stand to make it worse at the jobs it is currently so good at (as per the poster above). You may be happy with that, but I'd argue that if you want a really fun drivers car any Volvo is very far away from being a good starting point.

The answer is to pick up a 2nd hand MX5/MR2 or similar and have big grin sideways fun for buttons when you need a laugh, and use the Volvo as the very capable tool that it is. Getting one car to cover all the bases is always going to lead to disappointment in some areas.