Let me start by asking for forgiveness. The very first car in my memory was a Volvo – my Dad drove one in Saudi Arabia in the early 1970s. Light blue, a station wagon, not much else I can remember. So Volvo was practically the first car in my life.
However, I had never driven one since then, until the S40 test drive.
Of course I had read and heard a lot about these hardy cars from Sweden – mainly about their passion for safety.
As a young buck I hardly had much interest in safety, and then, later in life, Volvo and I just didn't cross paths.
So you must please forgive me the mindset I had when arrangements were made for the Volvo S40 review.
In my mind the equation was Volvo = safety = boring.
I drove the S40 with the T5 turbo-charged petrol engine, so that may have something to do with it, but on the whole there was not a shred of boredom anywhere near that car!
Safety, yes.
And I'll explain what happened later. Firstly, let's look at the car, a nice and compact full-size sedan.
I loved the design of the rear, with those large handsome lights, and the sculpted shelf that runs alongside the top of the doors, giving it a wedge-shaped peculiarity, which I thought was very well worked.
At the front I felt the grille was a bit plain, but the bi-xenon lights framed it nicely.
The bi-xenon lights actually held the first clue to what really is the foundation of this car – the S40 is everything to everyone.
Mainly I mean that it has features that meet the different needs of different drivers, and altogether it combines into a synergic extremely intelligent machine – the car of the future, perhaps.
Let me explain: the safety features are simply astounding, both in their practicality as well as their innovation. Everything has been thought through carefully and it all coordinates.
The bi-xenon lights, for instance, are not just high-powered lights stuck on the front of the car – no, Volvo has thought about everything.
The lighting system is controlled by a microprocessor that takes into account vehicle speed and steering wheel position to help you see around bends at night; and during the day
a sensor disengages the system so you save on bulb lifespan.
Even when self-cleaning, the high-pressure spray only does one at a time to maximise the available pressure.
And this philosophy of careful thoughtfulness goes on throughout every part and system of this car.
The innovations are staggering in both their complexity and the incredible ease of operation – the Volvo S40 is really a paradox of considerable depth.
It's also very fast! The turbocharged 218-hp 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine is an economical powerhouse – yet
it consumed basically nothing. It is also very aggressive.
The handling is sporty and precise, with multi-link rear, McPherson front and electro-hydraulic steering – yet it is a leader in safety design. The Volvo S40, in a nutshell, is an ideal family car; ready to please all drivers and passengers.
I am very tempted to list all the safety features because they are mind-boggling and extremely impressive, but instead
I'll refer you to the 50-page brochure which makes great reading.
And here's what happened to me.
I had the opportunity to testdrive the S40 for a week, and so I got to know the car very well. I clocked about 1,000 km and used it for all my driving needs.
I got comfortable, and maybe even a little lax. As I was picking up a fabulous chicken shawarma at the local Al Ain shawarma hot-spot souq, I found out what Volvo is really all about.
I reversed out onto the road, four-way flashers on, and then moved forward into my lane, only to be blocked by an inconsiderate youth who I suppose had such a desperate need for his shawarma that he did not think of parking properly and instead plopped himself neatly in the second lane, double-parked.
I gave my side-mirror a good look, all was clear, I started swerving out of my lane to go around the double-parked buffoon. In a flash of my mind, not even my eye – it was too fast, my mind caught the orange flash of Volvo's BLIS system.
It is the Blind Spot Information System, something like a sophisticated parking sensor mounted to the side-mirrors that monitors the infamous blind spots and alerts the driver with an orange light that an object has moved within the blind spot area.
Well, within a couple of milli-seconds, the light went on, my brain responded on automatic by braking suddenly and swerving back to my right, and a pick-up flew past me in the lane I was just entering.
There is no doubt in my mind that my testdrive and that nasty pick-up would have played billiards that day.
I was moving from right-most lane
to centre lane, and he was zooming in from left-most lane to centre lane.
A classical blind-spot accident, one that we see all too often on our roads.
BLIS saved me and the pick-up guys from possible injury, damage to the cars, hassles with insurances, and the embarrassment of phoning Volvo to explain I had crashed their testdrive vehicle!
Anecdote over, but the lesson lives on – and the credit goes to Volvo designers and engineers.
And the S40 is practically full of these intelligent systems, from the ground up.
So, to bring it all together, the Volvo S40 is a brilliant machine. Almost futuristic in its perspective on safety and convenience, it stands out as one of the most "thoughtful" cars I've had the pleasure to drive.
Fun to drive, economical (around 22mpg), sleek and beautiful to look at and be seen in, absolutely 100 per cent as safe as it gets, and comfortable for all the family – we loved the Volvo S40!
Also minor things, too - like the best FM radio reception of all cars I've driven in the UAE, or the best windscreen wiper area of all cars I've ever driven, period; the wipers clean to the edges of the glass, no wet dust-attracting areas left at the sides; and so on, and so on – please do read that
50-page brochure to get a sense of the depth of thought that went into this car.
