Volvo V50 Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Volvo V50 range
Prices: £15,995-£24,810 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 10-15
Emissions: 118-227g/km
Performance: [136bhp 2.0 diesel] Max Speed 130mph / 0-60mph 9.2s
Fuel Consumption: [136bhp 2.0 diesel] (urban) 37.7mpg / (extra urban) 62.8mpg / (combined) 50.4mpg
Safety: Twin front and curtain airbags, WHIPS seats, side impact protection system
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4468/1770/1452mm

FIFTY NOT OUT

Our Rating: 7.3 / 10

The V50 has, in its own quiet way, notched up some decent sales figures for Volvo. Since it was launched, some noteworthy competitors have tried to muscle in. Andy Enright reports on Volvo’s response

You’ve got to hand it to Volvo – they don’t give up easily. Many manufacturers have tried to make small estates sell in this country and to a man they’ve failed. It seems British buyers never could get over the oxymoron that is a compact estate car. Volvo had tried before with the V40 and although they uncovered a chink of light with that car, it never really captured the imagination of the target market. What was needed was something a lot smarter, with a keener design touch and a premium image. The V50 arrived in 2004 and answered that call.

Although those in the know could point to the fact that underneath that ice-cool Swedish styling was the running gear of a Ford Focus, the V50 suddenly hit a nerve and started selling in decent numbers. The current car refreshes the look and feel without diverging too far from this hard-won recipe for success.

Volvo has always rolled out a wide array of engines and now that they’re part of Ford’s Premier Auto Group, they have access to a dizzying array of powerplants. So it is that the V50 customer can choose from 1.6 petrols and diesels, stepping up to the 125bhp 1.8 and 145bhp 2.0-litre petrols followed by a 2.0-litre 136bhp diesel. Move a little further up the hierarchy and there’s a a 180bhp five-cylinder D5 diesel that’s now offered with a slick six-speed manual transmission. The range is finally topped off by another five, this time the T5. It now packs another 10bhp, lifting the total to 230bhp. One further option is the 1.8-litre Flexifuel model which will run on renewable E85 Bioethanol as well as plain old unleaded.

As you’d expect, the V50 rides on the same basic chassis set up as its saloon counterpart, the S40, but it also shares the same underpinnings as other Ford group models like the Ford Focus and Mazda3. That’s not to say the S40 is simply a rebodied Focus. Although the underbody, subframes and suspension layouts are the same on all these models, there’s vast scope for tuning of individual aspects, so all drive differently. Get into a Ford Focus estate after driving the Volvo V50 and it will feel a little lighter, a little sharper and quite a lot cheaper with inferior noise insulation and less refined damping.

If you’re comparing this car to a BMW or an Audi, then you shouldn’t be disappointed. The V50's cabin has a real quality feel to it, both in materials and construction. It's also spacious and comfortable for four adults at least. What you won’t get of course are 'big Volvo' levels of space in the back. Still, the rear seat bases fold up, allowing the seatbacks to be dropped to form a perfectly flat load bay which would be even better if the rear suspension didn’t intrude into it. The bases themselves also form a bulkhead between the front seats and the load area.

Styling nips and tweaks on the current cars include a reprofiled version of Volvo’s familiar chrome-framed ‘egg-crate’ grille, clear lensed headlights, LED tail lights and a wider air intake to give the car some more presence. The interior benefits from revised controls while the centre tunnel storage area features a smaller handbrake and a revised armrest for better driver comfort.

The range opens at just over £16,000 with a choice of S, SE, SE Lux, R-Design Sport and R-Design SE Sport trim levels. There’s also an eco-friendly ‘DRIVe’ version based on the 1.6-litre diesel variant.The S and Sport models feature niceties like cruise control, steering wheel remote audio controls, a rear 12V socket and grocery bag holder. SE and SE Sport models offer a comprehensive package that includes a power driver seat with memory as standard.

Yes, prices are a little higher than you’d pay for a car that rides on much the same chassis, such as a Ford Focus or a Mazda3, but then they feel very different cars. Volvo has worked hard to endow the V50 with its own identity and has, by and large, succeeded. Equipment levels are very strong to boot with some really high-end options available for the car. Dynaudio speakers are fitted to the Premium Sound system and there’s a hard-drive based RTI road traffic and information system for the sat nav. A lot of thought has gone into the details. Even the remote key fob has auto