Volvo V40

snowdog · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:15

jon.bda said:
At 60 you feel running over a stone/catseye/whatever in the road, how the hell can you say you could hit a speed bump at 60?

I never said you didn't feel it at 60 ? I said you can probably take it with 60 without any damage, and it's one of them speed tables which you can barely feel in some cars, if I drive there at 30 mph in my dads C5, you can barely feel going over it at all.

MrLOL said:
yes but you have mechanical sympathy and avoid pot holes or slow down for them and dont deliberately drive down roads with unavoidable ones......

dont you ??

Yes, in this case it's a speed bump I do not feel is a threat to my car. Even before I had my own car one of my mates blasted over it at even far higher speeds (than I take it) in his C2 VTS and it did nothing ( well aside from bring a big grin to my face).

Fr0dders · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:16

oh well that means the car will be fine then :rolleyes:

DM · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:17

DRZ said:
But you are SO full of anti-speeding propaganda!

Yea im reformed, always the worst type of bigot

See that ban and arse kicking fine was all that was required!

mjt · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:19

snowdog said:
I'm just annoyed why the NL can't have a law like in Poland that from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m the speed limit is higher in built up area's.
Luckily there is progress with motorways here though, the speed limit on motorways is going up .

As much as I hate driving in the Netherlands, and their whole style of speed limit enforcement, Poland has quite possibly the worst roads in Europe and the fatality rate is quite frankly appalling.
I know where I'd rather drive, and the Netherlands sucks balls.

jon.bda · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:21

snowdog said:
Yes, in this case it's a speed bump I do not feel is a threat to my car. Even before I had my own car one of my mates blasted over it at even far higher speeds (than I take it) in his C2 VTS and it did nothing ( well aside from bring a big grin to my face).

Well, reading that i feel i have nothing more to add, aside from the fact that you and your mates obviously need to find some decent roads to hoon around rather than 30 zones...

paddy · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:22

I've had a "V" reg, 1.8 V40 for a couple of weeks, also given to me for free.

Brakes are soft, compared to the wife's Clio you need plenty of pedal pressure.

The 1.8 isn't too sluggish, 0-60 ~10s I think, again about the same as the Clio. Haven't had the car fully loaded. It would cope with the weight, but you'd know about it.

In terms of fuel economy I get 300 (b-roads)-350 (motorways @ 80) from a £55 tank. I'm only through 2 tanks of fuel though, so that might not be typical.

Dash is plastic, and the seats are fabric, comfy enough though.

Bottom line, for a free car I'm happy with it

snowdog · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:22

mjt said:
As much as I hate driving in the Netherlands, and their whole style of speed limit enforcement, Poland has quite possibly the worst roads in Europe and the fatality rate is quite frankly appalling.

It is improving, the roads are honestly not that bad any more, the worst problem there is congestion these days imo. The fatality rate is more down to the drunk idiots and dangerous overtakes. I can't remember a time when I was driving there not coming across someone driving clearly drunk or overtaking & nearly killing himself. The motorways are a breeze to drive though. cruise control at 140-150 kph and lean back, they're empty and new, only disadvantage is the tolls of course, but it's far superior to here yeah. The non motorway bits are tiring yes but as long as you simply don't overtake stupidly and give others their space you'll arrive in one piece.

.

I know where I'd rather drive, and the Netherlands sucks balls.

Oh I agree, I'd love to live in Germany instead, I LOVE their wider roads ( the lanes themselves are significantly wider than here) and no speed limit means you can actually get somewhere quickly over long distances. I think the UK laws are even far worse, lower limits and points even for small offences ?

eatcustard · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:25

[TW]Fox;17737304 said:
Absolutely - if you need to get away from the cops in a speed bump riddled housing estate, you know you've got the right free car

Bro in law is a copper

and the previous owner to that was a copper

godinman · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:37

snowdog, I am confused. Are you talking about speedbumps, as in those 5-10cm lumps in the road designed to force traffic to slow? If so, you are talking out of your arse.

Or, do you mean a slightly bumpy road?

edit - or is it some kind of NL road structure not found in the UK?

snowdog · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:40

A speedbump like this one ( not the one I mean, it's not on google streetview, but same design) :
http://maps.google.nl/?ie=UTF8&ll=5...=7lwmtTAQIjvHSNwEMWYj_A&cbp=12,60.39,,0,14.85

Accompanied with a speedbump sign and 30 mph ( 50 kph) limit warning in advance :
http://maps.google.nl/?ie=UTF8&ll=5...=IO1tZlyuOUn3yVarBIFnxQ&cbp=12,55.64,,0,11.33

DM · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:40

The bigger the bump the higher you can jump!

mjt · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:42

I'm guessing he means these

However, these vary in height and severity from speed bump to speed bump.
I know exactly what he means, though.

The Volvo's wallowy suspension will let you do > 50 km/h over the less aggressive ones without any trouble.

-edit, just seen his link. Dude, you can probably do 100 km/h over those. That's pathetic.

[TW]Fox · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:44

If he means those then what relevence does the cars ability to take them at 35mph have to anything? lol

godinman · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:45

I see! Except for the fun part

snowdog · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:47

mjt said:
I'm guessing he means these

However, these vary in height and severity from speed bump to speed bump.
I know exactly what he means, though.

Yeah, that design but a tad longer and fully asphalt. Not as long as the one in my example but that design of bump anyhow.

If he means those then what relevence does the cars ability to take them at 35mph have to anything? lol

No google streetview for my example, just imagine the same bump, a little bit shorter ( or mjt's one, but a little longer), and in a corner. It can take the corner faster than an E10/100 Toyota Corolla I mean.

[TW]Fox · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:47

snowdog said:
Yeah, that design but a tad longer and fully asphalt.

I now totally get you. Taking that at 35mph in a Volvo V70 must have been totally extreme, man.

Don't forget it had carpets with hooks on to STOP THEM MOVING :eek:

Mr.Stu · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:50

Had my 1.8 v40 for about 3 months now. 2000 miles in, 35mpg on the dot. Has proven to be reliable thus far. As already stated, the clutch is hard and the gearbox feels like you are stirring a tin of beans with a hot dog.

VFM Addict · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:51

This is the worst - I've been given a free car so let's talk about driving it over speed humps thread - I have ever read.

Joshy · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:53

Snowdog, why do you STILL even have the V40? I thought that peachy bell-end purple Galant you bought was supposed to replace it AGES ago? :confused:

snowdog · 7 Nov 2010 at 19:55

Joshy said:
Snowdog, why do you STILL even have the V40? I thought that peachy bell-end purple Galant you bought was supposed to replace it AGES ago?

I don't want to get rid of it I think, grown attached to it, it's my first car. But until now, I've simply worked on the galant issues one by one, and continued to use my Volvo as the main driver ( though I still drive the galant once every 2 days).

My Galant is getting a clutch next week so probably going to drive that more when it's done ( I should have done this ages ago but I was too lazy to find the cheapest garage).

I'll probably be sick of paying tax&insurance for 2 cars in a couple of months, but until then, I'm keeping both. Of course the galant clutch being worn also has to do with it

.

It went like this with my V40: Wow first car this is so much better than my learners car> hmmm I want something faster, I've had it for a year now> Nothing wrong with this car might as well keep it till scrapped.
Basically, the while it doesn't please me as much as the galant ( or well, when it still had a clutch that could take full throttle), it doesn't annoy me in any way either and I've grown fond of it.