Faults:

Rear brake caliper seized at 117K; opportunity taken to replace all 4 discs and pads, not overly expensive.

Original battery started to fail after 10 years; replaced with new quality battery, which gave up after 1 week! Supplier replaced the battery. The alternator diode pack/brushes were also replaced as a precaution; not easy items to find.

Ground to a halt after 128K, AA man diagnosed broken timing belt, lifted cover to check, only to find a garage (according to service book) had fitted the wrong belt at 80K. Currently sourcing a replacement head due to bent valves.

General Comments:

I want to get this car back on the road, as it does everything I want in terms of comfort, performance, economy, and (up to now) reliability.

The car performs well on the motorway as well as on the twisties, and rarely delivers less than 50 MPG.

The build quality is excellent, and it makes a good tow car for hauling motorcycle trailers about.

Have run it in very snowy weather, and it proved very sure footed and safe, although the windscreen washers tend to freeze up.

Only glitch is the cabin fan runs at varying speeds, and seems to have a mind of its own.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car except the air-con had to be re-gassed.

General Comments:

I bought this car from a friend, and have not looked back. It runs like a dream, and the sport trim makes it in my opinion the best looking car on the road.

It is very fast with its 1.8i engine, and I get about 30 miles per gallon.

Its not the most exciting car I have ever driven, but it is probably the safest.

The only thing I don't like about it is the running costs. The servicing and parts are not cheap, but because it's such a solid car I'll forgive it for being a little thirsty.

Faults:

Practically nothing so far. The steering makes a very subtle squeaking sound when being turned if the car is stationary, but this does not bother me at all.

General Comments:

I downgraded from my 2.4L S80 because although it had the comforts of a ballroom and the solidity of a tank, it was consuming too much fuel since I was doing mostly town driving.

The V40 is obviously less spacious in the back seat and the interior trim is nowhere near as posh as the S80, but it is much more practical.

The fantastic estate boot is functional with belts and nets to secure cargo. It takes my Large dog comfortably and I recently carried a 6ft Christmas Tree in there. Very practical.

The 1.6 being the weakest engine in the range, it accelerates a bit slow when joining large roads, but if you do not want racy driving, it is perfectly adequate. It has carried 5 adults and a dog and the only thing is that you'd have to drive in 1 gear higher than what you usually would.

The good thing is that it it is very economical and my weekly fuel spending has gone down to between 1/2 and 2/3 of what it used to be with the S80.

Insurance and Tax are also lower.

For a car of such high mileage for its age, it is behaving very well - almost like new. And the service history indicates all the repairs were very minor - bulbs etc.

Overall: manoeuvreable, responsive steering, easy to park, decent handling, loads of bolume in the rear, but poor back seat legroom, cheap and practical to run... in one word - workhorse.

... and for £4500 off ebay it was a real bargain.