Very hard to select 1st and 2nd gears.
Rear brake pads required replacement at 20000 miles.
I've had to replace the headlamp bulbs four times to date.
At 45000 miles the constant velocity joints required replacement at a cost of some £500 per side.
After no joy with the Volvo dealer, I had to take the car to a local independent garage to correctly diagnose the faulty CV joints. The Volvo selling dealer could find no fault with the drive, blaming corroded brake discs which they could fix for £270 per side. The independent garage quote £200 for both sides, but on inspection said there was nothing wrong with the brakes and therefore refused to charge me for work that didn't need doing.
Later another Volvo dealer in another area confirmed that the CV joints indeed needed replacing.
After weeks of correspondence with Volvo Cars, they offered a 35% discount to have the offside drive shaft replaced. The bill would still come to some £400 with the discount, which is 10% of the value of the entire car.
I have arranged to get the problem sorted at another independent garage... quote is less than £300 to get both sides drivelines replaced.
The gearbox problem is worn bushes in the linkages.
It's a real shame that your V40 was so unreliable, I've got one and it's superb. I've also had a 480 Turbo and that was superb too.
Maybe you just got a bit of a lemon - I did with a BMW 7 series and it almost bankrupted me!
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