Car Reviews

From the February 2004 issue of Car and Driver.
One shift into our driving experience with the all-new S40, and we realized Volvo’s second-generation small car had taken a big step toward becoming a driver’s machine. That’s because now it can actually be shifted by the driver. Unlike its predecessor, which came only with a four-speed automatic teamed with a 170-hp, 1.9-liter turbo four-cylinder, this latest Swede can be equipped with a five- or six-speed manual transmission, or a five-speed automatic, and a pair of inline five-cylinder engines making 168 and 218 horsepower, respectively.

Luxury Sports Sedans Face Off

Tested: 2004 Volvo V50 T5 AWD

Tested: 2003 Volvo S60R AWD

We knew the new S40 meant business even before we got behind the wheel. A ringer for a stubbier S60, the S40 looks as if it had spent many a long winter’s night at a Swedish gym. Examine the fresh next to the stale, and the new car appears more athletic, highlighted by short overhangs and bulging fenders. It is aggressive where the previous car was timid. More important, it now looks like a Volvo. Perhaps it bears too much family resemblance to the S60, but overall, it’s a sportier, welcome guise.
Compared with the previous S40, the new car is 1.9 inches shorter, yet is 2.1 inches wider and 1.5 inches taller. It rides on a wheelbase that is 3.1 inches longer and has wider front and rear tracks. As a result, every interior dimension-sans rear headroom, which remains 37.2 inches-has increased, including a much-needed 1.7-inch hike in rear legroom.

View Photos

Volvo’s “smaller without getting less” philosophy not only resulted in an interior that is bigger but one that is more stylish and functional. Bissecting the dash is a unique, aluminum-covered center stack that is less than an inch thick. It looks like a chic Nambé platter, and it houses all the audio, telephone, and climate controls, while also shielding a convenient storage bin behind it. Ergonomically, the button-and-knob-infused stack isn’t immediately intuitive, but a few minutes of study make it a quick learn. Once mastered, the controls become a second thought to the appreciation garnered from the top-level fit and finish and high-quality materials. Despite being an “entry level” car, the S40 feels as refined and luxurious as the upper-echelon S60.
Although Volvo designed the S40, it can’t take full credit for developing the car, which shares architecture with the Mazda 3 and next-generation Ford Focus. Engineers from Ford, Mazda, and Volvo collaborated on the C1 platform, contributing to and drawing from the development pool. The fruits of this labor came to be known as “global shared technologies,” or the basic components-underbody, suspension layout, steering, etc.-utilized by the three brands. According to a Volvo engineer, the shared components consist of “everything that doesn’t make the brand.” In other words, Ford and Mazda couldn’t grab everything they wanted from Volvo’s safety bag.

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As with all Volvos, that bag is full of comforting things, including front, side, and curtain airbags; collapsible pedals; seatbelt pretensioners; whiplash protection; and four grades of steel for the frontal structure to create optimal crumple zones. Volvo even went so far as to simulate frontal crash tests without the engines installed, forcing engineers to shave 7.8 inches from the width of the transverse motors so they’d fit within the space that remained after the test. Moreover, the S40, whose body is 68 percent stiffer than its predecessor’s, gets standard traction control and four-wheel disc brakes with ABS and emergency brake assist, as well as optional dynamic stability control.
Our favorite preview example-a front-wheel-drive T5-came with the turbocharged 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder used in the S60, S80, and XC90, mated to the six-speed manual from the S60R. Featuring short throws and light, effortless action, the gearbox makes it easy to enjoy and maximize the T5’s 218 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. Volvo says the T5 can hit 60 mph in 6.3 seconds and produce a top speed of 149 mph. With all that torque available from 1500 to 4800 rpm, the T5 not only launches off the line but also quickly gets out of its own way on the highway, exhibiting no noticeable turbo lag. There’s also little torque steer evident, which is impressive considering all the twist being delivered through the front tires. An all-wheel-drive T5, using the V70 AWD’s Haldex system, will be available, but it almost seems superfluous given that the front-driver performs so well.

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The other, less favorable example we sampled was a base 2.4i automatic that featured a naturally aspirated 168-hp, 2.4-liter five mated to a five-speed Geartronic. Judged against the harelike T5, the 2.4i felt like a tortoise on Xanax. Volvo estimates 8.4 seconds for 0 to 60, more than two seconds slower than the T5 manual. The 2.4i’s available five-speed manual would likely liven up the car, but not enough to make us even think of exiting the T5’s driver seat.
Both S40s use struts up front and a multilink setup in the rear, tuned for a firm ride that manages to be both comfortable and compliant. Our cars’ Euro settings felt ideal, making us wishful that Volvo wouldn’t tinker with them for the U.S. cars. Complemented by communicative and linear steering-the best of any Volvo to date-and the optional 205/50R-17 tires on our T5, the able suspension made short work of the winding roads around Málaga, Spain.
Built at Volvo’s Ghent factory in Belgium, the base and T5 S40s go on sale this spring, available only with the automatic transmission and front-wheel drive. Manual models and all-wheel-drive T5s will follow in the summer, when they’ll receive 2005 monikers. Volvo says pricing should start at about $24,000 for a base 2.4i and top out at roughly $30,000 for a loaded T5. To us, that’s reasonable pricing for a car that quantum-leaps its predecessor. Is it a big enough leap to reach Volvo’s sales target of 28,000 units for 2004? We think so.

Specifications

SPECIFICATIONS
2004 Volvo S40
VEHICLE TYPE front-engine, front- or 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
ESTIMATED BASE PRICE$24,000
ENGINE TYPE 2.4-liter DOHC 20-valve inline-5, 168 hp, 170 lb-ft; turbocharged and intercooled 2.5-liter DOHC 20-valve inline-5, 218 hp, 236 lb-ft
TRANSMISSION 5- or 6-speed manual, 5-speed automatic
DIMENSIONSWheelbase: 103.9 inLength: 175.9 inWidth: 69.7 inHeight: 57.5 inCurb weight: 3200-3400 lb
PERFORMANCE RATINGS (MFR’S EST., T5 6-sp)Zero to 60 mph: 6.3 secTop speed (drag limited): 149 mph
PROJECTED FUEL ECONOMYEPA city driving 22-24 mpgEPA highway driving 30-32 mpg

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From the April 1965 issue of Car and Driver.
No contest. This is the Porsche to end all Porsches—or, rather, to start a whole new generation of Porsches. Porsche’s new 911 model is unquestionably the finest Porsche ever built. More than that, it’s one of the best Gran Turismo cars in the world, certainly among the top three or four.
Porsche enthusiasts used to insist that the 356 model was as nearly-perfect an automobile as had ever been designed, an immutable classic that couldn’t be im­proved upon. Oh, no? Put a familiar 356 up alongside a 911. Only yesterday, the 356 seemed ahead of its time. Today you realize its time has passed; the 356 leaves you utterly unimpressed and you can’t keep your eyes off the 911. The 911 is a superior car in every respect … the stuff legends are made of.

Golden Anniversary: 50 Years of The Porsche 911

The Evolution of the Porsche 911 in the U.S.

Defining the Porsche 911: New vs. Old

Let it be understood at the outset that the 911 does not replace the 356, according to the factory. In the catalog, it replaces the fussy, little-appreciated Carrera 2 while the 356C (ex-Super) and 356SC (ex-Super 95) still roll off the assembly lines at about their normal rate. However, we can’t believe that Porsche will con­tinue making two entirely different cars, side-by-side, beyond the immediately foreseeable future. And let it also be understood that the 911 is not readily available. The first six month’s production is completely sold out and there’s a line of expectant owners going halfway around almost every Porsche agency in the country.
General
The 911—so-called because it is the 911th design project since Porsche opened its doors in 1931—is also the first all-Porsche Porsche. The 356 was the first car to carry the Porsche name, although when it was con­ceived in 1948 it was little more than a souped-up, special-bodied version of an earlier Porsche design, the Volkswagen. The 911, while true to the 356’s basic configuration, is an entirely new and different car. The engine is again air-cooled, again hung out behind the rear axle, but it’s a single-overhead-cam six-cylinder where the 356 was a pushrod four-cylinder (and the Carrera a four-cam four-cylinder). The new body is far more handsome—the work of old Professor Porsche’s grandson, Ferry, Jr. The 911’s 5-speed gear­box, already in service in Porsche’s 904 GT racing car, is probably the new car’s best single feature. Even the suspension is new, though tried-and-true torsion bars are retained as the springing medium.

JULIUS WEITMANN

The 911, or 901 as it then was, was introduced at the 1963 Frankfurt Auto Show. It was very much a prototype and its debut may have been premature. More than a year was to pass before it went into pro­duction, during which time the model number was changed (to indicate that it was a later model than the Frankfurt car and also because Peugeot reportedly had a lock on three-digit model numbers with zero in the middle), the price estimate dropped, the performance estimate rose, and a demand built up that the current four-a-day supply won’t be able to satisfy for some time to come.
The 901/911 was not the “best” car Porsche could have made. Porsche could have put the storied flat-eight engine into production, bored out to, say, 2.5 liters and tuned up to 240 horsepower. That would have put the 901/911 into the Ferrari-Corvette-Jaguar performance bracket. It also would have raised the price considerably, and Porsche was understandably nervous about entering the No-Man’s-Land market for $9000 GT cars. On price alone, it would have been beyond the reach of anybody but the Very Rich, and the V.R. are noted for such capricious perversity as preferring a $14,000 car to a $9000 car simply because it costs $5000 more. The four-cam flat-eight also would have had the same kind of maintenance and reliability problems the Carrera engine had; problems that are hopefully nonexistent in the 911’s sohc six-cylinder.
Considering what the Stuttgart design office has turned out in the past, Porsche could have come out with a supercharged six-liter 550-hp V-16 GT car to sell for $30,000 and not lose a drag race to anybody but Don Garlits, but their production facilities are hardly geared for that sort of thing, and it would be getting pretty far away from the Porsche image, wouldn’t it? In fact, Porsche had a full four-seater on the drawing boards at one point, but Ferry Porsche felt that his company’s business was not selling super-duper sedans or ultra-ultra sports/racing cars but optimum-priced, optimum-size, optimum-performance Gran Turismo cars, which is exactly what the 911 is.

JULIUS WEITMANN

At $6490 POE East Coast (or $5275 FOB Stuttgart), the 911 isn’t what you’d call cheap—no Porsche ever was—but then, quality never is. Porsche’s kind of quality cannot be had for less, viz. Ferrari 330GT ($14,000) or Mercedes-Benz 230SL ($8000). It’s of more than ordinary interest that the 911 costs a whop­ping thousand dollars less than the Carrera 2 it re­places. A Porsche is either worth it to the prospective buyer or it isn’t; he can’t justify the price tag by the way the body tucks under at the rear or by the way the steering wheel fits in his hands or the way the engine settles in for a drive through a rain-filled afternoon. But let’s see what he gets for his money.
Body
The 911’s eye-catching body is distinctive—slimmer, trimmer, yet obviously Porsche. While not as revolu­tionary as the original 356 design was in its day, the 911’s shape is far less controversial and slightly more aerodynamic. Though frontal area has grown, a lower drag coefficient (.38 vs. .398) allows it to reach a top speed of 130 mph on only 148 hp. It ought to weather the years without looking dated. Compared to the cur­rent 356 body, the 911 is five inches longer (on a four-inch longer wheelbase), three inches narrower (on a one-inch wider track) and just about the same height. The body structure is still unitized, built up of in­numerable, complicated steel stampings welded to­gether (with the exception of the front fenders which are now bolted on for easier repair of minor accidents). The glass area and luggage space have been increased 58% and 186%, respectively, and the turning circle is a bit tighter. The fully-trimmed (with cocoa mats) trunk will hold enough for a week’s vacation for two; additional space is available in the rear seat area. The trunk and engine lids can be opened to any angle and held by counter-springs and telescopic dampers—a nice touch. These lids, as well as the doors, are larger than the old Porsche’s, making access to the innards much less awkward. The gas filler cap nestles under a trap-door in the left fender, and the engine lid release is hidden away in the left door post.
The generous expanse of glass area does wonders for the rearward vision; all-around visibility is comparable to a normal front-engined car. The bumpers are well-integrated with the body, though provide barely adequate protection from those who park by ear. The standard appointments are lush and extensive: two heater/defrosters, padded sun-visors with vanity mir­ror, map and courtesy lights, 3-speed windshield wipers, 4-nozzle windshield washers, chrome wheels, belted tires, two fog lamps, a back-up light and a beau­tiful wood-rim steering wheel. About the only options we’d like are seat belts (for which massive, forged eye­bolts are provided), a radio and a fender mirror. Fitted luggage and factory-installed air-conditioning will be available shortly, we’re told.

Specifications

SPECIFICATIONS
1965 Porsche 911
VEHICLE TYPE rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2+2-passenger, 2-door coupe
PRICE AS TESTED$6,490
ENGINE TYPE flat-6 engineDisplacement 121.5 in3, 1991 cm3Power 148 hp @ 6100 rpmTorque 140 lb-ft @ 4200 rpm
TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual
DIMENSIONSWheelbase: 87.1 inLength: 164.0 inWidth: 63.4 inHeight: 51.9 inCurb weight: 2376 lb
C/D TEST RESULTSZero to 60 mph: 7.0 secZero to 100 mph: 20.0 secStanding ¼-mile: 15.6 sec @ 90 mphTop speed: 130 mph
FUEL ECONOMYEPA city/highway: 16/24 mpg

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