2005 Volvo V50 Review at Automotive.com
»Locate a Dealer»Find a Used Car»Get Financing
Volvo
V50
2005

2005 Volvo V50 Review

Read a comprehensive review of the 2005 Volvo V50 by one of the automobile experts at Automotive.com. Find an analysis of the test drive, the interior and exterior of the vehicle, specs, options, features and more. Learn how the industry leaders rated ...     read more
Find a Car
 

2005 Volvo V50 Review

A safe investment.
It shouldn't counter intuition that Volvo isn't the biggest risk-taker. Like other European automakers, these successful Swedes had long been aching to expand downmarket but weren't willing to go it alone. So at the turn of the millennium, Volvo tiptoed into the small luxury segment with the S40. Taking little part in the project, Volvo mostly rebadged something called the Mitsubishi Carisma, a car many saw as lacking in the very quality it misspelled. Just to cite one opinion, British magazine Car declared it one of the eight worst cars in all of England (the worst having been the Camaro).

But Volvo's getting more selective about its partners. Okay, maybe the fact that Ford swallowed them a few years ago had some influence, but in any case the new generation of S40 sedans and V50 wagons (Volvo now adds 10 to wagon names) has a big chunk of Ford Focus running gear underneath. That's the new overseas Focus, not the revised first-generation car Ford still sells here. However, Volvo strapped in their very own engines, threw in two stickshifts, and made all-wheel-drive optional - all marked advances over the previous 1.9-liter turbo 4 that struggled to push the front wheels through a 4-speed auto. The platform's completely different and most of the car is now put together in the world waffle capital, Belgium. Still, the question remains: would this be another pseudo-luxury car unable to escape its humble origins, or did a deserving piece of machinery somehow emerge?
Review Sections
•Introduction
•Road Test
•Inside and Out
•Other Thoughts
•Last Word
Get Your Free Quote on a Volvo V50
Only one way to find out. Next Page


Community Comments
No one has commented on this article yet. Why not be the first to leave a comment?

Add a Comment (Must Be Registered)
User Name
Not Registered? Signup Here
Password
Comment
   (1024 character limit)
2005 Volvo V50