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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

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2005. - 2011.
C - Small family car
sedan, 4 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2004. - 2007.
C - Small family car
sedan, 4 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4554 mm
1781 mm
1459 mm
527 liters
527 liters
55 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4468 mm
1770 mm
1452 mm
404 liters
883 liters
55 liters
2005 Volkswagen Jetta
2004 Volvo S40

Engine

Volkswagen
2.0 TDI BMN
Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1968 cc
170 hp
350 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Peugeot / Ford
2.0 DW10 BTED4 / RHR
Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1997 cc
136 hp
320 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 6 gears
1377 kg
8.6 s
222 km/h
7.9 l/100km
4.8 l/100km
5.9 l/100km
156 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1363 kg
9.5 s
210 km/h
7.5 l/100km
4.5 l/100km
5.6 l/100km
148 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 6 gears
1415 kg
8.5 s
220 km/h
7.3 l/100km
4.8 l/100km
5.7 l/100km
154 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Expenses

2200 EUR
Price from
3000 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the small family car segment and utilize the same 4-door sedan body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific diesel engine choice they offer. The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 170hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 136hp engine designed by Peugeot.

Safety

The fact that the Volvo got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, puts it sky-high safety-wise, in my eyes at least. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. Furthermore, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the German car offers a marginal difference of 1% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Volkswagen with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Volvo badge with 4.6 out of 5. Some independent research have also placed Jetta as average reliability-wise, and S40 is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 4.2 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

Volkswagen is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.9 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 222 kilometers per hour, 12km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy things look pretty much the same for both cars, averaging around 5.8 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (49 mpg), in combined cycle.


Verdict

Volvo appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the Swedish car beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. From there things take a different direction, with Volkswagen offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Volvo. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.

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