Volvo S40 R-Design

Authorized Volvo dealer, Swedish Marque Sdn Bhd, is offering a deal for buyers of the Volvo S40 available exclusively only in their branch at Jalan Dua, Sg Besi. Now, if you walk into the premises of the other dealers enquiring about the S40, you will be getting a pricelist offering the S40 at a price of RM169k (OTR w/o insurance). Quite affordable for a Volvo.

The car on offer would be a bog standard S40 with its sweet-revving 2,435cc five-potter pumping out 170hp @ 6,000rpm and 230Nm @ 4,400rpm. Mated to it is a 5-speed automatic with manual override, which Volvo terms as the Geartronic. Swedish Marque is offering the same, but with them, you can have them to slap a full on R-Design bodykit for a fiercer look on your S40.

Pretty much like the M-Sport, AMG Sport, TRD Sportivo and Honda Modulo bodykits, the Volvo R-Design package offered by Swedish Marque is almost a purely cosmetic enhancement, though it’s a well-executed one. It costs an extra RM30k over the standard S40, but you get full R-Design bodykit, an R-Design badge stamped on the front grille and matt chrome finish on the side mirrors. Together with the 18″ Midea alloys, these enhancements give the S40 a far more menacing look than the standard version.

S40 looks much fiercer with R-Design enhancements

Inside, you get a sportier looking R-Design steering wheel and a blue-face meter cluster. Little else was changed, but that’s because the standard S40 cabin, despite its age, is one of the best looking interiors around. We find the price hike from the standard S40 to be a little on the steep side, but it is nevertheless one of the more tastefully executed bodykits available on the market.

The interior after receiving the R-Design treatment.

A standard S40 actually makes more sense, but if you’re looking to spice up your Volvo’s look anyway, and such exercises don’t come cheap, this would in some way be RM30k well spent.