Declan Colley: Volvo V40 holds its own in premium compact sector

It is amazing — even in this ever-changing world of ours — how the sands of time shift so quickly. Who, 20 years ago for example, would have predicted that after the explosion in the SUV/crossover market, that there would be a savage spurt in sales in what is now known as the premium compact segment.

Indeed the whole concept of a premium compact car was not even thought of until Audi launched the A3 range in 1996 and while the idea of forking out larger amounts of money than you might have expected for a Golf/Focus sized car might have made some laugh heartily, the concept actually took such a hold that all of a sudden there were a load of manufacturers on the bandwagon.

You had BMW and Mercedes follow suit and, interestingly, Volvo which, at the time was still under the stewardship of Ford and their contender, the V40, was basically an upmarket iteration of the Focus, built as it was with a host of the Ford’s running gear.