If you scan the insurance claims data numbers at IIHS, http://www.iihs.org/ the S40 isn't amazingly safe, either. (It's small.) It's not actually bad, it's just not amazing. It has the usual disadvantage of a Volvo in that it's not the best for reliability and costs an arm and a leg to fix.

CR actually recommended the '00 S70 and '02 S60 as of this past April. They are both larger.

As a "first car" I might gravitate towards something that's very large and very cheap.

-BTC

'98 V70 T5 5-speed, 173k mi, heated velour cloth comfy chairs, factory HD suspension, Bilstein HD, front IPD stabilizer bar, Volvo strut tower brace and skidplate, XC grill, C70 jewel E-Codes, V-1, Lidatek, IPD stuff, JB Weld, Original Duck tape, zip-ties, two '06 Honda license plate nut impressions in back bumper (gift from daughter), Mobil-1 since new.

"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair." - Douglas Noel Adams (1952 - 2001)