C30 - T5 vs D5 vs 2.0d vs 2.0

[captainc]

Hello all,

With the wife having purchased a mum-truck, it frees me up to chop-in the large estate car for something smaller and hopefully with a dash of fun. The C30 looks to fit the bill for us as it has quirky styling (a bit marmite, I'd guess), small yet can fit four, and has a comfier / less in-your-face interior than the hot-hatch brigade.

Would appreciate any real world thoughts of living with the various engines types which might give a better insight than the 15 minute test drive I'd get. It'll be covering ~15k miles per year, a fair amount of motorway in the week and then town/twisties at the weekend.

My own thoughts to date:

T5: Probably madness to consider due to the annual mileage, but the heart is drawn to this one as previously owned a Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo. Worth noting that the large estate only manages about 38mpg, so if this gets anywhere close to that with sensible motorway driving it might not be out of the equation.

D5: Did have a 2003 S60 D5 manual once, was nice and smooth but always felt a little sluggish so not sure how it sits in the C30.

2.0d: Owned a V50 2.0d a while ago, felt quite rough and ready compared to the D5 but also felt quicker (although stats wouldn't suggest this).

2.0: Haven't owned a petrol for a while, but if the published MPG of 38 combined is true then this would match my current diesel barge without the DPF and other diesel related woes.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

[Sasha94]

Tbh, 15k a year it's gotta be the D5, with a little remap they are weapons with in gear pace, not great from a standing start especially the auto with its torque reducer in the first 2 gears but once it gets going it's a nicer drive than the T5 I think. 2.0 Mazda MZR engine is a bit flat tbh and it's better suited to the MX-5 it came from with a very high revving cruising speed. 2.0D yeah I have one too and I love it but given the money they are boring and they don't suit the C30, my 1.6 one is too slow, it should have a 5 cylinder engine IMO to separate it from the S40 and V50 which are sensible family cars where the 2.0D has a more sensible home. Like the C70, C30's really work with 5 cylinders and the D5 is the more rounded choice :)

[mpt]

What about a T5 and LPG conversion? You would lose boot space but theres not much in those anyway, plus petrols especially larger engined ones tend to be cheaper to buy than diesels.

If its mostly motorway driving you might be surprised how economical the T5 is. We have an S60 T5 auto and that does upto about 34mpg on my work journey which is about 18miles on Mway.

[dme123]

For me 70% of the appeal of a Volvo is the charisma of the 5 pot engine, and I have been amazed at how enjoyable the D5 is to drive in my C70 and what a fantastic dirty noise it makes when you're giving it what for.

At 15K a year including the extra road tax a T5 will cost you about £50 extra a month to run with todays fuel prices, but a D5 has the potential for bigger bills. Probably not £1800 of extra bills over 3 years though, so it will be cheaper to run.

I do about 22k a year and the savings were a bit bigger, but I still often wish I'd got a T5 manual. The very short 1st and 2nd gear with the D5 are irritating, and it's really very gruff. FWIW I hit absolutely bang on the stated fuel economy of 43mpg in mixed driving with my manual D5 C70, with an MTE remap to 225bhp or so. Steady state 60MPH cruise on the motorway gets mid to high 50s believe it or not. The autos are much worse for economy and also performance as the engine is detuned from 400NM or torque to 350NM and further restricted in the lower gears.

Also worth considering that unless the market changes a D5 will always be easier to shift on when you're done than a T5 and will probably retain more value. Shifting an old car with a large and thirsty petrol engine is no fun at all. Doesn't matter if you're keeping it a while though.

[marc]

I've had the 2.0D and it was a great engine and felt much more powerful that it really was. I've now got the D5 and love it, the sound and the torque are intoxicating and it's more than a match for many of the "hot hatches" out there.

[captainc]

Thanks for the input, I think that you are right that a diesel probably makes more financial sense *sigh* (head gives heart a good talking to, and puts it in it's place).

D5's seem to be pretty rare beasts - and I right in thinking that the newer D3 and D4's are also 5-pot? That might widen the pool ...

Cheers

[Sasha94]

Yes the D3 and D4 2.0 engines are stroked versions of the D5 and they seem to be quieter and less gruff. I've been driving V70's with these engines and although the 2.0 engines are quieter but the 2.4 is much stronger!

[D5C30]

I've had experience with 3 diesel engines. My first C30 was a 1.6D which was a good engine and had enough power but obviously wasn't the quickest at 109bhp. My D5 is a very very very good engine, very powerful and fun to drive, lots of torque and sounds beautiful. I now have polestar on it and it completely transformed it, it's much more free revving.

The 2.0d, I've never driven but my dad had a v50 and now an s80 with it in and it's plenty powerful, quite refined and generally the best blend of power and economy.

In my experience all 3 get very similar MPG, all within about 10 of each other.

From what I've heard the D4 gets slightly better MPG than the D5.

A C30 you can't go wrong with. People will probably try to put you off by telling you it's a Ford underneath, IMO it's nothing to be put off by and in truth it's only the chassis and a few bits they have in common. Even the Ford/PSA derived engines are modified by Volvo to their own spec.

In my experience with them the DPFs are very solid and not a hassle like with some marques. The 1.6d and some 2.0ds have a wet one with needs the fluid replacing every 37.5k and a new system at 75k so they come up for sale cheap at that mileage. The D5, D4, D3 and D2 all have dry ones which don't need to be replaced and as long as you don't abuse it should be fine.

The D5 was replaced by the D4 and D3 in 2010 so you won't be able to find anything newer than a 10 plate with one.

[fenton_jd]

If I had to buy another S40/V50/C30, it'd be another T5.

Fuel economy is very poor, but they're reliable so the cost weighs up.

Needs a remap if you want Coupe 20VT performance though... those things are very quick even today.

[marc]

Another thing to take in to account, the D3 and D4 are the same apart from the state of tune so if you were looking at tuning, you'll get just as much out of the D3 as you could out of the D4. It's been mentioned that the D3 and D4 are more refined than the D5, smoother and more economical.

[captainc]

Thanks everyone - think I'm pretty settled on getting a D5 (or 3/4 but tight on budget), now just need to hunt one down!