Fuel consumption question

[volvicvolvo]

First things first. . .Hello, this is my first post on this forum since joining some 15 minutes ago!!

I have just bought an S80 D5 SE gear/t, its and ex-demo with 5000miles on the clock. It really is a beautiful car! . . .apart from one thing. . .the fuel consumption.

I live 12 miles from my place of work, with about 9 miles of that on dual carriageway and not in rush hour stop start traffic. I am taking it easy in the car ie. not squirting the taxmans favourite pedal! On this journey I average 28mpg. Is this normal when the brochure states 38.? mpg. I can accept a few miles mpg +/- but 10 mpg at these fuel prices!!?? MMmmm

I last filled up the tank after driving 286miles and it took 49ltr to brim the tank full, so by my reckoning (which has been known to fail me now and again!) it works out at around 26 to 28 mpg. . . . (scarey)


The dealership tells me that the D5 engines need running in for about 10000miles and then the mpg 'strangely' improves? But by that time I could well be bankrupt!! Do I believe them or not, hence my post. . .

Has any other D5 users had a similar problem?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

[CTCNetwork]

Hi,

Search for d5 and mpg from the "Search" link above.
You'll find topics like this:
Linky (http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=49537&highlight=d5+mpg)....

Also, just a suggestion, but there is no need to post twice as you could have edited your first post.. :)

12 miles? The car has bearly warmed up by then..
Hope you find the answer you're looking for... :)

Des. . . ;)

[volvicvolvo]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I have searched the forums but I cant find anything that really hits the nails on the head to answer my answer. . . .

I have driven the car on longer journeys (mixed A roads) but the average mpg does not improve.

Are there any S80 D5 car owners out there that can comment?

(Please??)

[volvicvolvo]

Yeah, sorry about the second post. . . .I blame Windows ! !

[CTCNetwork]

Hi,
Yeah, sorry about the second post. . . .I blame Windows ! !
I blame windows all the time.. :lol:

Persevere with the search in the mean time (maybe try variation on the search terms).
I have seen something posted about a similar issue of D5 mpg before.
Once before, I know and possibly early last year...

Unless some knowledgeable D5 fan adds to this.. :)

Des. . . ;)

[jor]

Search with "D5 fuel" and you will find a thread on consumption with several replies from D5 owners, many reporting over 40 mpg on mixed driving. Have a look through the diesel section as well, there is a fair bit on the D5 to read about, but don't take it too personally, as you don't have anything nasty like error codes to worry about and a good thing too as the price of injectors is awe inspiring.


john

[JackT5]

As an 02 S80 SE owner my workplace is 3 miles from home and that coupled with the weekend 6 mile shopping trip to town and 4 or 5 miles round town gives me an average of 34mpg, shown on the display i must admit and not done on a brim to brim calculation. What does the instantaneous mpg show on the dual carriageway section of your journey?

[Stanleyturbo]

Hi, I dont have a D5 but thought you might like to know that your not alone with rubbish fuel economy when a diesel has done less than 10k, my father bought a Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi (130Bhp) on a 03 plate, the book quoted around 50MPG Combined and 55+mpgs on a run, for the first couple of tanks Dad was averaging between 35-38mpg, after 3-4K was on the clock he was seeing 40-42Mpg, and as it got closer to 10K the consumption was nearing what was quoted in the handbook. Now done 60k+ miles hes averaging nearly 60mpgs if hes carefull on a run and between 48 and 52 combined.

Also,

A mate of mine has a 55plate 1.8TDCi Focus as a work hack and reported a very similar problem of around 10mpgs short of what the handbook was saying for the first 10k miles or so now and was begging to wonder if he had made the right choice of car? I told him he should have bought a Volvo! Lol! the Focus has now done 70K+ miles and hes returning pretty much what the hand book suggests, so my advice would be not to panic and just try and sit back and enjoy the next 5k miles or so ignoring the fuel drinking habit and see what happens, and to be honest I'd be VERY interested to here the results as Im pretty much set on buying a D5 of some shape in the next year myself!

Good Luck!

Stanley

P.S, this might make you feel better, I Own a 2.5T V70 Auto, I get 16-18Mpgs around town! And the Head Gaskets just gone! D'Oh!!

[Clan]

First things first. . .Hello, this is my first post on this forum since joining some 15 minutes ago!!

I have just bought an S80 D5 SE gear/t, its and ex-demo with 5000miles on the clock. It really is a beautiful car! . . .apart from one thing. . .the fuel consumption.

I live 12 miles from my place of work, with about 9 miles of that on dual carriageway and not in rush hour stop start traffic. I am taking it easy in the car ie. not squirting the taxmans favourite pedal! On this journey I average 28mpg. Is this normal when the brochure states 38.? mpg. I can accept a few miles mpg +/- but 10 mpg at these fuel prices!!?? MMmmm

I last filled up the tank after driving 286miles and it took 49ltr to brim the tank full, so by my reckoning (which has been known to fail me now and again!) it works out at around 26 to 28 mpg. . . . (scarey)


The dealership tells me that the D5 engines need running in for about 10000miles and then the mpg 'strangely' improves? But by that time I could well be bankrupt!! Do I believe them or not, hence my post. . .

Has any other D5 users had a similar problem?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!


That is probably the worst figure i have seen on a V70 D5 , but about average for an XC90 D5 .

Once you have the first 18000 service it will improve . But driving style has a big effect , are you making full use of it's acceleration as it is a novelty at present ? set the readout to instantaneous mpg and keep an eye on it for some days that will show you the areas when mpg is poor and you can adjust driving to suit . Don't forget to reset the average mpg for each journey to check for improvments on a daily basis , do you have any long hills to go up on your route ? Staying at 50 mph is not the way to get good mpg , if you can get to 70 for long periods it will make a big improvment .

Your low mpg is not typical , most averarge mid 40's with everyday use and on long motorway runs 50+ is possible with the 163 bhp version. If i drove a
D5 hard everywhere i would expect 30 mpg .

[T_Rifles]

I have used 2 new S80 D5 Geartronics, I do 100 miles a day, all good flowing roads and get 38mpg. I think the particulate filter makes a big difference.

My S60 auto before did 50 mpg over 70k miles. I seem to remember that improved from early 40s over the years.

With your short journey your mpg is not surprising.

[JIM C]

My S60 D5 I get 42 mpg dong a 12 mile run to work in mixed traffic and middle to high 40`s on longer runs.

[RoyMacDonald]

I've said this before but diesels mpg gets better over the whole life of the engine. An accountant did a complete mpg check on his car (Citroen AX) from new to 200,000 miles and his car went from 40 mpg to 64 mpg. However it always fell by some 20 % in the winter because of the cold weather. The manufactures and Government never tell you this.

To sum up I think it's because your engine is new and the weather is cold and you are checking short journey runs.

You could check your brakes arn't binding to be on the safe side if you want. Chock the car and jack each wheel and make sure it spins freely.

Roy

[Alec Dawe]

My V70 D5 Geartronic with 24000 miles on it when I bought it in December was doing about 34mpg on mixed driving, gradually improving all the time. Got 42mpg out of her on Sunday to Ipswich and back (90 miles, country lanes, main road, and about 12 miles of dual carriageway), now getting round 38 in in mixed country lanes, bit of dual carriageway and in town driving.
A good booting up the dual carriageway resulted in a clear out (judging by the smoke!), and better running, and improved economy. No more smoke either, so what was there has gone away!
It may be that yours, being an ex-demo if I read the post right, has been pussy-footed with all its life, and might benefit from a bit of a thrash to blow the cobwebs out.
Mine seems happiest at about 76mph for cruising

[oilburner]

I drove my last diesel (not a D5 mind) from 17k to 50k miles and the average fuel economy picked up from 47 to 52mpg over that distance. Driving conditions and style remained the same.

Sometimes you just have to be patient and let the engine wear itself in a bit? Try giving it some welly (when warm) for a couple of weeks and see if that helps bed everything in a bit better.

I would expect with the distance you're driving and the regular regeneration of the DPF that you should get around 32-35mpg on a run in engine if you're reasonably careful with the loudness pedal! My Euro III with auto only manages 40mpg in near perfect long motorway/dual carriageway runs and very little urban driving at all.

[Clan]

I would expect with the distance you're driving and the regular regeneration of the DPF that you should get around 32-35mpg on a run in engine if you're reasonably careful with the loudness pedal! My Euro III with auto only manages 40mpg in near perfect long motorway/dual carriageway runs and very little urban driving at all.

With that figure and bearing in mind the fuel price differential , you'd be better off with a petrol :car:

[petec]

hi i drive a d5 xc70 2005, distance to work 11 mile all stop start in traffic at the moment i am getting 36.6 mpg this increases to around 40 in the summer, car has now done 37k but dont remember fuel consumption ever being realy poor even with my twin axel caravan in tow i still get near the 30mpg mark.

keep an eye on your figures if your not happy try talking to your local dealer.
good luck

[oilburner]

With that figure and bearing in mind the fuel price differential , you'd be better off with a petrol :car:

I don't think I would (on local prices):

18k miles per year at 40mpg and 1.089p litre = £186pm

18k miles per year at 28mpg (2.4 auto petrol) and 1.059p litre = £258pm

For the OP poster I guess it would be more marginal however...I wonder what the 3.2 petrol would do in that driving? Anything less than 27mpg and the D5 will still save money!

The official combined is about 27 for the 3.2, if that was 10mpg worse for the original poster (like the D5) then they would only be getting 17mpg! Suddenly the D5 looks attractive again! :)

[Bernard333]

I have run a V70 D5 from new to 117k miles over four years and logged all fuel in a spread sheet , up to 10k miles the consumption gradually improved from 45mpg to an average of 55 mpg the lowest figures being in the mid 20s when doing 120mph plus on the autobahn and as high as 75mpg on 200 plus mile journeys Liverpool to Glasgow. The fuel economy is now definitely deteriorating since passing 110k miles down to an average of 50mpg and now difficult to acheive 60mpg on long runs which was quite easy earlier in its life . Mainly do calculations on a tank to tank basis but also a moving average over 5000 mile slots . Car is normally fully loaded either with 5 passengers or 500kG of load . If I cannnot continue to keep the mpg averaging over 50 then I will get rid , may consider another one as the running costs of my V70 have been very minimal and these are great workhorses. My company run quite a few Volvos and an economy minded colleague gets average 55mpg from his 2004 S80 D5 but this is on journeys like my own sometimes 500 miles plus in one day so the engine is hot most of the time . I would be interested to know from anyone what you can do to keep or improve the fuel consumption figures apart from the obvious driving techniques .

[Alec Dawe]

Improving your fuel consumptionafter 100K+? I think that there is a thread on the forum somewhere on cleaning out the air mixer box on the front of the engine. If full of crud, this seems to have a nasty effect on fuel consumption (reportedly) and cleaning it up is not a long nor terrible complicated job (after all, Mo did it!.... sorry Mo!).
Must be worth a look one Sunday morning when the weather warms up a bit?

[RoyMacDonald]

I have run a V70 D5 from new to 117k miles over four years and logged all fuel in a spread sheet , up to 10k miles the consumption gradually improved from 45mpg to an average of 55 mpg the lowest figures being in the mid 20s when doing 120mph plus on the autobahn and as high as 75mpg on 200 plus mile journeys Liverpool to Glasgow. The fuel economy is now definitely deteriorating since passing 110k miles down to an average of 50mpg and now difficult to acheive 60mpg on long runs which was quite easy earlier in its life . Mainly do calculations on a tank to tank basis but also a moving average over 5000 mile slots . Car is normally fully loaded either with 5 passengers or 500kG of load . If I cannnot continue to keep the mpg averaging over 50 then I will get rid , may consider another one as the running costs of my V70 have been very minimal and these are great workhorses. My company run quite a few Volvos and an economy minded colleague gets average 55mpg from his 2004 S80 D5 but this is on journeys like my own sometimes 500 miles plus in one day so the engine is hot most of the time . I would be interested to know from anyone what you can do to keep or improve the fuel consumption figures apart from the obvious driving techniques .

Bernard, your mpg should not be falling so I suspect that there is something causing it. The mpg on my 940 TD fell at around 120,000 and it took a diesel specialist to find and cure it after which it was better than ever and still improving when I sold it at 165,000. I won't bother to go into details as it's a very different engine and electronic setup to the D5.

Diesel Car mag published the records of an accountant who kept his car for 200,000 miles from new, recording the mpg for every tank of fuel it used. This showed an increase for the whole life of the vehicle from new. It went from 46 to 64 mpg.

Has the air mixer box ever been cleaned? Having seen the state of members engines posted here that would be good culprit to start with. Run a search on Air Mixer Box to see what I mean. Check the brakes aren't binding at all of course, make sure the wheels all spin freely. Even slight drag will cane the fuel consumtion. Then maybe take a look at the head and injectors if all else fails. I feel sure you will find a fault at some point. Diesel engines should carry on giving good fuel consumption for many years if they are properly looked after.

Roy

[RoyMacDonald]

Great minds think alike Alex.....You posted while I was still typing my post. :-)

Roy

[Sid60ish]

As others have said; diesels do give improved economy as time goes by. My previous Skoda TDi improved markedly from 10k miles on. My S60 D5 is getting better as 10k approaches. Stick with it; I'm sure you get happier but bear in mind you're driving a large car with an auto 'box.

However, bear in mind that official MPG figures are based on specific test protocols and real-world driving conditions almost never replicate them. An article I read recently suggested that most true car economy figures were around 8% less than manufacturers' claims. This is not the manufacturers' fault. They can only report figures based on formal EU test methods. Apparently, the manufacturers are trying to get the tests changed to better reflect real-world driving as, of course, they get all the hassle of disgruntled owners complaining of "poor" economy. :realmad:

There's nothing worse than a Volvo owner who's gruntle has been dissed. :hidesbehindsofa:

[Chris139]

Yes, it is a large car with an autobox. My S60 D5 geartronic (2003, 163bhp with 40,000 miles) averages in the early 40's but I only live 3 miles from work. On a run it will do over 50mpg.
Collegues are always suprised that it isn't better but they are comparing other makes that have 2 litre units with 90bhp - 130bhp (Ford, Citroen, VW etc). The D5 is larger with an extra cylinder to feed and the power is between 163-185 bhp.

Anyone have the 1.6D V50 that they can comment about ?

Regards,

Chris

[lowranger]

That is probably the worst figure i have seen on a V70 D5 , but about average for an XC90 D5 .

Once you have the first 18000 service it will improve . But driving style has a big effect , are you making full use of it's acceleration as it is a novelty at present ? set the readout to instantaneous mpg and keep an eye on it for some days that will show you the areas when mpg is poor and you can adjust driving to suit . Don't forget to reset the average mpg for each journey to check for improvments on a daily basis , do you have any long hills to go up on your route ? Staying at 50 mph is not the way to get good mpg , if you can get to 70 for long periods it will make a big improvment .

Your low mpg is not typical , most averarge mid 40's with everyday use and on long motorway runs 50+ is possible with the 163 bhp version. If i drove a
D5 hard everywhere i would expect 30 mpg .

D5 V70: I agree well worth watching the instantaneous mpg, just by easing off very slightly you can make big differances to consumption. Use it's acceleration and you can see where the fuel is going.
Best average I've ever had (on the cars own calculation) so far has been 70mpg! That was cruising on open A roads about 55mph probabley with a tail wind! A 75mph motorway run shows 48mpg and a 65 mph motorway run 56mpg. I've found using cruise will also make it use more fuel as its maintaining speed up hills where if you're looking for economy you could ease off a little.
Our all round average seems to be about 37mpg on day to day runs to work so I'm pleased with the consumption for the size of the car.

[jackass]

My D5 S60 G/tronic averages about 35mpg on my commute (17 miles with a mix of fast a-road and stationary traffic).

Driving home from the petrol station last weekend (about 15 miles again as i'd gone shopping) I only managed 28mpg and that was all dual carriageways.

As mentioned, watching the instantaneous can help - you can easily hit <20mpg accelerating from 60mph to 70mph if you are aggressive or you can stay the right side of 30mph without a great reduction in performance.

On a trip to Scotland (~500miles) I managed to average 48mpg, including a B-road blast from Matlock to Edinburgh (with the gearbox locked in 4th).

[S60D5NI]

Just new to the site - so sorry for what seems a late response to this thread.

I have an S60 D5 185 manual with 11k on the clock. Use consists of daily commute of around 10 miles each way in mixed traffic and weekend trips to the shops etc. On average I would see 42 MPG. During the week this would be as high as 48, but weekend short start-stop trips will pull it back overall. I still enjoy the oomph factor and if you use it, you loose it (i.e. use the oomph loose the MPG). With very light throttle and limited hold-ups, I have seen as high as 52 MPG on the commute, so it is possible if your restrained!

A few thoughs (especially given your post was in January) -
The diesel you buy in winter is not the same as summer - it contains additional anti-waxing agents which lower its CV (claorific value) meaning MPG will be less.
Winter driving will mean lower MPG - cold starts is an obvious direct contributor, but wet roads also add to the drag of the tyres so pulling MPG down. This is especially true with the wide section tyres manufacturers now fit.

I ran a TDI Passat for many years. In winter I would see an average of just over 40 MPG, but same use in summer would see this increase to 48 MPG.

So.... let her run in a bit more an see what the summer brings - it should improve!

[Stuart Salter]

I put 70 litres in and did 551 miles in my s60 d5 auto with 151k the computer said that mpg was in the late 40s.

I worked it out and it was about 35 mpg, not bad but not good either.

Are these tuning boxes any good for fuel economy?

[Model flyer]

Hi . I have a V70 D5 02/03 model . I regularly get 42 to 44 MPG . I dont have the infomation /MPG cmputer fitted so have to do it the old fashioned way i.e fill up to brim ,record milage and fill to brim again then calculate the milage. I was suprised when I towed my caravan the first time as it returned 30MPG excellent!. My car has done 154000 so is well run in . Hope the MPG improves .

[carcomm]

I have recently bought a 2007 S80 2.4D with 25000 miles.

I've previously owned 2 original model S80 D5, firstly a 2003 manual & then a 2005 geartronic, I've also owned a V70 D5.

With both of the old cars i was geting a typical average fuel consumption of 45 - 50mpg on longer trips & around 38 on local use.

The new model is lovely, however over the last three tank-fulls I'm averaging just 27mpg.

The dealer has checked the car & can't find any problems. If anything I'm driving more gently than normal now - trying to improve consumption.

I've seen a few similar threads but has anyone solved the problem or are any S80 owners getting much better MPG? What should I expect? I was certainly hoping for 40mpg +.

[oilburner]

From my experience:

Old 2005 S80 D5 auto does 25mpg around town, 35 combined and around 45 on a long 70mph run

New 2008 S80 D5 g/tronic does 18mpg around town, 28mpg combined and around 37 on a long 70mph run

The old D5 is mine and has done around 39k miles now, the new D5 was a loan car and I ran it from 100 to 2k miles, so wasn't fully run in when I parted ways with it. Being so heavy, I doubt it would improve much over time.

[dodgyken]

As mentioned in pretty much all other threads on D5 economy.

The Volvo numbers are pretty ambitious.

At a steady 70mph on the motorway the car returns around 47mpg. As soon as you step off that drops considerably.

Mixed driving I get around 35-36mpg - soley town work and it around 25-26mpg. All well short of the claims.

So why is that bad? I reckon the weight of the car (1800KG+) contributes massively. The gearbox allows pretty rapid acceleration when required - and 6th is setup for steady motorway cruises. The engine also seems to take about 20 minutes or so to get really warm.

And finally my economy has improved over the last 12000 miles - although I am not expecting miracles.

The car is still an absolutely superb place to be.

[4wheeldriver]

You think Volvos fuel figures are inflated you should try Audi!! Quoted 46 mpg for the 3.0 tdi Quattro. Actual figure on a run out with it 32 mpg. According to Audi dealer you should never take the extra urban figure as realistic but expect to get the Combined figure out on a long run. Local Volvo dealer told me the same although with my last 2 before the xc90 I found them to be quite close. S60 did 42 (50 in the book) fully loaded and my t4 before that got 35 on motorway.

[RoyMacDonald]

You think Volvos fuel figures are inflated you should try Audi!! Quoted 46 mpg for the 3.0 tdi Quattro. Actual figure on a run out with it 32 mpg. According to Audi dealer you should never take the extra urban figure as realistic but expect to get the Combined figure out on a long run. Local Volvo dealer told me the same although with my last 2 before the xc90 I found them to be quite close. S60 did 42 (50 in the book) fully loaded and my t4 before that got 35 on motorway.


I do tank to tank calculations and occasionally the electronic readout on my XC90 D5 is accurate. Generally it is optimistic though. (about 2.4mpg)

Roy

[rogo]

After reading this thread, I'm going to talk to my Volvo garage.

My XC90 D5 has done over 20,000 miles now, coming up to 2yrs old. My average mpg, doing fairly conservative driving is 26mpg.

Even on a long cruise at 70mph for a couple of hours on a motorway, I've never got an average above 29mpg. The best ever was about 28.6mpg when I sat at 65mph like an idiot for 2 hours as trucks and caravans overtook me!

My tyre pressures are OK (but not over-inflated which I now might help). I'm also not carrying excess weight in the car. I'm just glad diesel is under £1 a litre again...

[Tigerseye]

My Volvo is on order so cannot yet comment on its MPG but my current car is a Honda CRV 2.2d and I will usually get around 40mpg with average driving over mixed roads.
As someone has already mentioned, this is around the claimed combined figure, though doesn't really vary too much between town and motorway driving. (There again, how accurate is the on-board computer?).
I think these figures are good but what I find interesting is that the figures vary significantly depending on how you drive at the beginning of a journey. If I reset the computer showing average MPG and for the first ten miles of a journey I drive very steadily I will achieve a good MPG read-out. However, if I am heavy-footed in those first ten miles the readings will be poor, even if I go on to drive a further 200 miles. So maybe you can 'trick' the readout.

[tisme]

I don't know how much difference there is between the S80 and S60 but I get 40+ running around in my S60 D5 and about 55 on a run doing 75ish.
Probably not relevent.

[filsdelle]

As mentioned in pretty much all other threads on D5 economy.

And finally my economy has improved over the last 12000 miles - although I am not expecting miracles.

The car is still an absolutely superb place to be.

My 2005 D5 V70 gives me on average 33mpg around town, I only travel 6miles to work so not even warmed up. On a run it gives 49mpg at 70/80mph. I have had her from new and have only covered 38000, so still running in I guess.

[RJNEEDHAM]

Have to agree with all the other replies. Low mileage diesels can give lower mpg and it depends on the road and driving styles. Many engines don't loosen up until 30k. Diesel engines that don't get a good run and do short journeys foul up quickly. An ex demo may suffer from this and you are doing only short journeys. However, I can recommend a fuel treatment to SAFELY clean up your engine. Either Texaco's own or Valvoline - choose the premium grade as there are two for each fuel type. These use the same additives in a concentrated form as is found in V-Power and Ultimate. Add this as directed and take it for an Italian tune up - high revs when hot. This may help to increase mpg a little once its all cleaned up. Next, use a premium grade diesel to keep it clean. Supermarket and cheap fuel do not have the additive systems that are used in the premium grades such as V-Power and BP Ultimate. I have tested these over the years of many thousands of miles on 3 - 4 cars and return 10% higher mpg's and they are not 10% more costly. Plus they protect the fuel system from tank to exhaust.
Check all the other obvious things too but I belive in time you will improve mpg. Good Luck!

[NewVolvo]

My new XC60 has now got 2600 miles on the clock and average is still around 31.5mpg. At a steady 80 I get approx 38-42mpg which I don't think is bad for a car of this size and weight.

Wife's S40 2.0D Powershift has so far an avg of 47.4mpg and motorway runs regualy see 60+mpg on the onboard computer.

[RoyMacDonald]

My 03 XC90 D5 with about 53,000 on the clock, averaged 45.8 mpg on my annual motorway run to Scotland this year. The mpg is getting better as the engine clocks up more miles.

Roy

[Clan]

Have to agree with all the other replies. Low mileage diesels can give lower mpg and it depends on the road and driving styles. Many engines don't loosen up until 30k. Diesel engines that don't get a good run and do short journeys foul up quickly. An ex demo may suffer from this and you are doing only short journeys. However, I can recommend a fuel treatment to SAFELY clean up your engine. Either Texaco's own or Valvoline - choose the premium grade as there are two for each fuel type. These use the same additives in a concentrated form as is found in V-Power and Ultimate. Add this as directed and take it for an Italian tune up - high revs when hot. This may help to increase mpg a little once its all cleaned up. Next, use a premium grade diesel to keep it clean. Supermarket and cheap fuel do not have the additive systems that are used in the premium grades such as V-Power and BP Ultimate. I have tested these over the years of many thousands of miles on 3 - 4 cars and return 10% higher mpg's and they are not 10% more costly. Plus they protect the fuel system from tank to exhaust.
Check all the other obvious things too but I belive in time you will improve mpg. Good Luck!

Volvo specificaly forbid any fuel or oil additives , if any traces are found , the warranty claim it will be rejected ..

[KHG]

Try driving in manual mode-it will improve!

[Keithv40]

My V40 1.8i says I'm doing 44mpg, actual is about 40 (mix of town / motorway). Front tyres are due for replacing so maybe the difference in diameter beween old/new tyres explains some of the discreprancy.


More relevant to you though I think is a Merc 2.2 diesel I used to drive would average 50 - 55mpg motorway driving, in fact if you got less than 50 mpg you were doing something wrong. It's about middle of their range so not huge but still a bit of a tank. Fast driving = low 30s mpg (late for something once - had my foot down), 'easy' driving 60mpg poss. Brim to brim showed computer accurate to 0.1mpg.