C30 1.6 DRIVe?
 

So, the time has come to say goodbye to my T5. It's been nearly 2 years of good times, but I feel that for many reasons now is the time to sell. I may well be able to afford to run it at £1.40/litre, but many won't and I think the market for relatively big, thirsty petrol-engined cars is diminishing further everyday.

With that in mind, and having looked at many other manufacturers, i've decided I want to replace it with a C30 and been looking at some Volvo Selekt 1.6 Drive S/S (and non S/S) facelift. At the moment i usually do sub-10 mile A road commutes and some motorway runs of 10-20 miles. About 7k/year in total currently. I am quite aggressively seeking new employment, which could result in a more diesel-friendly commute. Anyone else with a Drive model got any experience of that sort of driving? Am guessing i'd probably be aiming at mid forties mpg. Not that great i suppose, but i'm looking to 'future-proof' myself a bit. Not just from fuel costs, but also resale value. There's quite a few 1.6 petrol C30's that are cheaper and or better equipped than the diesel, but that seems a bit pointless. Only £100 cheaper than my T5 to tax and only returns about 8mpg better.

Have you driven one?
I have a V50 2.0d and it has been in a couple of times for warranty work.
The first time I was given an S40 1.6 DRIVe.
The second time I was given a V50 D3 R-design.
Compared to my 2.0d the 1.6 diesel felt horrible. The steering seemed to lack the weight and feel of the steering on my 2.0d, and that of the D3. I put this down to the engine being lighter so not as much weight over the front wheels.
I also didn't like the gearbox as much as the 2.0d gearbox, can't comment on the D3 though as that was a geartronic.
Then there is the power, or serious lack of it. Sure, the average mpg on the DRIVe said 50mpg (mine is around 42mpg) but this was on a 5k example that probably hadn't been driven by many T5 owners so this would fall quite a bit realistically.
I have come from a V40 T4 to a V50 2.0d which I find acceptable, but I couldn't live with a 1.6 driv-e. The only thing going for it imo is cheap road tax.

Test drive a few different models to see which is best for you.

I didn't know they did a 1.6 petrol C30 I thought that 2.0 was the starting place for a petrol and 1.6 for desiel.

What ever you go for you need to have a very good drive of first. My stepson has a 2.0 petrol C30 and I find it's great. Not a lot of power but at the same time not really lacking in it. It has good torque for a non turbo petrol and it's getting near 40mpg.

Being a V50 T5 owner I mimic the comments above, I've had a 1.6 driv-e (S40) as a replacement when mine was in for servicing and found it to be very dull indeed. You had to really keep pushing it on all the time just to get anywhere and this became counter productive in what the 1.6 driv-e is meant for - economy!

If you stick with the little indicator arrow in the Combined Instrument Display (clocks) then yes you can achieve some great MPG figures but you will be driving like Miss Daisy. The indicator arrow becomes very annoying very quickly too. This added with the constant changing up and down all the time to maintain the optimum MPG as per the indicator arrow too.

I ended up driving in my normal style, I then concluded I would never get a 1.6d, I have also driven the 2.0d and found this engine for combined power and economy suit these cars quite well.

Best advice is take the different variants out for test drives and then decide what is best suitable to your needs. The 1.6d does have a very high pressure turbo but still found it too underpowered for the car. This may be slightly better in a C30 as opposed to the S40 I drove but I doubt it's much different.

:star-wars-smiley-01

Haven't actually driven a C30 at all yet! Last month i ended up driving a V50 1.6 Drive S/S for a week as Volvo bungled their way through changing 2 tyres (don't ask!). Wasn't impressed when they handed me the key, but after living with it for a week i was actually quite satisfied with it. Slow, definitely, but i did a good long run up to Birmingham and back and it kept up with the traffic fine. Gearbox wasn't great i'd admit. Amazing amount of play in the gearstick when in a gate i thought. I also had a D3 auto the time before that which i was very impressed with. As luck would have it, i did the same run up to Birmingham and back in that too. I was in a rush and maintained some silly speeds, but still achieved great economy. I would definitely rather a D3 or 2.0d, but it comes down to price really. I really want to buy an approved used and was planning on spending about £12k. There's a handful of nice facelift C30's at that price, but the diesels are pretty much all the Drive version. I could probably increase my budget a bit for a D3/2.0d but i'll likely not recoup that extra outlay.

I don't think it's available anymore, but plenty of them on Volvo Selekt. I think the 2.0 petrol will cost me nearly as much as my T5. I'm looking to try and make some very noticeable savings.

I'm in a real quandry here. Why couldn't the pre-facelift model be easier on the eye, lol. Could easily find a 2.0d of that variety. My normal style wasn't that far out of step when i had the Drive for a week. I do tend to be quite conservative these days, although i love a stoplight sprint when the mood takes me. I wonder if maybe i should head out to look at a V50 or S40 with the 2.0d if the C30's are too pricey.

Decisions, decisions! Better sell my T5 first though. I'll whack it up on here next week after i stick new rear tyres on and put it through an early MOT.

Hi all I have been reading all your comments about the 1.6 DrivE and must say I cannot comment on that particular Vehicle,But would like to give my views on the S40 D2 R-Design I purchased just before Christmas, It quite surprised me just how well it pulls for a 1.6 Diesel and its only 8 valve not sixteen like the DrivE model. I had a Audi a1 S-line before current car and that was a 1.4 turbo petrol model and am glad I changed to the s40 no regrets.

Different engine, perhaps the 8 valve is more torquey than the 16 valve like the old mk2 golf gti 8 and 16 valves were in comparison.
Have read on here about a few people having trouble with the D2 after dealers have performed softwear upgrades.

What I will say is, when looking for my car and having spoken to a friend whos brother is a mechanic at my local dealership (where I bought my car) the 1.6 diesel is more problematic when it comes to dpf/egr etc issues than the 2 litre diesel.

Personally I think the DRIVe model feels, when it comes to engine and gearbox, more like the peugeot the engine and box is based on when driving compared to the 2 litre diesel. If you have driven a D3 then that isn't far off what the older 2 litre Hdi/Tdci based cars feel like to drive (D3 5 cylinder sounds nicer though, but not a lot different performance wise).

DRIVe's are always - when 1.6 - a diesel.

The diesel only makes itself paid, if you drive a certain mileage a year. Why?

Maintance costs more and there can be a lot of costs coming due to the DPF incl. additives (the 1.6d DRIVe with 109 hp!).

For 7000 miles/year, I wouldn't get a diesel.

you need to easily double your mileage mate to get any return with a diesel if i were you i prefer the pre facelift to the post facelift tbh and you might have an easier life on petrol.

our D2 is only doing about 8 mpg average more than my 2.0D tbh tax difference yes is pretty substantial £30 for the D2 (unsure for 2012) compared with 170 for the 2.0D (from april 2012)...

the newer drives with the 8 valve 1.6D have increased turbo pressure to compensate for 1/2 valves and in addition comes with 115 not 109PS, but also the 6 speed gearbox (early facelifts were the older 16 valve and 5 speed box) in addition the newer 8 valve does not need a replacement DPF i do not think...

earlier 1.6D is 16 valve but only 5 speed box.

I would, but it'd be a D5.