XC90 B5 or T5
 

Hey guys, new here. We're planning on getting a nearly new XC90 in the new year after ruling out the Disco 5.

I was blinkered in picking the B5D to aim for as always default to diesels for economy. However, I recently started to consider the B5P as an option. Seems to be £4-5k cheaper.

A few factors:
-We will keep this car for a long time, 5 years plus, maybe 10 years or longer. We don't change cars often, I do all of our own maintenance and repairs etc.
-Diesels are bad these days, i guess, petrol however is not far behind.
-This is for the missus who does probably mostly short town trips with maybe 2 or 3 "longer" 15-20 mile journeys per week. Not been an issue for her current dirty diesel with all the EGR and DPF still in place but still.

I wonder if the petrol actually suits us better but I'm concerned that the MPG will be outrageous even for this big old beast. There will be loads of B5D's to pick from so I wonder if parts etc will have better availability as well.

Any thoughts or anyone with one of these new B5P with the hybrid motor?

Is that B5 (diesel) versus the T5 as was before the mild hybrid, or versus the B5 (petrol)
?

Good point, B5D vs B5P, edited original post to be more clear

I've got the T5 and know I made the right choice for me. Sure diesel gives better economy but on normal mileage its not material financially and, anyway, the T5 was £2k+ cheaper over a 4 year PCP deal.

If you are keeping longer then it might be different and I would be worried about diesel bans from city centres, right or wrong. I don't know how robust the bigger battery tech is in the B cars and they each weigh 75kg more than the previous D5/T5 cars which is a lot in what are light cars for their marketplace. Therefore consider a late D5/T5 instead of a B5D/B5P?

With that use case I would seriously consider the T8. You would be driving nearly 100% on electric even for the "Long" trips.

Especially if you want to use the car for longer, as nobody today knows how crazy environmental laws will be in 10 years.

I've just gone from a D5 to a B5 Petrol, and although it's early days, I'm happy with my choice.
The first month's use has been a microcosm of my driving, with lots of short city trips and the occasional longer motorway jaunt.
The VOC app is saying 24mpg, whereas the D5 returned 31mpg over three years.
My one complaint about the D5 was the diesel clatter, and it's so much quieter in the B5P. (Okay, it's still no BMW 6-cylinder.)
You don't really notice the hybrid technology doing its stuff to be honest.
As I'm sure you're aware, you can't waft around in electric only silence in one of these - the only difference seems to be the engine shutting down sooner as you slow down to a stop.

I’ve found that the B5 petrol is unbelievably so much quieter and more refined when driving than the D5/D4 diesel engines. It suits the nature of the car so much more. I do occasionally check that the engine is on before setting off, which is not necessary with the diesels.

If you use the stop start, then the B5 is also pretty much seamless in setting off, with no noticeable pause or delay, unlike the diesels. I only drove a T5 petrol for a month or so the other year, but I found that it was also ‘laggy’ when using stop start and the gearbox was jerky. I’m presuming that the mild hybrid tech in the B5 petrol is the reason for this.

If this is the case, then the B5 diesel may also now be smooth on take off, but the unrefined noise of the engine is still there, or at least the demonstrator I sat in was.

As with all of these SPA cars, I wouldn’t have one without a warranty, which may be important if you’re planning keeping for >5 years.

I’m also not sure about towing, if that is a consideration for you, as I assume the B5 diesel can tow more than the B5 petrol.

Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone, its all been very useful.

T8 I cant justify, they seem to be £10k more which would be fuel costs for 5 years plus for us.

Towing I dont need.

So I think the petrol B5P is moving up on the choice list.

4K miles in my B5D has seen me average 32.6mpg... not sure I’d want to consider the B5P... I guess at 24/25?

http://www.fuelly.com/car/volvo/xc90...ocopops/981992

I’ve done an average of 27.5mpg in my first 10000 miles in my T5 but the average is going up as the engine settles down.

I’ve never understood the what’s your mpg that diesel drivers always ask. Depreciation is £700+ a month on a typical XC90 for the first few years and fuel is c£125-150 a month. Which is the more relevant variable?

Sure if you do high miles then buy a diesel but otherwise I don’t get it.