V50 2.0D gears tips

[rafal]

Hello,

I have V50 with a 2.0D engine. I have never driven a diesel car before. Could you please write which rpm for whar gears is the best for engine durability and fuel economy? I found out that I should not use the engine hard before it warms up. I am trying to keep rotation between 1400 and 2000. On 1st and 2nd gear it can be even lower. I noticed that around 1500 - 2000 engine pulls well but I am afraid that 1500 - 1700 rpm is too low for the sixth gear.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Rafal

[7050man]

It's like any car. It depends on conditions, ie gradients, road surface, temperature (snow and ice), how the car is loaded and how quickly you wish to accelerate.
In general terms,drive so that the engine is able to accelerate without being under too much load, ie is not struggling.
Always try and drive in as high a gear as you can to ensure good fuel economy and minimal stress for engine parts. Also in recent days of hot weather, so that the car engine does not get any hotter than necessary.

As you are new to diesel ownership, you will appreciate that these engines produce most of their torque at lower engine revs. What you you won't need to do is change down at higher roadspeeds to get more power for overtaking. Diesel outputs actually run out of steam with more revs. I often see drivers on the motorway change down (as you would in a petrol engine) and all that happens is that you get more smoke out the exhaust with little performance gain.

I would agree with you comment that 6th gear at 1700 revs may be too high, but again depends on road and load being carried. If your car is new, then you will have to wait for at least 12k miles before it starts to loosen up anyway.
Enjoy your new car. Most of us here do.

[Alec Dawe]

have an S40 2.0D, now with 20,000 miles on it. I drive about 26 to 30k a year, a right mix of A roads, B roads, Norfolk back lanes with grass up the middle, and some motorway. Car came as an ex-demonstrator at Christmas 2005 with 6k miles.

I love the engine, its the most torquey diesel that I have had. However I would agree that 6th gear, which I seem to remember is geared to about 38mph per 1000rpm, is beat suited to fast A roads/dual carriageways, and motorways. I find that it will pull happily from 1500rpm in 6th, but you need to take into account the road conditions, inclines etc.
Mine will pull the lower gears from 1000rpm without complaint, tick-over in 1st in traffic jams! Unless you are in a screaming hurry, which I try to not be these days, anything over 4000rpm is a waste really.
As a matter of interest, you'll probably find that the onboard computer's fuel consumption figures are WAY optomistic, need to be taken with a LARGE pinch of salt, but before I had mine 'diesel box' tuned, I was getting 'real' fuel consumptions of about 45mpg, an now I'm getting around 47/48. If you drive gently on clear dual carriageways/motorways, I can get it up to about 52mpg (that's sticking to 70 or just under). If you have cruise control, and have the roads to use it, I find that its worth about 2mpg extra, mostly because it stops you from allowing your speed to keep creeping up, and it backs off on any downhill section to keep the speed constant, unlike us who tend to speed up on the downhill bits.
if you have just got the car, can I suggest that you spend a bit of time, and take ALL the wheels off one day (in rotation I mean.. not all at once!) and clean up the backs and especially the locating centre spigot, and put just the faintest trace of grease/copperslip on the mating surface between the wheel and the disc. My wheels got so tight, it took me 10 minutes of struggle a wheel to get them off, NOT what you want on a dark night in the hissing rain!
Alec.

[7050man]

Agree with last post but not sure that I agree with cruise bit. For example, when driving on motor way on the flat there is no problem, but on downhill section you can gain an extra bit of speed with virtually no fuel burn, so that when you hit the next incline, you can trade off the extra momentum for less throttle.
The cruise will allways try to meet target speed but no more, so that when you come to the next hill, the power is put on too late so the target speed requires more fuel to be burnt if it is to be attained.

This will be more noticeable at lower speeds of course, especially when in 6th gear.

My car is a 55 plate reg'd in Sept 05, now with 17.2k miles on clock. I purchased at 10k and to date I've averaged 52mpg, with best computer figure of 72.3 on a trip to Manchester last week. Should add that I was only doing between 55 and 60 mph on motorway. Coming back at 70mph computer showed 56.5mpg.
There has been much said about accuracy of these computers and it may be that they are not as good as figures displayed. My experience is that they are not too far out.

[Marmoset]

Blimey, what are you people doing, are you actually moving I'm lucky to get about 43mpg out of my V50 2.0d and it is usually nearer to 41. I try not to exceed 80 on the motorway (usually can't anyway for the traffic) and the a road stuff is only fast at the weekends.

My computer indicates about 46.5mpg which I wouldn't mind if it was real.

I just put it down to the fact that it's quite a heavy car for it's size....

[7050man]

Well, I suppose that I do try and achieve these figures.
In other words,if you drive without too much thought regarding the weight of your right foot, what the instanteaneous readout on computer is displaying and correct reading of the road (anticipation of traffic and road conditions), then yes mid 40's mpg is probably what you get.

My previous car was a Saab 9-5 estate 3.0 TiD V6. That was a big heavy car and I managed to average 48.5 mpg over the course of 30k miles. That had loads more go than the Volvo, had a much less sophistocated engine management system and old turbo technology. But again figures were attainable.

Volvo, in comparison, is a lightweight modern design that in many respects is more fun to drive because it handles much better and the engine performs better at lower revs. I'd be disappointed if I didn't better the Saab average by at least 7-8mpg more.

I've not even mentioned the basics , tyre pressures, not carrying any unnecessary weight, engine properly serviced etc.

all the best.

[Marmoset]

Aye, suppose I could go slower still - I check pressures etc weekly so it's not that - it's only me in the car as well and I'm getting lighter!

What might be worth a go is cruising in 5th gear as opposed to 6th when traveling at about 60-65mph, which is, more often than not, what the motorway is travelling at.

[7050man]

Originally Posted by Marmoset

Aye, suppose I could go slower still - I check pressures etc weekly so it's not that - it's only me in the car as well and I'm getting lighter!

What might be worth a go is cruising in 5th gear as opposed to 6th when traveling at about 60-65mph, which is, more often than not, what the motorway is travelling at.

At that speed I would stick to 6th, but just remember that if you want to accelerate from that speed in 6th gear, then the car will accelerate a lot slower and so put only a light increase in pressure on the throttle if you want to maintain good economy whilst acelerating.
Still if you want to achieve figures already mentioned, then you probably won't want to go any faster anyway.

I'll shut up now as I'm beginniing to sound like bit of an anorak and I certainly am not trying to tell you how to drive.
regards.