Fuel Consumption XC60 D5 and D3

[darbs]

Originally Posted by XC60AWD

It is impossible for anyone to get 40mpg from this model under normal driving conditions. Thats a 20% reduction on the combined figure, I would take a guess that most people would not even manage to get 70% of the combined figure under normal driving.

A truly shocking statistic and something that Volvo should rectify.

not sure volvo have too much say in it. this is on the DfT website:

"VCA is responsible for the creation and management of the New Car and Van Fuel Consumption and CO2 databases used by individuals and organisations"

....and this is a link to their Q&A about how the stats are produced and the problems with them: http://www.vca.gov.uk/vca/fcb/faqs-fuel-consumptio.asp

also, a pic of the official xc60 figures from the directgov database:

[XC60AWD]

Originally Posted by darbs

not sure volvo have too much say in it. this is on the DfT website:

"VCA is responsible for the creation and management of the New Car and Van Fuel Consumption and CO2 databases used by individuals and organisations"

....and this is a link to their Q&A about how the stats are produced and the problems with them: http://www.vca.gov.uk/vca/fcb/faqs-fuel-consumptio.asp

also, a pic of the official xc60 figures from the directgov database:

I am fully aware that the tests are completed by the VCA, however if customers are buying XC60's on the understanding that the combined mpg is over 50 and the majority of customers are only achieving 70% of this figure, Volvo will end up with a lot of unhappy customers including myself.

I am very happy with the car but I am not happy about being mislead by figures that are so far out they are bordering on false advertising.

[stu0710]

Originally Posted by volvorocks

Also by the way

The fuel returns you guys (and gals) are posting - are these generally averages over a specified distance...ie 35mpg say over 2000miles?

Without re-setting the trip from new?

I know some of you have posted "long trip to Scotland averaged 35mpg" etc

Mine has averaged 40.1 over 14000 miles. This is a true reading calculated using the Fuelly website which records tank-full to tank-full fuel inputs against mileage travelled. Using this it appears that the on-board computer reading is some 6-8% optimistic.

These figures are an average over all my driving over the last 14000 miles and were started from a mileage over about 500 miles from new. The last few tank-fulls have averaged about 43mpg. Most of my general mileage is a 55 mile round trip commute which is a mix of urban stop start traffic (20%) and fast A and B roads. My latest tankful has included a long motorway run (250 miles) and the in-car computer is displaying 50.7mpg.

[DEFRO]

Originally Posted by volvorocks

Hi there Ransman

Yes the fuel returns as per "Volvo Official" for MY12 are better.

The reason , I opine , is that it is due to the fitting of stop / start which in effect reduces emmissions down to 149 (for the manual anyway as stop / start is not on Autos)

Considering fuel consumption is only measured "on the bench" via emmissions in some sort of virtual lab test , one can only come to the conclusion that fuel mpg for MY12 will not be that different in real terms / real life driving than non stop / start MY11 etc - especially on the motorway as also bear in mind the MY12 is a 215 (212) bhp as oppose to 205 bhp of MY11.

Re 4wd versus 2wd - also bear in mind that even the D5 is only 2wd in normal conditions with power going only to the front wheels unless slip is detected and then 4wd kicks in

Please peeps correct me if I am incorrect

Regards

The reason why the MY12 should return a better mpg than the MY11 cannot be only attributed to the start/stop function, there are a number of small improvements that theoretically/hopefully should have a positive effect in real life driving (probably too early to quantify).

[DEFRO]

Sorry that's a better link here than the one in my post above

[DesertDog]

Originally Posted by darbs

isn't it about equivalent of 35p?

Even with the recent price hike, 95 grade is 27p/litre and 98 is 31p. Of course fuel is heavily subsidised by the government since the local populus consider cheap fuel to be their God-given right.

Up the road in KSA and Kuwait, it's even cheaper....

[darbs]

Originally Posted by XC60AWD

I am fully aware that the tests are completed by the VCA, however if customers are buying XC60's on the understanding that the combined mpg is over 50 and the majority of customers are only achieving 70% of this figure, Volvo will end up with a lot of unhappy customers including myself.

I am very happy with the car but I am not happy about being mislead by figures that are so far out they are bordering on false advertising.

i'm not sure volvo would have a case to answer. as far as they're concerned, it's not false advertising. they're publishing the figures to meet regulations and according to regulations. not publishing them would show them to be in breach.

that said, if they were publishing unapproved figures, that would be another story, e.g. if the web site say 51mpg, but the VCA figures state on 49, there could be a strong case for misinformation.

[Ransman]

Originally Posted by DEFRO

Sorry that's a better link here than the one in my post above

Interesting article - thanks.

You would assume (well I would) that the improvements would be read across to the D3 engine, but all they say is:

"The refined D5 engine now offers 215 hp and maximum torque is no less than 440 Nm, while the D3 remains at 163 hp and 400 Nm. However, the two-litre diesel engine's driveability is now far improved thanks to fine-tuning of the turbocharger."

Driveability is obviously important (I don't really have an issue with the current one) but headline mpg is the most important marketing factor I would have thought.

[Pat Mustard]

Here is a comparison from the Volvo UK website. The D3 AWD is on the left and D5 AWD on the right. Comparing the performance v fuel consumption, something doesn't add up.

[IMG]c:temp\XC60 Comparison.JPG[/IMG]

[Pat Mustard]

Originally Posted by Pat Mustard

Here is a comparison from the Volvo UK website. The D3 AWD is on the left and D5 AWD on the right. Comparing the performance v fuel consumption, something doesn't add up.

[IMG]c:temp\XC60 Comparison.JPG[/IMG]

Image doesn't seem to work, so here it is as an attachment