XC60 R Design Pro B5 or B6

[xc60ed]

Hi all, I am looking to get an ex demo XC60 R Design Pro to replace my 6 year old D5 2.4 XC60, which has been a fantastic car.

I have test driven a D5 R Design Pro and really liked it but due to lockdown cannot test drive the other engine variants. I have spoken to a dealer that I have used before and I can get a good offer an either a B5 diesel or B6 petrol ex demo. I assume the B5 diesel will drive very much like the D5 I test drove but with slightly better economy? Has anyone driven, or own, the B6 Petrol and can compare against the B5 diesel?

The dealer reckons the B5 D will give around 40 mpg in mixed driving and the B6 P in the late 20s. This is obviously a major part of my decision and I will need to think about the extra fuel cost, but I do fancy going back to petrol after many years of diesel. Also the 300bhp should make it a bit more fun and with how things are going with the anti diesel brigade it may have a better residual 5 years down the line.

Finally can the B5 D and B6 P be Polestar optimised as this made a big difference to the throttle response/gear changes on my old D5 ? It is not clear from either the Volvo or Polestar websites if the new B variants can be optimised.

Thanks for your help.

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by xc60ed

Hi all, I am looking to get an ex demo XC60 R Design Pro to replace my 6 year old D5 2.4 XC60, which has been a fantastic car.

I have test driven a D5 R Design Pro and really liked it but due to lockdown cannot test drive the other engine variants. I have spoken to a dealer that I have used before and I can get a good offer an either a B5 diesel or B6 petrol ex demo. I assume the B5 diesel will drive very much like the D5 I test drove but with slightly better economy? Has anyone driven, or own, the B6 Petrol and can compare against the B5 diesel?

The dealer reckons the B5 D will give around 40 mpg in mixed driving and the B6 P in the late 20s. This is obviously a major part of my decision and I will need to think about the extra fuel cost, but I do fancy going back to petrol after many years of diesel. Also the 300bhp should make it a bit more fun and with how things are going with the anti diesel brigade it may have a better residual 5 years down the line.

Finally can the B5 D and B6 P be Polestar optimised as this made a big difference to the throttle response/gear changes on my old D5 ? It is not clear from either the Volvo or Polestar websites if the new B variants can be optimised.

Thanks for your help.

Last time I checked, polestar weren’t offering optimisation on the new B engines. But someone on here said they had taken them for a test drive and said frankly they didn’t need it anyway as the new electric turbo spooling provided good responsiveness.

[techwatcher]

I have had both D5 and B5 D XC60s. There's not much difference in how they drive - the B5 may be slightly (and I mean slightly) peppier. Fuel economy is slightly better.

40 mpg is probably doable in the B5 D - my own car, new in September 2020, had averaged 38.1 over the first 4300 miles.

[Vinesh]

I have a B5 D - took a while to get to 37-40mpg, had mine for a couple of months, tyre pressures seemed to make a big difference. On a decent run i get 40mpg, around town more like 30mpg

[Chrismccann]

I’ve just gotten the B5 Inscription Pro and did test a D5 before. Whilst the time between the test of the D5 and buying the B5 was quite long the B5 seems to pull lower down presumably due to the electric motor spooling up the turbo to reduce lag? I’ve been trying to enquire about the Polestar myself as an upgrade but someone suggested it has already been optimised. The 0-60/62 times are quicker than the D5 version.

[xc60ed]

Thanks for the replies. My 2.4 D5 has averaged 32 MPG over the 6 years I have had it so no doubt that the B5 should be better. The B6 does appeal but just worried how bad the economy will be if I use the 300 BHP. The T8 would be perfect but is out of my budget.

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by xc60ed

Thanks for the replies. My 2.4 D5 has averaged 32 MPG over the 6 years I have had it so no doubt that the B5 should be better. The B6 does appeal but just worried how bad the economy will be if I use the 300 BHP. The T8 would be perfect but is out of my budget.

The B6/T6 is just the same B5/T5 with a supercharger though(?). I only find the supercharger comes on (the whine gives it away) when I put my foot down. So anecdotally speaking, it might not cause a discernible increase in fuel costs day to day(?).

[CocoPops]

I’ve tracked my B5D over the last 7k miles here:
https://www.fuelly.com/car/volvo/xc9...ocopops/981992
(Make sure you select Uk mpg in top left of screen.)