S40 (New) General : DRIVe fuel economy at speed

[Analowl]

Hi,

As my daily commute is over 130 miles, I am considering ordering an S40/V50 DRIVe 1.6 because of the extravagent claims made for fuel economy. If anyone already has this model...

1. Are the figures realistic at any speed?
2. Given that I will be driving at 70mph for 90% of the time, what would you expect the mileage to come in as?

(My current vehicle is a '55 plate XC90 which does about 32mpg on this type of journey).

Cheers
Neil

[Clan]

if you drive at about 55 mph you should get around 70 mpg .. 70 - 80 mph and it will drop quite a bit to mid to high 50 mpg i would say //
Remember those fuel consumption figures published are NOT to say what your car will do in "normal" driving conditions , , they are only published to compare one car of the same make or other makes against another ... as the fuel consumption tests are run in identical conditions controlled by a computer .

You should just about halve your fuel bill hopefully !

[faffi]

The old 109hp 1.6 seems to be a lot more frugal than the current D2.

[7050man]

Originally Posted by Clan

if you drive at about 55 mph you should get around 70 mpg .. 70 - 80 mph and it will drop quite a bit to mid to high 50 mpg i would say //
You should just about halve your fuel bill hopefully !

Totally agree with Clan here. This week, been driving up and down M25 with little stopping (odd traffic jam)and a bit of town work and a cross country down to the coast.

Sticking to around 50 - 55mph.

Currently since filling up:

covered 469 miles,
gauge currently reading one third full (one bar below half full)
distance to empty on computer showing 420 miles,
mpg on computer showing 70.9mpg,

It can be done.

[oldmanbm]

Well its between a new Passat Bluemotion 105 Td and a DrivE so will be interested ti see where this goes

[brickwizard]

I changed from 2005 2.0SE to new 1.6 drive s last year, to be honest it was a great move, running costs so much lower than the 2.0d.
Cheap road tax, insurance £100 odd cheaper, car feels much lighter to drive and to be honest the slight drop in performance doesnt bother me, never checked mpg figure until it beds in a bit more, only thing I regret is not having the trip computer option fitted.

[7050man]

Originally Posted by brickwizard

I only thing I regret is not having the trip computer option fitted.

I'm amazed that Volvo don't fit this as standard to every car if they are serious about emmissions.

It's the only way you can learn what's good and bad about your driving style for best economy.

My advice; don't buy a car without one.

[nilsj]

If you drive smoothly at 70 Mph (112 kph), you should be able to average around 4-4.5 l/100 km. At 130 kph it drinks more.

[swedishandgerman]

As said above, the claimed figures can be achieved, definitely. That's if you're not in a hurry. As soon as you take it above 80 (I drive in Europe lots) the figures drop quite staggeringly. Also, the hills down here in Devon and Cornwall take it down. When I stick to 70 and normal A -roads, I get between 60 and 65 mpg. +70 mpg can be achieved by being very light on the throttle and staying under 60mph. Going above 70 and being a bit heavier returns high 50's. It very, very rarely drops below 50, but only if it gets driven hard.

A HUGE saving in fuel over my previous, horrible Peugeot 407 2.0 HDi (about 30% reduction) and much lower tax (mine's a company car). Performance wise, the only time I miss having more power for accelerating from speeds of 60mph+, IE Pulling away from roadworks on the motorway! Would you call this overtaking performance, perhaps?? Otherwise, there is perfectly adequate power.

I negotiated getting a Volvo; my company usually gets VW Passats and Skoda Octavias - I do 25,000 miles a year and enjoy the beautifully comforatble seat and driving position of the Volvo. None of the Passats are Bluemotions, one of the Octavias is a new 1.6 TDI CR (is that the same as a Bluemotion??) and my colleague's fuel bill is higher than mine.

Otherwise, I am chuffed to bits with my new motor in every respect apart from it producing quite a lot of road noise. Oh, and you can't get front foglights with the Stop/Start...

[faffi]

Last tankfull on my D2 gave 39 mpg despite economic driving, a mix of city and country roads. It's nearly as thirsty as my former 2-litre Mondeo with automatic transmission!