XC90 with T5 Engine

[driver99]

Hi, does anyone have a 2019 (or at least quite recent) XC90 with the T5 engine and would be willing to share some brief feedback/tips? Looking to purchase one (possible Oct/Nov delivery) and wondered what others thought of the T5 for things like economy, power, anything annoying etc?

Also like the B5 but the higher anticipated depreciation on the B5 means it loses £2k more over time.

Thanks all!

[Billfolder]

Hi I picked up my T5 XC90 in May last year. Originally had a MY18.5 D5 on order but changed it to a MY19 T5 when someone on this forum leaked the new brochure before official announcement

There was a small delay in my car delivery so the dealership gave a D5 for two weeks so I got to live with both.

T5 is much quieter in terms of engine noise, especially from cold where the D5 would rattle. Warms up much quicker and is less vocal in acceleration too.

I do about 7k miles a year, mostly short trips around town with very occasional cross country trips. MPG is high 20s around town and low to mid 30s on long runs depending on how much of a rush I'm in.

If you do a lot of long trips then B5 will defo be worth it for the better economy. I also felt the torque of the diesel suits the character of the car better and makes it feel more effortless. On the flip side the T5 feels more responsive to the throttle and more fun to hustle along country lanes (if a bit unnatural due to the size of the car)

Also to me the T5 suits my low mileage better especially as I tend to buy cars new and run them for 5-10 years.

In terms of annoying... The road noise is much worse than my previous Lexus RX which was on another level for refinement. Oddly though the interior in the Volvo seems much better put together, I had a few creaks and rattles in the Lexus that the dealers never did get to the bottom off.

[driver99]

Thanks, very useful to know. Appreciate you taking the time. The T5 certainly felt more responsive to drive but the MPG was quite dreadful as you'd expect. Doesn't seem to be many T5's around, mainly because of the 'character' of the car.

[Parky12]

I know mine is an XC60 but the T5 does make it quite sprightly for such a sizeable vehicle
Economy wise I did some calculations against the diesel 3.0 V6 Audi I had last, that did 38mpg over the period. The T5 is now up to 30mpg after loosening up with a trip out to Austria
Covering 8000 miles a year with 10p a litre cheaper for petrol it's 20p/ml for petrol against 17p/ml diesel. £233 a year in extra fuel is not worth bothering when the car is worth 40K

Performance wise the 8 speed auto/petrol is far more reactive than the Diesel V6/ 7 Speed DSG. The DSG used to try to predict and wasn't that good at it so you ended up flooring it out of a junction after a pause that was unnerving. The XC just goes and will give many a little hatchback a run

[driver99]

I noticed that the B5 Auto box was a little sluggish kicking down, similar to the DSG I have right now. The T5 petrol was much sharper as you'd expect. So it's got that in its favour. Good point about the 10p/ltr petrol difference too!
I get 48mpg out of the 2.0 VW Diesel at the moment so will be quite a difference. The T5 hadn't got above 20mpg on the test drive. The auto start on the B5 was great though, I did notice that, to the point where I'd possibly not turn it off as soon as I got in the car now!

[redbuta]

Very similar comments to Billfolder's.

Test driven T6 and had a D5 for one full day as courtesy car. Glad I made the choice of T5 which suits me the most.

Always average 7k-9k a year, had a diesel car for 7 years, really no point for me.

Some data and special points:

Had mine (MY2019) for about 10 months now.

• Average 29.1MPG (brim to brim) and 29.5MPG according to Volvo Oncall app.

• Daily commute around the town: mixed 20/30/40/50/70 roads, 26-30MPG.

• Motorway trips at 65-70mph cruising speed with occasional traffic and overtaking at 80-95mph, usually 31-35MPG

• A-roads + motorway mixed long trips once showed me 38MPG on a 120 mile trip, but this wonderful figure was diluted by traffic in London immediately after...

• Out of roundabout is no problem, overtaking on single carriageway no problem, even with 2 kids, wife and in-laws + some cargo in the car draw no complaints...

• Up and down parking on steep streets in central Glasgow and a few Yorkshire touristy spots, with passengers, nowhere near any concerns

• Off-road in a few camping site, as you'd imagine, never get anywhere close to any concerns - in fact I've never tried the "off-road" driving mode yet.

• Never towed a caravan, should be capable but can't comment on that

Only selected "dynamic mode" to impress the passengers a couple of times, never actually needed it. The gearbox kick-down is faster than D5, one thing I noticed personally.

Originally Posted by Billfolder

Hi I picked up my T5 XC90 in May last year. Originally had a MY18.5 D5 on order but changed it to a MY19 T5 when someone on this forum leaked the new brochure before official announcement

There was a small delay in my car delivery so the dealership gave a D5 for two weeks so I got to live with both.

T5 is much quieter in terms of engine noise, especially from cold where the D5 would rattle. Warms up much quicker and is less vocal in acceleration too.

I do about 7k miles a year, mostly short trips around town with very occasional cross country trips. MPG is high 20s around town and low to mid 30s on long runs depending on how much of a rush I'm in.

If you do a lot of long trips then B5 will defo be worth it for the better economy. I also felt the torque of the diesel suits the character of the car better and makes it feel more effortless. On the flip side the T5 feels more responsive to the throttle and more fun to hustle along country lanes (if a bit unnatural due to the size of the car)

Also to me the T5 suits my low mileage better especially as I tend to buy cars new and run them for 5-10 years.

In terms of annoying... The road noise is much worse than my previous Lexus RX which was on another level for refinement. Oddly though the interior in the Volvo seems much better put together, I had a few creaks and rattles in the Lexus that the dealers never did get to the bottom off.

[redbuta]

Below is the fill up record from this T5.

I average 45.884mpg on a 6-speed manual 2.0TDI Skoda Superb (2012) with VW group EA189 diesel engine, almost 7 years, 49,000 miles

Identical driving pattern, I'd say...

If you get 48mpg out of DSG 2.0TDI, you will be fine with this T5 unless trying to make more fun out of it...

T5 MPG.jpg

Originally Posted by driver99

I noticed that the B5 Auto box was a little sluggish kicking down, similar to the DSG I have right now. The T5 petrol was much sharper as you'd expect. So it's got that in its favour. Good point about the 10p/ltr petrol difference too!
I get 48mpg out of the 2.0 VW Diesel at the moment so will be quite a difference. The T5 hadn't got above 20mpg on the test drive. The auto start on the B5 was great though, I did notice that, to the point where I'd possibly not turn it off as soon as I got in the car now!

[familymangreg]

Hi,

Clearly others have managed better economy out of a T5 than i did in my few days with one. In short I had a T5 on loan when my D5 was in for repair. Over the course of a few days, I didn't get into the 30s.

And to quote from one of my responses in the thread:

Consumption

So here’s where it goes properly tits up for the T5, consumption not much worse than a V8 Classic Range Rover from the early 90s! On the school run, my wife said she wasn’t in a rush, and in her words didn’t hammer it up the hill like she often has to, a run on which we’d expect the D5 cold to achieve around 26mpg, the T5 only did 16.4mpg. On the way back from school, warm and down hill, the D5 usually does around 31-33, the T5 managed 18.5!

On an 85 mile trip back from Edale in the Peak District to East Yorkshire, via some hilly country roads out of Edale via Castleton to Sheffield, then M1, M18 and M62 back to East Yorkshire, then another 10 miles of fast A road, we averaged 23.8mpg with an average speed of 43mph. There were 6 of us in the car, but two of those 6 are light weight 10 year olds!

The best run we had was today taking the car to collect the D5 again, where we achieved 27mpg. Coming back in the D5 on the same route, same traffic conditions, similar speeds, we got 35.8mpg.

I reset the trip computer on the T5 when it was delivered and over a total of 253 miles we did 23.6mpg with an average speed of 38mph.

And yes I know economy improves as an engine gets run in, but not that much!

The full thread can be seen here: https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...=293305&page=2

Post 22.

If you are out and about in the car on longer runs and faster country roads, I personally can't see the T5 being the right engine. However, if you do a lot of short, slower journeys, which aren't goot for any diesel, then maybe it could start to make sense. Don't expect great economy thought!

Also, careful on comparison calculations, there is a difference of 10p a litre quoted above, I think that's a bit ambitious at the moment, there is currently 2p a litre difference at our local shell, and according to AA figures for August, it would appear to vary from 2 - 4p a litre difference accross the country at present.

:wq

[Diggerv70]

Had our MY2020 XC90 T5 R Design a month now - 980 miles mixed driving with 2 x 100 mile round motorway trips - averaging 27mpg overall. So far so good and we feel compares well with our 3 previous MK1 XC90 D5 s & Mercedes 250 GLE. Agree with comments about responsiveness - taking it easy and leaving it in mainly eco mode at the moment.

[redbuta]

I think this is interesting.

My wife prefers her mini for school runs (very short journey, 1 mile each way), but when she drive the XC90 T5, it does only return 18-22MPG.

But if your trip is longer than 2 miles, usually it's at least 25MPG.

See below screenshots - my trip to Edinburgh festival, lots of jay-walking tourists so really a lot stop-start.

But the MPGs (34.8 and 27.7) are surprisingly OK. Especially that 34.8mpg, totally to my surprise. I know it's a Saturday 10am, but it's Edinburgh Festival season's Saturday morning!

Not comparable to diesels, but not much worse than my wife's mini.

T5 Edinburgh 1.jpg
T5 Edinburgh 2.jpg

Originally Posted by familymangreg

Hi,

Clearly others have managed better economy out of a T5 than i did in my few days with one. In short I had a T5 on loan when my D5 was in for repair. Over the course of a few days, I didn't get into the 30s.

And to quote from one of my responses in the thread:



The full thread can be seen here: https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...=293305&page=2

Post 22.

If you are out and about in the car on longer runs and faster country roads, I personally can't see the T5 being the right engine. However, if you do a lot of short, slower journeys, which aren't goot for any diesel, then maybe it could start to make sense. Don't expect great economy thought!

Also, careful on comparison calculations, there is a difference of 10p a litre quoted above, I think that's a bit ambitious at the moment, there is currently 2p a litre difference at our local shell, and according to AA figures for August, it would appear to vary from 2 - 4p a litre difference accross the country at present.

:wq