Right the T5 is in for its MOT today and after two careful owners (me and the police) I don’t think its going to go through. Its done 163k and im now getting maybe 24-25mpg average. Think of doing the deed and buy a diesel (insert tears here).

So D5 drivers – what sort of MPG do you get. Volvo quoted me 35mpg on average but I’d like to know some real world figures.

Would be looking at prob an 05/06 185bhp manual version.

Cheers in advance.

Not quite the same but I average 29mpg from my XC90 covering shortish trips on country lanes. On a decent run with some motorway I’ll get 31-32mpg.

Is it really that low? We hired one when we went to the alps a few years back and I thought we were getting more than that fully laiden on the motorway doing 85 mph!

I was thinking of looking at one, but if they are that bad, then no way!

Volvo say 35mpg combined for a diesel? That’s pretty poor! Should be getting 45 from a diesel estate I reckon.

Is it really that low? We hired one when we went to the alps a few years back and I thought we were getting more than that fully laiden on the motorway doing 85 mph!

As I said, mostly short runs and when it does do a longer/motorway trip it’s nearly always fully loaded with a boat on the back, etc.

Volvo say 35mpg combined for a diesel? That’s pretty poor! Should be getting 45 from a diesel estate I reckon.

V70 is a proper heavy car (we had a T5 for a number of years but got fed up with the 24mpg average!). Our Golf (TDi 140) has averaged 45mpg over the last 13k miles but that’s again on lots of short country road [school] trips.
Get on the motorway and it’s well over 50.

Actually a mate’s got a D5 V70 – I’ve asked the question of him and will get back to you.

I’m getting an average around 40/42 in my V70 but then again it is a 10 year old 2.5TDi(auto), with just over 150,000 miles on it.

My neighbour says his takes 9l/100km (I can’t be bothered to convert). He drives mostly short distance and in town. To compare, mate’s Avensis 1.6 (2001) needs 6.5l/100km in the same situation.
Volvo is nice, costly though IMO.

My Dad had himself a D5 for a while, mostly used on longish trips. Actually took it back cause he thought there must be something wrong with it! He was matching my 2l petrol at around 38 mpg. His previous car, a 330d had been getting over 50, what are Volvo playing at?

9l/100km

9l = 1.98 gallons, 100km = 62 miles

= 31.3mpg.

That’s not good. I’d look elsewhere if I were you! (Ford, Skoda, VW estates)

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My A6 does over 50mpg on a run 🙂

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low 30s from memory on our old 02 D5

Some examples of real world (not guesstimates) here:-
http://www.fuelly.com/car/volvo/v70

Be aware Fuelly is generally US MPG, which is lower than ours as their gallon is smaller. Still not good though.

Select MPG in top left corner of screen. 😉

A relative has a current V70 D5 Auto as a replacement for his previous version V70 D5 manual(which is an older engine and got called the 2.4D for a while).

His old car would get around 45 mpg if I recall correctly. His current one does about 35-38 mpg, even for 70 mph motorway journeys. He’s a super-economical driver, too (he does the Economy Run each year).

He’s a bit put out with the figures. The car is just so much bigger and heavier than the previous version, and the auto doesn’t help either.

a friend of mine works for volvo, engine/drive technology, in sweden, i asked him, and he said something like:

“you get better fuel consumption by increasing fuel injection pressures / engine temperatures, and recirculating some of the exhaust to improve nucleation’

unfortunately, this increase amounts of NO, and very small carbon particulatas – fine soot – both of which are quite nasty, so Volvo don’t do it/don’t do much of it”

i might have all of that wrong, but it seems that increased fuel economy comes at the cost of exhaust nasties, which is what the swedish volvo types care about.

i can get about 45mpg from my V40… not great but good enough for an old engine that’s still lovely to drive.

i’ve just been reading about the Nissan leaf, i’ve been a bit sceptical about battery-cars, but the numbers seem to be starting to make sense.

it seems you can get 100 miles from a charge, then do it again after a half-hour quick-charge, which is sort of nearly how i do long drives anyway.

i’m honestly impressed.

I get around 30mpg from my XC90 163bhp D5 auto.
I would think a D5 V70 would be mid 30’s.

A friend of mine had to sell his 850 T5R as the potholed roads round here were costing him loads in broken wheels and worn tyres. It had been modified to well over 300bhp and it was an auto too. We timed it at 6.3s to 60mph with 4 big blokes in it.
That did 12mpg. Gulp.

awhiles – sceptical of those reasons to be honest. Higher injection pressures should increase atomisation and improve fuel combustion, which would mean less soot aka unburned fuel.

Advancing injection timing does improve both power and economy, but it produces more NOx. So you can improve emissions by sacrificing economy that way. Of course if they really cared they’d not produce 185bhp diesels.

However, their Drive series is seriously economical, so they clearly do know how to do it. Perhaps they achieved that by making an effort with weight.

the problem isn’t the amount of soot, but the size of the particles…

higher injection pressures / higher engine temperature / whatever is great for burning fuel, and great for making really, really small soot particles.

small enough to cause damage to your lungs.

google: pm10 and pm2.5 particulates.

you now know as much as i do.

edit: i found this:

Particles emitted from modern diesel engines (commonly referred to as Diesel Particulate Matter, or DPM) are typically in the size range of 100 nanometers (0.1 micrometer). In addition, these soot particles also carry carcinogenic components like benzopyrenes adsorbed on their surface. It is becoming increasingly clear that the legislative limits for engines, which are in terms of emitted mass, are not a proper measure of the health hazard. One particle of 10 µm diameter has approximately the same mass as 1 million particles of 100 nm diameter, but it is clearly much less hazardous, as it probably never enters the human body — and if it does, it is quickly removed. Proposals for new regulations exist in some countries, with suggestions to limit the particle surface area or the particle number.

It had been modified to well over 300bhp and it was an auto too. We timed it at 6.3s to 60mph with 4 big blokes in it

I might be wrong but I suspect this was the reason for the worn tyres!

it seems you can get 100 miles from a charge

I think they say “up to” 100 miles from a charge, probably a lot less in hilly area’s.

So you are saying they want larger soot particles? At the expense of economy and CO2? Interesting.

molgrips: i think it’s just trying to reach a compromise. all soot is bad, fine soot is really, really bad, for just about everything.

Dibbs: well, i saw a claim of 140miles of motorway driving… and a 80% charge achieved in 30mins.

Worth noting that an electric car will benefit from lots of slow short trips, I’d think, as opposed to a petrol/diesel car. The profile of economy would certianly be different.

awhiles – do dpfs remove pm10s?

i just thought it was interesting…

like most people, i guess, i’ve ignored battery-cars on the basis of the limited-range.

what use is a car that has a range of 140miles?*

but a range of 140miles, followed by another (140*0.8) after 30mins, etc. really isn’t too bad

(*the answer is: quite a lot – how often do you drive further?)

i’m not saying that i’m about to go and buy a Nissan leaf, but i am impressed by the numbers.

molgrips – Member

awhiles – do dpfs remove pm10s?

i don’t know what dpfs is/are?

it seems that pm10 is the sort of size particles that our lungs are designed to cope with, we can cough them up.

but go much smaller than that and the particles get stuck in the lungs, or worse, and can do asbestos-style damage.

modern diesel engines make particles much, much smaller than pm10.

i just saw this thread, and asked my friend if he could shed light on the topic of V70 economy.

he knows about engine stuff, but as for specific Volvo models, he mostly designs hybrid-drives for Trucks and Buses.

I have a 09 v70 2.0l diesel – and get 35mpg out of it 😕

Worst diesel I have had so far on the fuel side, nice car otherwise and just as a point it doesn’t make any difference what I put on the car (4 bikes on roof and trailer tent behind) or how I drive it stays the same 😯

51 plate D5 usualy get 45 to 50 mpg running between 60+70

Wow, and I thought my V70 was an anomaly. Currently getting 25MPG out of a ’98 V70 AWD. Any ideas what I can do to lift this up (I’m using Shell V-Power to get more heft out of the engine if that’s relevant)?

Electric cars currently make excellent sense for second cars – if you can afford one since they are not cheap. You could even have one as your only car if you were prepared to hire or use trains etc for longer trips.

There are a great many cars on the road that only go around cities and would easily take a week to use up 140 miles.

Anyway, a DPF is a diesel particulate filter.

My S80 was doing around around 35mpg last time I checked my records.

Electric cars currently make excellent sense for second cars – if you can afford one since they are not cheap. You could even have one as your only car if you were prepared to hire or use trains etc for longer trips.

There are a great many cars on the road that only go around cities and would easily take a week to use up 140 miles.

I agree and think we are could be on the bring of rapid growth in the sector, the infrastructure will be key though as a lot of the market will be in london where parking outside your house is often impossible so whole streets will need to be fitted with charging points. It will be fascinating to see it play out I think.

dpfs are designed to reduce all soot – but won’t eliminate particulate emissions.

Both PM10 and PM2.5 are harmful and the lungs are not much good at dealing with PM10 – but PM2.5s get absorbed deeped into the lungs and are more difficult for the lungs to get rid of.

My neighbour has an 05 plate XC70 diesel and gets up to between 45 and 50 on a long sensible speed motorway run – but a lot less on ‘normal’ trips. He’s disappointed at how much worse than his previous 1.9 tdi A4 estate.

Our V70 D5 (2009 spec) Manual box is getting between 47 and 52mph, wife does a range of mileage on motorway, around town and rural roads laiden with kids, buggies and other stuff she thinks she needs in the car…..

My Passat auto doesn’t do more than 50 most days on the motorway. 58 is the best I’ve ever seen on a long motorway run. I’d say the 45-50 reports are what you should be pleased with from that kind of car.

i’ve got an S60 D5 and get about 45mpg doing the school/shopping/work runs. Went to france last year and fully loaded with 2 adults 2 kids, loads of stuff and 2 bikes hanging off the back while doing 55-60mph the whole trip i got 52mpg.

You wont get as much mpg as a 2ltr passat etc but its a much heavier car with a dig engine, and its worth it just to hear the ROAR when you floor it! 8)

i was more or less pleased at my c30 getting 49mpg, till the cold snap. now its 41 at best. My old -forever needing petrol A3 was 37mpg at best.

Shorter journeys definitely do not help though.

Urban with a bit of thrashing 28mpg. I use a 60 plate D5 chipped to 225bhp daily, which has replaced 57 plate t5, & the D5 is far nicer to drive with loads of torque.