Looking to buy a mile-munching car for work, I get a car and fuel allowance – the fuel allowance seems curiously generous towards petrol engines over two litres, and I wondered about buying a cheapish Mondeo or S80 with their five cylinder motor. Does anyone know if they’re a solid unit, any known issues? More importantly, if I apply a miserly right foot, can I get decent mileage out of one?

Solid engine when standard.
Wouldn’t touch one with a pole if i was at all bothered about mpg though.
**** great noise though . .

Went in the old Focus ST (says it – still see plenty about)

Volvo geartronic weak if fluid not changed – change not specified by manufacturer. Aux belts also need changed more frequently than specified as if they break they take out timing belt and wreck engine. Other than that bomber. Few engines are faultless. 30mpg on a run I’d say, gallons per mile if hooning.

I’ve got one in my Focus ST, great engine, bags of torque and makes a good noise. Very tuneable, easy to see over 300bhp with a few bolt ons and a map.

Fairly reliable, no real horror stories though the higher capacity 2.5 in the ST is know to crack the liners so some specialist recommend fitting shims (block mod).

Mpg is fairly terrible, if I get over 20 I’m doing well though a standard car might be better.

Ok, useful stuff, thank you! So – what over two litre petrol lump gets some decent mileage, or is that moon-on-a-stick territory?

I had a Volvo S40 T5 with an auto box and usually got about 35mpg – perhaps the auto helps. Solid motor and was fitted to lots of Volvos and Fords. Just stick to the service recommendations.

Not sure you’ll get much better economy out of anything else!

My 2002 v70 AWD turbo couldn’t get above 25mpg average (higher on motorway drives obvs). And that was really nursing it.
Mine was a 5 pot 2.4 lpt, so a slightly less aggressive turbo from the T5.

‘making progress’ would see average mpg around 18-20mpg.
The amount of town driving you do can really pull the average down.

That said they are not light cars and the AWD system might suck a bit more efficiency out too.

Nice engines though.

What kind of M-Way mileage would you get? Looking at a manual box, which should get better returns on any journey where gear changes are minimal (I think)?

Mid 40s mpg just on motorways I would say is a fair estimate.
They can cruise at 80mph all day long at reletivley low revs.

And mine was quite old, I’d imagine the newer ones are a bit better but then you do have to drive progressively as they are not light cars, do if you have a lead foot they won’t be very efficient.

S60 2.4T it was a cracking 5 cylinder engine and the growl that accompanied it but i never touched the computer and over 130,000 26 mpg but i did chase it a fair bit. Then the in car entertainment system, I’ve never had better no vibration with a very tight bass

That’s another plus for the volovo, super comfy seats, and really good standard sound systems.

Interesting – cheers all, that might be a goer, then… 🙂

Mate had an SMax with the 5-pot motor in…he loved it, ran it for about 5 or so years with zero issues. Shifted very nicely. Sub 20 mpg though – 16 about average I seem to remember him telling me.

I’ve had two Mondeo 2.5t’s both estates, fast cars when remaped (bluefin), can fit tons of stuff in them and make for great motorway cruisers, used to average 31ish mpg, boot it and they drink a lot.

Beware cracked cylinder liners though, pretty common on them, symptoms are similar to blown head gasket, I think there may have been various after market fixes for them, but if youb hear them ticking and any white smoke walk away

Been running a V70 2.4na for 7 years, now on 180k miles. Absolutely brilliant car, not an exciting drivers car but one that you can cover whole countries in comfort. Ours average 27mpg, mid upper 30’s on french autoroutes.

I’m sure you can get Accords or Mazda 6s with a 2.2 litre.

Sir may also wish to consider the Alfa V6

According to the road trip app, my BMW e46 330i touring auto averaged 27mpg over 2 years. Not bad for a 3l lump. I’d expect the 2.0l BMWs to be better.

Smaller BMW engines of that era aren’t turbo’d though so economy suffers. My 325i e91 gets ~20mpg around town/28 motorway.

The newer petrol turbos are probably a lot better but then you’re looking at cars much newer.

Volvo estate appreciation

^ that.

Another V70 5-pot owner here in diesel form.
Best. Car. We’ve. Owned.

Former ST Owner here

More importantly, if I apply a miserly right foot, can I get decent mileage out of one?

The absolute best I ever got on a run was when stuck behind a wide load on a dual carriageway and was forced to drive at 40 mph and I was getting around 40 mpg. Realistically on a motorway type journey 30 mpg is all you’d achieve and less than 20mpg in town.

It was a solid reliable car that I owned from almost new for about nine years and there was very little that went wrong with it but the three series that I replaced it with is better in almost every way. I still miss the ST when I’m driving along B roads as it was a lot more fun.

Standard STW answer: Buy what I have! I have found BMW 6 Cylinders (26/32 MPG from a 3L) do better MPG than Ford 5 pots. The BMW Turbo’d engines are about the same MPG as non turbo’d, but the turbo produces a lot more power. The sound of a straight 6 going to 8k is quite addictive! 😉

I’ve got an old v70 with the 2.4 5cylinder engine in it. Its just gone past 107,000 miles and it still runs nicely and sounds great. It is very comfortable and you can get a shed load in the back which makes for an ideal mtb car imho. Throttle bodies are a weak point I’ve had experience with but you can them reconditioned so not to expensive to sort. Eats front tyres and I seem to spend a lot of time replacing bits of suspension and other bits that keep the wheels rolling or stoping them from rolling but it is 20 years old. Mid 30’s mpg on a run, I try not use it in town… 😉

Depends what era and age you are looking at to be honest.

The newer >2005 Modular Volvo engine used in the S40/v50 Focus ST (B5254T3 and T7 in later models) had a turbo integrated with the manifold. They did have a habit of crcking / splitting liners, especially if the power has been up’d. I had one in a S40. Fuel economy was low 20’s mid to high 20’s if you were lucky on a long run.

The best of the five pot petrols was the >2005 2.4 T5 (B5244T5) in the S60 and V70, stock it ran 260bhp but a simple eco tune and it was 320bhp stable with no supporting modifications. Widely regarded to be the best of the (modular 5pot – The old red blocks were even more indestructible) engines for modifying. My S60 2.4 T5 averaged about 27mpg unless I was booting it and would get to 30’s on a long run if driven reasonably.

All the modern VEA Volvo engines are 2.0 4 pots with various compression ratios and various turbos(and superchargers).

To be honest it comes down to budget and age of car you at willing to go for.

I’m on my fourth Volvo (all bar one sold running fine bar the one the barn fell on) and I can’t see me buying anything else.

Seats are the comfiest hands down. I finding the driving position and control layout makes for an easy driving experience.

Other options
Audi A6 2.4
BMW 320 (2.2)
Alfa
Vectra 2.2

Although looking at the economy numbers you might be better off getting less pennies from your company and almst double the MPG with a quality deisel . Golf GTD will acheive 50mpg+ on a gentle cruise , and there are lots of options in that platform. Its tricky. I have found though if you drive a petrol car enthusaitically the mpg crashes , whilst turbo D’s don’t seem to drop by the same percentage.
S’pose you will have to work out cost per mile in fuel V cost per mile in allowance.
I can vouch for Volvo’s being really well made , and comfortable places to endure todays gridlocked roads.

Cheers folks, great stuff. Ironically, my company car is a Golf GTD, nice car but it goes back this month – fuel allowance is 7p/mile more for 2l+ petrol than 2l+ diesel, and 10p/mile more than an up-to-2l diesel like the Golf, the paradox being that it’s actually pushing me towards a less efficient car. Thanks for the other suggestions – if anyone has any recommendations for economical petrols bigger than 2 litres, I’m all ears. 😀

It comes down to budget really…

If you are buying new and have deep pockets then the new V60/S60/V90 etc have a T8 hybrid engine which is effectively a 320ish bhp 2.0l petrol and 80ish bhp of electric motors.

Probably get a tax break and VED reduction with it being a hybrid.

Deffoo not new, bargain-basement. 🙁

Id check the road tax, Kuga with the Volvo engine must be well over £500 per year, my 2.4T was 300 and that was a few years ago

Alfa Brera or 159 in 2.2JTS flavour delivers the sort of numbers you are looking for.
Official figures go up to 38mpg on a motorway run. Helped by a 6 speed bearbox I guess. Not owned an Alfa, bought one for a colleague and it handles really nicely, but the driving position wasnt the best , offset pedal box and steering wheel couldnt be adjusted to suit me ( this was a 156 2002)
Pretty cars to look at , but not in bangernomics teritory yet

Define bargain basement…

A couple of grand will etc you a decent 2005-2009 S60 or V70 T5
5-7k will get you a V70R, especially if you don’t mind a auto and / or Jap import which will have low miles. There’s a couple of beautiful Sonic blues on eBay at the moment for 8-9k.

V60’s are coming down to reasonable money, <10k for a pretty low mileage 14-17plate T3 RDesign with a lot of toys. Buy the 2.0l T3 and it’ll tune to the top side of 200bhp.

Re: VED pre june(?) 2006 and the tax is lower iirc.

I think the 25 -27mpg a V70 T5 acheives will kind of rule that model out though

Two grand is fine, can go over but would prefer to go under. 🙂

Hate to recomend it but the Vectra 2.2 Sri Petrol manual ticks the boxes.
Manufacturer claimed 47mpg extra urban, froma 2.2 petrol with a low but respectble 140bhp
Never driven a Vectra but you still see plenty around
Should be able to find one under £2k

Well, it doesn’t raise the pulse but a Vectra, as you say, ticks many boxes – good shout, ta. 🙂

My mate had a 2.2 vectra, and it would indeed do 46mpg, but only if you made a real, conscious effort to drive economically absolutely all the time.
Actual economy was 27 though.
My old subaru legacy estate averaged 29mpg (manual box 2.0)

I’ve got a signum (mostly the same as a vectra), with the later 140bhp 1.8 vvt engine. Long term fuel economy (over 5 years) is 35mpg. It would be possible to eek a little more out of it if really trying, but I suspect it’s inherently more economical than the much older 2.2l engine, so I’d be surprised if you saw much more than 30mpg out of that.

I think the reason you’re getting more fuel money, is because cars with big engines use more fuel.

A VX220 with the same engine is probably more economical, but probably not comfy and not within budget.

PT cruiser or hyundai coupe might be worth a shout. or some old battlebus that’s been LPG converted?