OT: Volvo V50 diesel MPG

Paul

Paul

I have an 05 registered one as company car with 37k on the clock. I reckon to get about 38mpg on average but it's not my car so it's abused and thrashed (interior resembles a skip most of the time!!). Only thing I do treat it to is decent diesel, not supermarket stuff. My main beef with it is the small fuel tank, only about 350 mile range. Most comfortable car I've ever had though. Previous car was a focus tdci and that did 43 to the gallon no matter how I drove it. Don't read to much into official figures, you'll never get anywhere near them.

Having said that, your fuel consumption doesn't sound right at all but at only 7000miles engine isn't fully bedded in yet plus what was previous owners driving style/useage?

Sean

I wouldn't differentiate between fuel suppliers by discounting (no pun intended) the supermarkets just look for BP pumps the last time I checked they sell diesel with a much higher cetane level than other suppliers at 55 [ BTW in California BP ecd diesel is at 60 !!!]( cetane is the indicator of how fast therefore how completely the fuel burns and therefore higher is generally cleaner ) however certain supermarkets are turning to biodiesel which can be higher rated than most at 51. handy to know also that Tesco are introducing a 99 octane petrol which is close to the old 5 star rating of 101 nice if you have an E type or similar classic and in effort to keep us all happy BP are going sell Ultimate 102 (surprise!) a 102 octane fuel for motorsport enthusiasts. One other thing there is a plant under test which can produce a biodiesel with a cetane number of 75-80 from wood. Derek

The previous owner was the dealer, it was a demo car, so no doubt it was probably thrashed a bit when demo-ing its capabilities. Someone else mentioned that the mileage may have something to do with it, but would it really make that much difference?

Paul

Having never owned a diesel before I didn't realise that there was much difference in diesel ratings. Does it tell you the rating on the pump handle like unleaded does?

Paul

On or around 11 Sep 2006 00:36:01 -0700, "Pacman" enlightened us thusly:

not noticed it.

I have in the past found definite improvement in MPG running on shell when compared to running on murco. The figure was not huge, but measureable - about 3% I think. The motors "feel" better on shell, too.

This is probably a manifestation of the same thing.

UK deisel has a BS number (no idea what!), but we do have "winter diesel" - I'd hazard a guess that Austins 3% is due to having that.

Also,haing speny many happy hours waiting for Avtur to unloaded at Tiverton Junction, it was very obvious that some sort of sharing scheme is/was in operation between the oil companies - the depot was Shell, but BP and other tankers loaded up there regularly.

Biodeisel (or part-biodiesel in this case) from the pumps is dire - my 200Tdi fuel consumption went up by something like 30% when I tired it, and the power dropped embrassingly towards 2.5 NA diesel perfomance. It may just be that one company, but the increased fuel consumption completely negated any environmental benefit and left me extremely concerned about the health of my engine.

Richard

"beamendsltd" wrote :-

it, and the power dropped embrassingly towards 2.5 NA diesel

On or around Mon, 11 Sep 2006 10:38:06 +0100, beamendsltd enlightened us thusly:

don't think so. Possible, though.

Most diesel engines need about 10K miles to bed in nicely so 7K is about there. I won't use supermarket fuel as I believe it is manufactured to minimum standard. I'm fairly sure we dont have 'winter diesel.' any longer unless you live in Scotland - stand to be corrected. Fuel consumption differences could be noticed between full fat and low fat diesels - fat = sulphur but again I'm fairly sure only low sulphur is now available. There are cetane enhancers available I used one some time ago and there was an improvement in performance not sure about mpg but this was in an engine designed for regular sulphur fuel.

PhilC

Most diesel engines need about 10K miles to bed in nicely so 7K is about there. I won't use supermarket fuel as I believe it is manufactured to minimum standard. I'm fairly sure we dont have 'winter diesel.' any longer unless you live in Scotland - stand to be corrected. Fuel consumption differences could be noticed between full fat and low fat diesels - fat = sulphur - but again I'm fairly sure only low sulphur is now available. There are cetane enhancers available I used one some time ago and there was an improvement in performance not sure about mpg but this was in an engine designed for regular sulphur fuel.

PhilC

Thats quite odd I've seen UK Biodiesel cetane rating at >46 which seems very low compared to elsewhere (pump diesel minimum is 51) I reckon there is still work to do and until the bigger oil companies start fighting it out over Bio they have a vested interest in making it seem a poor alternative. So far as winter diesel goes yes come winter the refineries put antiwaxing additives in which is a big improvement on when I used to work out how much Derv we had bunkered and add it in myself. I have fuelled the Merc up recently (after reading the cetane chart which I can't find now ) with BP and yes it does make a noticable difference especially when climbing loaded I would hate to be paying for it myself as the price is 2-3p a litre higher and I do use a fair bit I love my fuel card : ) although I suppose to get the best out of it I should push up the boost pressure slightly not very likely on a leased vehicle

Derek