VOLVO THINKING SMALL ON BIG-CAR ENGINES

December 2, 2009
By David Wilkins

Big car, small engine. From a technical point of view, it's an idea whose time has come. Automakers have been wringing more and more power and torque out of their engines for years and, so far, customers seem mainly happy to carry on buying cars with the same engine sizes as before and to take the bonus in the form of improved performance.

But there is an alternative: to reap these advances in terms of economy instead. That means accepting a smaller engine that offers about the same levels of performance as before but much better fuel economy.

A number of automakers have already offered convincing small-engine/big-car combinations of this sort - usually diesels. The best so far is probably the 1.5-litre diesel Renault Laguna station wagon; it works because its engine is quite sweet and willing to rev.IIt's very hard to match its mix of space, comfort and economy.

Mercedes has quietly gone big-car/small-engine in a big way too; a "250" badge on the boot of a C-Class or E-Class no longer signifies a 2.5-litre engine - in the case of petrol it's 1.8 litres and in the case of diesel it's 2.15, although turbocharging means that the performance of either meets the expectations created by the badge.

Anyway, another big car with a small engine has turned up - and a pretty good one it is too. Volvo was already offering economy-oriented DRIVe versions of its smaller cars, the S40 sedan, the C30 hatch and the V50 estate, fitted with a 1.6-litre diesel engine.

Now it's offering the same concept, using the same engine, in its big S80 sedan and V70 estate, cars that are usually bracketed with, say the Audi A6 or BMW 5 Series.

Volvo SA will release the 1.6-litre turbodiesel in South Africa in late January or early February 2010 and a 2.4-litre, front-wheel drive XC60 DRIVe in May.

It sounds unlikely but, after covering several hundred kilometres at the wheel of an S80 DRIVe, I can confirm that this combination works well.

My test of the eco-S80 consisted of sharing a drive, spread over two days, from Volvo's UK HQ to Milan's Malpensa airport, a distance of almost 1300km. The purpose: to test the S80's formidable - in theory, at least - range and the results were very impressive.

I'd imagined that we'd need to resort to the full repertoire of economy driving techniques to succeed but it proved almost embarrassingly easy to get to Milan without running out of fuel.

We made heavy use of cruise control throughout the journey and left the aircon off - although that didn't cause any hardship on a chilly autumn run through northern and central Europe.

1700KM ON A TANK

Each morning we travelled at about 100km/h, mainly running in the slow lane ofthe freeways that made up most of our route; on both days we increased our speed to an average of about 115km/h in the afternoons in the interests of time-keeping.

Apart from staying off the accelerator to exploit the long descent from the Gotthard Tunnel to the Italian border, that was the extent of our concessions to economy driving.

When we arrived in Milan we still had a quarter-tank of fuel left, which the Volvo's trip data computer told us would allow us to travel another 420km before running out. The S80's tank holds 70 litres, implying an average consumption of less than 4.7 litres/100km.

So, if the S80 DRIVe succeeds spectacularly in terms of fuel consumption, how does it perform in other areas? The first thing to say is that, in normal use, it doesn't feel remotely underpowered. The 1.6-litre diesel is smooth and has a wide spread of torque.

Some potential customers are bound to be put off at the brochure-reading stage because they won't believe such a small engine can convincingly power such a big car - but just about everyone who tries it is bound to be converted.

The DRIVe package on the big Volvos is, perhaps, as interesting for what it doesn't include as what it does. You will search in vain, for example, for a six-speed gearbox, a fancy stop-start system to prevent the engine idling during traffic light stops, or little flashing "change up" lights designed to prompt optimal gear-changing behaviour.

TRADITIONAL VOLVO STRENGTHS

Apparently, one reason why these features have not been included is that they would not improve the S80's or the V70's CO2 emissions by a big enough margin to bring any "green tax" savings.

One change is the adoption of electric power-steering as a fuel-saving measure; I can't say conclusively whether that results in much loss of steering feel as our straight freeway trip to Milan, long as it was, provided few oppotunities to to corner with enthusiasm..

Otherwise, the DRIVe version has most of the pros and cons of the standard S80. That means a slightly more relaxed feel than some harder-edged German rivals - but all the traditional Volvo strengths as well.

Our long trip emphasised the benefits of the S80's outstanding seats, which must be among the best on the market, and Volvo's excellent ergonomics. The S80's instrumentation and switchgear appear unremarkable but long acquaintance shows just how well thought-out they are compared with the superficially fancier set-ups found in some other cars.

Volvo expects only a minority of S80 buyers to opt for the DRIVe versions but I think it's probably the pick of the range. – The Independent, London

Volvo S80 DRIVe
UK Price: £22 245 (R272 000)
Engine: 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbodiesel, 80kW/240Nm.
Transmission: Five-speed manual.
Top speed: 190km/h.
Acceleration: 0-100km/h in 11.7sec.
Fuel consumption: 4.9 litres/100km (combined cycle).
CO2 emissions: 129g/km.