| Long Term Test | Volvo S40 DRIVe |
| Arrival date: | | August 2009 |
| Price: | | £20,245 (including £900 of options) |
| Current mileage: | | 5,070 miles |
| Average economy: | | 44.6mpg |
| Relevant links: | |
Euro NCAP results for SEAT Leon
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Been anywhere interesting?
Well, there's been a lot of being stuck in snow and a trip to the Mill Car Clinic, but let's deal with the white stuff first. It's amazing how many people said, "ooh, it's great that you've got a Volvo during this weather" at our house over Christmas. I can see the logic - Sweden's quite cold - but actually, the S40 was as hopeless as any other low-powered, front-wheel drive saloon on regular tyres would be. Granted, it didn't break down while sat for days under four inches of snow, but a master of snow conquering traction it certainly was not.
Anyway, let's talk about the car clinic. We had a little crash. Classic really: an inattentive man went into the back of the Volvo while Mrs. Nichol was at a roundabout taking little Sammy to nursery. Thankfully everyone was ok - it was low speed - but what appeared to be minimal damage turned into a £503.11 mini-drama. Turns out the whole rear bumper needs to be replaced because it's deformed, and the crash-absorbing structure underneath (a concertina of plastic) has probably smashed. As you can tell from the change to present tense there, it's not been fixed yet.
Anything stand out...?
We said during the
last report that we were in the throes of an empirical fuel economy test, involving draining a tank with leaden-footed normality, and another with pure, harrowing parsimony in mind. The results are in, and they're surprising.
...and for the wrong reasons?
We've moved onto the 'wrong reasons' section abruptly because of the fact that, heavy foot or not, there's a crushing chasm between real world fuel economy and official combined economy with this car. Firstly, we got really bored during the second, fuel-sipping tank about halfway through - sorry - so we went back to 'normal'. Still, after an average of 46.7mpg, the second tank hit the dizzy heights of 51mpg before we got sick, and then dropped to 47.3mpg by the time the tank had drained. And if you look at the figure at the top of this, we've now dropped down to 44.6mpg, though that's largely to do with all the icy wheel spin while being stuck on drives, and generally driving in sub-zero temperatures and all the extra demands on a car that brings.
The point is, no matter how hard we tried (and during that half tank we
really did) we couldn't get anywhere close to the 72.4mpg quoted combined figure. Admittedly, 51mpg is phenomenal real world economy, but the lesson is - as if you didn't already know this - take manufacturers' quoted mpg figures with a pinch of nonexistent council grit.
Where next?
The S40 returns to Volvo shortly, so we're probably not able to report on its repair because we expect the work will go to Volvo's preferred fixer. So, over the next few weeks, we and our mildly scuffed (yet apparently completely knackered) rear bumper - complete with still properly functioning parking sensors - will be doing the usual: struggling to get the buggy into the boot, dismaying at the stereo's inability to play music appropriately loudly, but otherwise happy with its ride comfort, relative fuel economy, sweet gearchange and pleasant cabin ambience.
