Volvo V50 DRIVe outside BCM towers: think of it as a supermini masquerading as a compact estate car
Brilliant economy defies belief
WHEN the Volvo delivery driver dropped the V50 DRIVe off at BCM towers he chuckled as he handed over the keys. “I’ve just done a brim check. The computer said it was doing 64.8mpg on the way down. It was right…”
Volvo seems to have really pulled off a neat fuel-saving trick with the DRIVe range – the models with the dysfunctional capital ‘e’ in their nomenclature. Lowered suspension, aerodynamic tweaks, reduced friction – a tinker here, some CO2 saved there, and so on. But now with added Start-Stop – the auto engine cut-out feature which works when you are stationary – there is more fuel saved and lower emissions. The official figures are 72.4mpg and 104g/km of CO2.
To put that into perspective you would have to drive a MINI Cooper diesel to equal that; and something like a Smart ForTwo Coupe or Toyota iQ to better it – cars which could probably squeeze in the V50’s boot.
Talking of the V50’s boot, there’s a neat little touch. A divider pulls up from the floor with an elastic restraining strap – so you can store your supermarket shopping without the contents scattering all over the boot floor on the way home. Neat.
