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What's your gas mileage?

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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ADK46R
Posts: 24
Joined: 14 December 2009
Year and Model: S70, 1998
Location: Saranac Lake, NY

Re: What's your gas mileage?

Post by ADK46R »

Well I just took our first "highway" trip in the S70 - no Interstate, just 2-lane blacktop (or more to the point, "whitetop" up here in the snow-covered North Country!), but averaging @ 55-60mph, over 125 miles I got a decent 25.1mpg :). Not bad. We'll see how it does during the warmer weather, when the "cold starts, warm-ups" come to and end.

csbrianp
Posts: 54
Joined: 24 May 2004
Year and Model:
Location:
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by csbrianp »

I have a 94 850 turbo, a 96 850R, a 95 850 T5R, all of them get over 25 mpg on the highway. My 94 850 that has the most upgrades done to it can get to 31 if I could just keep my foot out of it. Around town the 94 850 and the 95 850 T5R get 23, the 96 850R gets 21. All of these have 200K+ miles.

I did own a 98 S90 with a 6 cylinder and it still got 21 around town and 25 highway.

Brian

csbrianp
Posts: 54
Joined: 24 May 2004
Year and Model:
Location:
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by csbrianp »

9394volvo850s wrote:
JohnInFlorida wrote:I get 21 mpg in town and 28 mpg on the road (driving steady 70 mph to an from work each day - 80 miles roundtrip). My wife gets 19 mpg in town with an aggressively firm foot.
I changed the spark plugs (Bosch multi prong), oxygen sensor (denso from Autohaus in Az) for 1/2 price and the ignition coils (Bosch - same as original) at 199K. I change the oil at 7,500 mile intervals per the book, keep the tires at 32 psi, change air filter, etc. per book. I try to only use Volvo parts except for wiper blades. Kumho tires (60k miles) are lasting longer than the Michelins (45k miles) at less than half the price.

John in Florida :)
2000 Volvo S70 - has been good to me so far
199,650 miles (trying to take it to 300k & 5 years more)
omg 7,500 mile oil changes, I may throw up, it must look like diesel soot oil. it will never make it to 300K if you dont change the oil more often. I really hope your not doing this on dino oil. Is it a turbo? my 94 Turbo gets 24-26 city highway combined. with all mods in my sig.

wheelsup
Posts: 1296
Joined: 28 June 2005
Year and Model:
Location: Raleigh, NC
Has thanked: 15 times
Been thanked: 20 times

Post by wheelsup »

JohnInFlorida wrote: I change the oil at 7,500 mile intervals per the book, keep the tires at 32 psi, change air filter, etc. per book.
According to the placard on the back of the fuel filler panel you can take the tire PSI to 36 up front and 41 in the back. This is cold, add 4 PSI to the tires if hot.

Of course check your placards as the PSI's might be different on your car.
1995 850 GLT Wagon w/ 200,000 miles

turbotim2
Posts: 708
Joined: 4 February 2005
Year and Model:
Location: Maine

Post by turbotim2 »

9394volvo850s wrote: omg 7,500 mile oil changes, I may throw up, it must look like diesel soot oil. it will never make it to 300K if you dont change the oil more often. I really hope your not doing this on dino oil. Is it a turbo? my 94 Turbo gets 24-26 city highway combined. with all mods in my sig.

Volvos have been clearing 300k long before the invention of synthetic oil. My manual says change the oil every 10k unless hauling a lot. I do it at 5k just because. Hell I had a POS Jetta that I literally never changed the oil in and got 250k before I sold it!

Anyway - 96 850 NA (X2) - get 25-30 mpg depending on travel type, usually more near 25.
2004 XC70

2005 S60 2.5T AWD (gone)

1996 850 GLT Wagon in Blue (gone)

1996 850 GLT Wagon in Green (gone)

9394volvo850s
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 October 2009
Year and Model: 93 850 5spd 94 850T5
Location: New York

Post by 9394volvo850s »

im not saying its not possible on anything other then synthetic. but if they tell you change it every 3K and every volvo goes 1,000,000 before it dies then they wont sell any new cars and will make no money. doing it every 10K is insane. and ive seen cars come from dealer oil changes at my shop and the oil is black. if you never blow it up they go down the toilet. and the older RWD models were more reliable. its almost a fact. i mean you dont have to shower every day. once a every 7 days you would be very dirty.
93 850 5spd 320k (the daily)
94 850 T5 190K (race car)
95 T-5R wagon yellow (summer wag)
90 745 5spd 295k (winter wag)
67 122 2 door 4spd 69k :))

IVIUSTANG
Posts: 562
Joined: 14 February 2009
Year and Model: 2006 XC70
Location: Saskatchewan. Canada
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by IVIUSTANG »

I am finishing a 10000 KM oil change interval very soon and am sending a sample in for a UOA at Blackstone this should be pretty conclusive.

- Jesse
1998 S70 T5 SE 290,000 KM sideswiped total loss(Sweet ride!)
2007 S60 2.5T loaded 63,000 KM SOLD!
2006 XC70 350,000 KM, 2" BadSwede lift kit, steel skidplate, Hilton Stage 1 tune, big burly tires :D
2008 S80 V8 245,000 KM SOLD!
2015 V60 T5 Premier+ 98,000KM

turbotim2
Posts: 708
Joined: 4 February 2005
Year and Model:
Location: Maine

Post by turbotim2 »

IVIUSTANG wrote:I am finishing a 10000 KM oil change interval very soon and am sending a sample in for a UOA at Blackstone this should be pretty conclusive.

- Jesse
Just as the military does, would be interested in the results. It is rare for some of the military hardware to require oil changes in 3,000 miles, even in the heavy diesels. They test the oil to make sure it is still good rather then just changing it because the oil companies suggest you should do it every 3,000 miles.

It is actually an interesting trade off. In the 70's when oil prices were going way up and car companies started making smaller, more efficiant vehicles, they made a deal with oil companies to put in their manuals that the oils needed to be changed twice as often. People bought it!
2004 XC70

2005 S60 2.5T AWD (gone)

1996 850 GLT Wagon in Blue (gone)

1996 850 GLT Wagon in Green (gone)

JohnInFlorida
Posts: 15
Joined: 14 January 2010
Year and Model: 2000 S70
Location: florida

Post by JohnInFlorida »

wheelsup wrote:
JohnInFlorida wrote: I change the oil at 7,500 mile intervals per the book, keep the tires at 32 psi, change air filter, etc. per book.
According to the placard on the back of the fuel filler panel you can take the tire PSI to 36 up front and 41 in the back. This is cold, add 4 PSI to the tires if hot.

Of course check your placards as the PSI's might be different on your car.
My plackard says 32 psi front/29 psi back optional.
I found that if I go up to 36 or higher that they wear extremely fast in the middle groves here in Florida because of the heat. At 32 with rotating them, they last longer.

I honestly believe that my S70 will last 300k miles. I turned over 200k and it still has the strong power that it did when I bought it. It glides on the highway.
John In Florida
2000 S70 with 230k miles
1998 S70 Turbo with 202k miles
as of 6/30/12

JohnInFlorida
Posts: 15
Joined: 14 January 2010
Year and Model: 2000 S70
Location: florida

Post by JohnInFlorida »

9394volvo850s wrote:
JohnInFlorida wrote:I get 21 mpg in town and 28 mpg on the road (driving steady 70 mph to an from work each day - 80 miles roundtrip). My wife gets 19 mpg in town with an aggressively firm foot.
I changed the spark plugs (Bosch multi prong), oxygen sensor (denso from Autohaus in Az) for 1/2 price and the ignition coils (Bosch - same as original) at 199K. I change the oil at 7,500 mile intervals per the book, keep the tires at 32 psi, change air filter, etc. per book. I try to only use Volvo parts except for wiper blades. Kumho tires (60k miles) are lasting longer than the Michelins (45k miles) at less than half the price.

John in Florida :)
2000 Volvo S70 - has been good to me so far
199,650 miles (trying to take it to 300k & 5 years more)
omg 7,500 mile oil changes, I may throw up, it must look like diesel soot oil. it will never make it to 300K if you dont change the oil more often. I really hope your not doing this on dino oil. Is it a turbo? my 94 Turbo gets 24-26 city highway combined. with all mods in my sig.

Stay in touch and I will send you some pic's of my car in 2015 when it has passed the 300k mark. It glides on the highway and I ride in a fairly clean environment. I use regular oil and it doesn't have any modifications.
John In Florida
2000 S70 with 230k miles
1998 S70 Turbo with 202k miles
as of 6/30/12

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