Almost 40 mpg!

Post by **jblackburn** » 02 May 2011, 09:47

I went on a road-trip this weekend, managing the best gas mileage round-trip that I've ever gotten from this car. I took Hwy 460 that ranges from speeds of 25-60 mph. Most of this leg of the trip was cruising at 60-65 mph (5 over whatever the speed limit is) - a few rolling hills but not too many.

Look at this! 39.3 mpg over 40.6 miles of driving! That's incredible for one of these old Volvos - and still great for any modern car this size.

No, I didn't cheat - the gas gauge indicated between 18 and 16, so I really had only used about 1 gallon! Running standard tire pressures and 89 octane gas, windows down and sunroof open. I just took it easy on the pedal.

After that, I got into downtown Roanoke traffic where there's a stoplight every few blocks (always red!), and my figure dropped to about 32 mpg, but I was still going easy and even with all that stoplight to stoplight driving there and in Lynchburg, wound up getting 34 mpg on that entire leg of the 100 mile trip, verified at the pump.

Pretty good for an old T5

elchopperfreak · Post by **elchopperfreak** » 02 May 2011, 10:03

Cool
Thats Toyota Yaris mpg there..
And.. i wish..

daedalus · Post by **daedalus** » 02 May 2011, 17:27

See this? >>>>

That is MPG envy right there, folks. My commute has me on the highway for about 15 minutes, but then I run smack into stop signs and traffic lights.....friggin' mpg killers.

Post by **Fish stick88** » 02 May 2011, 17:42

Thats Awesome! Do you happen to have new spark plugs? air Filter? fuel additive? I WANT THAT!

Post by **Fish stick88** » 02 May 2011, 17:43

And, When you say "light on the pedal" do you mean stay under a certain Rpm or what? i generally try to stay under 2.25 rpms and its slow, but get descent milage..

Post by **cn90** » 02 May 2011, 17:47

Actually the 850, S/V70 series cannot get 39-40 mpg.

The best way to measure gas mileage is to fill it up and drive constantly on highway for 2300-300 miles, fill it up and measure the mpg.

I virtually never rely on the dash calculation because it is an "electronic algorithm".

Post by **jblackburn** » 02 May 2011, 17:57

I was proud, I never get anywhere close to that high! I usually manage around 27-29 highway.

I was letting it shift around 2000 RPM when I was in traffic (it still went down significantly). Keep in mind this was straight driving at speed for 40 miles; I let speed fall off a little bit on hills, and never ran into any lights/stop signs or anything until that stop when I took the picture.

I've always found the dash calculator on mine to be very accurate - it's very close to the miles/gallons calculation you do at the pump, and that usually depends on exactly how much was in the tank to begin with (I usually top off - you can usually fit another few $ in there). Overall, I returned 34.3 mpg from 105 miles of driving; 32.5 on the way back where I took the interstate the last leg of the trip and another 100 miles.

Post by **1997volvo850** » 02 May 2011, 19:22

The specs I found on the S70 indicate 18-20 city and 25-29 highway. I suspect if Volvo could get
40 MPG out of the S70 they would claim at least that much. Maybe I need to make the same
mods you have made...

The miles in between fill-ups and the gallons consumed works pretty well for me. Unfortunately my
850 seems to be down to 20 MPG. Not sure what the high impact items are that I can replace to
get it back to the 25 MPG I was getting a year or so ago for the same driving.

Post by **Fish stick88** » 02 May 2011, 19:36

Mines down there too... I've been trying to keep my aggressive driving technique down and going slow, but either way its not that great. It seems like my engine is starving itself too, maybe an effort to only use so much gas, i'd do anything to improve my milage..

Post by **jblackburn** » 02 May 2011, 19:47

No crazy mods here, promise! I've never cleaned the K&N filter since it was put in a few years ago, and I'm running mid-grade gas

Under normal circumstances, my numbers are much lower. And at one point, due to a bad O2 sensor, it fell to around 20 mpg as the best I was getting. But any kind of car will get higher than those EPA numbers if you baby it - those are for the average driver, based on average acceleration rates and driving habits. I've consistently gotten 32+ mpg out of the S70 on the highway down to the beach a few times.

It just might kill you to drive that slow on a normal basis; I admit it's not very fun to keep your foot out of the turbo entirely