High mileage driver

[nicwood]

Its been a while since I used to frequent these pages, Ive changed jobs and had quite a few cars since the beloved XC70.

I am once again thinking of getting a Volvo XC, and as I am also thinking of getting a touring caravan to take the kids away on holiday, what better towcar could I get than a well spec'd XC90.

I travel an obscene distance (for the UK that is) to and from work each day and have a round trip of 150m per day, so that is around the 45k miles per year.

I now drive a 2005 Renault Espace MPV (minivan) which has many fine gadgets, (apart from auto, climate, electric this and that) it has a keyless entry and locks itself when you walk away from it, and an absolutely fabulous electric parking brake that releases itself when you drive off.

Back in 2003 when I first considered an XC90, it was a bit on the slow side (well what isnt compared to the fabuous petrol engined XC70) but now they have been out for a while, Id like to know what others think of them from three points:

1) reliability for high mileage drivers
2) comfort for those over 6ft tall
3) servicing costs (the espace is an 18k service interval and costs around GBP 300 for a full service).

Any suggestions or comments gratefully received.

thanks in advance

[nicwood]

took a test drive today, nice car, but could not get more than 28mpg average and at motorway cruising 75mph it went down to 22mpg.

The dealer was adamant that this would be better on a run, but my test drive was 60miles and I dont think it is going to get better.

I was gentle on the acceleration and drove gently..

Anyone else getting better milage from the D5?

[dmd]

For the UK that is a crazy distance.. Well crazy for anyplace

I am almost 6ft-5inches and weigh about 250lbs (OK yes I need to loose some), car has plenty of room for legs and head. This is one of the reasons we have it.

We have the 2.5, they have not yet allowed the Diesel motors here. I can say that diesels need time to seat in. This can take 5-10k miles before they get their best milage. My F350 has a 7.3L turbo diesel that took while to seat in to get to 18MPG. It weighs 8000lbs, so that is pretty good... Used to get 20MPG before they "cleaned up" the diesel fuel here, but now maybe we can get the D5 here.. I hope I hope!! May have to make another trip to Gottenberg to get one of those if they will let me.

[Beiner]

So you're saying that with the new 15ppm sulfur fuel your powerstroke is getting worse mileage? Interesting. I'll have to run a comparison of the trucks we see everyday.

[dmd]

It runs better, smooth and quiet, but the mileage is down. I read a little on it and it seems that with the new fuel the cetain is up (smooth and quiet) but the aromatics are down which causes less BTU. The lower aromatics also are causing older seals to start leaking, aromatics can help old seals stay swollen. Several have reported fuel leaks, Chevron has verified it.

This has nothing to do with fuel in the UK or the mileage there

[$ukh]

took a test drive today, nice car, but could not get more than 28mpg average and at motorway cruising 75mph it went down to 22mpg.

The dealer was adamant that this would be better on a run, but my test drive was 60miles and I dont think it is going to get better.

I was gentle on the acceleration and drove gently..

Anyone else getting better milage from the D5?

Had a 163 bhp D5 and a 185 bhp D5. After the 1st 3 months of ownership, you take the volvo bak to the dealer and they just do some fine tuning to the engine. In the 163 i got 30 - 32mpg and 185 i get 32 -34 mpg.