Volvo V50 DRIVe SE Start/Stop review
by David Finlay (25 February 2011)
On the face of it, there isn't much difference between this Volvo V50 DRIVe and the similarly-named low-CO2 model which was the subject of a CARkeys road test two summers ago. The changes that have been made since then have produced an effect whose usefulness depends largely on where you live.
As before, the V50 DRIVe has a 1.6-litre turbo diesel engine with a start/stop system. That engine has been upgraded to meet the Euro 5 emissions regulations which came into force in January 2011, and is now slightly more powerful, with a maximum output of 114bhp rather than the previous 109bhp. In conjunction with a six-speed manual gearbox (that's one more gear than there used to be) the V50 DRIVe also has lower official CO2 emissions than it used to: the figure has dropped from 104g/km to 99g/km, which is more than slightly impressive for a car of this size.
Both the 99g/km figure and the combined fuel consumption of 74.3mpg also apply to the DRIVe versions of the C30 and S40. Rather strange, that. The C30 in particular is lighter than the V50 and presumably doesn't have to work so hard to push through the air, so how does the V50 achieve the same CO2 rating? Or, to put it another way, if the V50 can manage 99g/km, why can't the C30 do better?
Be that as it may, the 99g/km figure means that the V50 DRIVe is exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty (at least for now), though the previous model only cost £20 a year to tax, and even then you didn't have to pay anything in the first year. Much more significant is the fact that it's also exempt from the London Congestion Charge, potentially saving you lots and lots of money.
That's what I meant when I said that your location has a lot to do with how important the changes to the V50 DRIVe have been. If you live near the charge zone and have to travel into it every day, that 99g/km figure is really super-duper. If you never go within miles of the capital, it's a bit meh.
Not that this is a car that only Londoners might enjoy. The 5bhp power increase might not seem like much, but this version does feel a good bit perkier than the last, and on the back roads of Berkshire it both rode and handled rather well.
For a sub-100g/km car, it's huge, but for a mid-sized estate it's not. The V50 has never been great for rear accommodation, and its luggage figures - 417 litres with the rear seats in place, 1307 litres when they're folded - with the similarly-sized Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra estate models.
Of course, it's more of a premium model than either of those (or at least it's meant to be), but even so it doesn't feel as expensive as it is. At the time of writing, the list price of this mid-range SE model is £24,240, but with the optional satellite navigation, fancy paintwork, upgraded audio, keyless starting, Bluetooth connectivity and winter pack - with the deliciously-named "active bending" headlights - the test car would cost no less than £28,640 new. For a car which exists to provide its owner with low running costs, this did seem rather steep.
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