Is it fair to compare my 2007 Volvo D5's fuel economy against the 2013 model?

I was pleased to get 49.4 mpg real whilst averaging 53mph over 760 miles. The combined "book" figure for my 2007 Volvo D5 manual was shown as 41.5mpg and for model year 2013 is 55.4mpg - a very significant improvement. Even if I were to only get 10mpg better in the real world with a new D5 it would be a good saving. You have often written about real v/s EC mpg, but if the rules for the EC tests have not been changed in the last five years then surely the comparison should still be valid? Is there anything else I should think about with similar performance and carrying capacity?

Asked on 8 November 2012 by DR, via email

Answered by Honest John

I cannot tell you what the real fuel economy of a future model will be. We can only tell you what the real world economy is from real world cars actually out there being used with real people. And all that data is in the real life economy register at www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg. I can tell you that we recently averaged over 50mpg in a KIA Optima 1.7 diesel, so the Hyundai i40 wagon with the same engine should be about the same.

Tags: fuel economy real mpg

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