Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Change of circumstances

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Sun 29 Jan 2012 18:30
Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Change of circumstances - Sidney1972

Looks like Firefox is a better bet than IE9!

OK, lets try again.

So we are a 2 car family, our car is a Volvo V50 2.0 R Design 08 reg and we also have a company car which is a BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics. I travel 90 miles each day to the office and back, so I drive the BMW and my wife drives the Volvo her 10 miles each day.

We don't have any kids or dogs so we don't particularly need an Estate car but I like the Volvo and its really handy when a group of us drive to the Alps each year. The downside is that the MPG is not great on the Volvo - maybe 40MPG which compared to the 51 I can get from the BMW.

Anyway, my wife is changing jobs so we will lose the BMW. We will probably buy something small for her, most likely a mini as that is what she has always wanted, but the question is what to do about the Volvo.

So advice needed in two parts:

The Volvo MPG is poor, so should I change it for a more fuel efficient car or should I hang onto it on the basis that changing the car would cost more than the fuel efficiency gains over the next 4 years?

If I was to change does anyone have any recommendations? I have £16k to spend on a two year old car, I like a car which is sporty, comfortable and can seat 4 people (I car share). Doesn't have to be an estate as I could get a roof box to carry extra stuff but it does have to be FWD for snow and Ice.

Any thoughts

Sid

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Sun 29 Jan 2012 18:42
Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Change of circumstances - thunderbird

The Volvo MPG is poor, so should I change it for a more fuel efficient car or should I hang onto it on the basis that changing the car would cost more than the fuel efficiency gains over the next 4 years?

Sid

You have answered your own question in the section above, do your sums and you will see that it will take years to recover the money you will spend based solely on fuel savings. If the Volvo is fit and healthy keep it until a change can be justified on grounds other than saving money.

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Sun 29 Jan 2012 19:08
Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Change of circumstances - Avant

Welcome to the forum - anything is better than IE9!

I'm not sure I agree with Thunderbird, although I can see his point. If you're doing 20-25,000 miles a year, you can expect some repairs and replacements on a 4-year-old Volvo, and it'll also depreciate fast with the higher mileage.

See what you think of a diesel V50, although in your position my choice would be a Skoda Octavia or Superb with the 2.0 common-rail diesel engine, which you can have with 140 or 170 bhp. If you go for an Octavia vRS, you'll find it sporty enough but you'll need winter tyres as the low-profile tyres are no good in snow.

Edited by Avant on 29/01/2012 at 19:09

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Sun 29 Jan 2012 21:23
Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Volvo V50 2.0 R Design - Change of circumstances - Happy Blue!

Would not have thought that 40mpg from a petrol is poor economy (it is petrol isn't it?).

Also 40mpg driving at 10 miles per day will improve if you are doing 90 miles per day (presumably a lot of these miles are on fast A roads or motorways). So I have a foot in either camp between Thunderbird and Avant. I can see both sides.

Personally, I think that the saving on fuel by buying a reasonable sized four seater capable of taking two people plus equipment to the Alps every year will have to be enormous to justify swapping for a newer car. Yes the Volvo is four years old, but you will subjecting it to a fairly easy life of smooth non-stop journeys each day so reliability should be better than doing mostly urban journeys, espcially in the tyre and suspension arena.

The depreciation hit has already been suffered for a four year old V50, so I would run the car for at least another two years and build up a pot to replace it once it starts to become tired.

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