Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe
Prices: £17,495-£20,345 – on the road
Insurance Group: 8
Emissions: 107g/km
Performance: Max Speed 118mph / 0-60mph 11.4s [est]
Fuel Consumption: (combined) 70.6mpg
Safety: Twin front and curtain airbags, WHIPS seats, side impact protection system
Dimensions: Length/width/height 4476/1770/1454mm

DRIVETIME

Our Rating: 6.9 / 10

If you’re after a more eco-friendly compact executive saloon, then Volvo’s S40 1.6D DRIVe model might fit the bill. Jonathan Crouch checks it out

If you’re after a company car, then you’re also after low CO2 emissions. Come to think of it, even if your car is privately owned, then its green credentials are also pretty important these days. Which is why if you’re running one of those prestigious but thirsty compact executive saloons, you might be thinking of downsizing to something a little smaller.

Before you do, it might be worth checking out the car we’re looking at here, Volvo’s S40 1.6D DRIVe. You probably haven’t heard of Volvo’s ‘DRIVe’ range but you may be familiar with BlueMotion versions of popular Volkswagens or BMW’s EfficientDynamics programme. Even if you’re not, it isn’t a difficult concept to grasp. These are cars that feature a clever package of changes to improve the CO2 emissions and enhance their fuel economy. In other words, you don’t need to buy a very small car to be very green.

So let’s look more closely at this S40 1.6D DRIVe model as an example. Its CO2 figure of 107g/km easily beats the 123g/km of BMW’s 318d ES and the 122g/km of Volkswagen’s Jetta BlueMotion. The fuel economy’s very impressive too, with this car achieving 70.6mpg on the combined cycle and getting on for 75mpg at motorway speeds. It’s a decent improvement over the standard model – which it needs to be to justify the couple of hundred pounds premium that the DRIVe package will cost you.

So how have Volvo created this DRIVe model? Well, there are two headline features. The first is a Start/Stop function that allows the engine to switch off when the car is at a standstill, whilst also maintaining comfort settings such as the air conditioning. The second is a regenerative charge facility. This charges the battery as soon as the driver releases the accelerator or brakes while a gear is engaged. By harnessing the car's kinetic energy, the alternator does not have to use diesel fuel as a power source to recharge the car’s battery.

Otherwise, the Swedish engineers focused on four areas. The first was reduced air resistance. To this end, the chassis height was reduced by approximately 10mm to help reduce drag, then the radiator grille was covered and behind it added a wind-deflecting panel that provides better aerodynamics inside the engine compartment.

Wind deflectors in front of the front wheels steer the airflow and there are aerodynamically optimised wheels with a

Next up, the boffins sought to lower the car’s rolling resistance, adopting a set of new generation Michelin tyres designed for that purpose. Higher gear ratios would also help, they decided, so the gearbox features altered ratios for third, fourth and fifth gears. The longer gear ratios contribute to a 1.5% reduction in fuel consumption without, say Volvo, affecting the drivability of the car.

Finally, a more efficient driveline was targeted, which meant optimisation of engine cooling, engine management and power steering systems. A different transmission oil which creates much lower friction is used in the gearbox and a gearchange indicator in the information display tells the driver the ideal time to change gears.

None of this stuff does much on its own but collectively, it all adds up to a lot. Changing the transmission oil, for example, offers up a 0.75% improvement in fuel consumption. Tyres with low rolling resistance save another 2% and so on. With lower carbon dioxide emissions, the DRIVe models salve Volvo’s conscience by reducing its net contribution to global warming, although the company reckons it was already doing its bit by fitting all its diesel models with a maintenance-free particle filter that traps about 95 percent of all soot particles. Plus of course, if the 1.6D diesel option doesn’t appeal, you could also go green and cut costs by ordering your S40 in Flexifuel form, where it can use part petrol and part bioethanol.

Otherwise of course, it’s the usual S40 recipe, this car on offer as a saloon or, in V50 form (where the ‘DRIVe’ package is also available) as an estate. The 1.6-litre diesel chosen for these modifications was already a very efficient engine, constructed of aluminium and featuring common rail technology and a variable geometry turbocharger. It’s only a fraction slower to 60mph than the comparable 1.6-litre petrol-engined model, dispatching the increment in just 11.8 seconds but its 240Nm torque figure puts even the 2.4-litre