help S40 fuel economy

I've just boust a 6 year old s40 its reading 34mpg on the computer average and an average speed of 37 mph. I thought these were supposed to average about 50mpg Have I bougt a lemon? Jon

Hi before you panic I would fill her to the brim and drive as normal till around 1/4 tank left then brim it up again make note of how many miles covered and cost pl then go here fill in all the details and voila. You'll know all you need. If its low go from there, don't forget an average is just that not the actual consumption, plus fuel comps can be notoriously dodgy. Ali

Hi Jon, Which engine is it? It really depends on when the average mpg meter was reset and what sort of driving it has been doing during that time. If it is mainly round town then I would suggest the figure is correct. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the average speed one, it continues to calculate this when the car is stationary ie in traffic (as does the average mpg) so it will drop off. If you are doing mainly urban runs then don't expect it to get above about 20mph!! Try reseting both and see what happens. It won't be accurate straight away as it will have to build up to a settled figure. I would suggest that a couple of tank fulls will give you an accurate reading. At first the average mpg reading will go up and down like a 'w**res draws' but give it a few weeks and it should settle. I try to reset mine once a year to get an idea of whole year average mpg.

Depending on the engine 34 average isn't 2 bad at all,i've had 2 2.0 S40's. The first 1 averaged 35ish round town+ the 1 i,ve got now is struggling to do 30!!. If it's a diesel you may get over 40 but other than that it sounds about right to me

I struggle to see 18 mpg around town plus I dream of an average of 34 mpg even on a run. Ali

I don't think the mpg looks too bad, depends on engine size how you drive and how well the engine is running, saying that I got quite an increase to mine by changing the gearbox oil and engine oil, the stuff in it was very old when I bought it. There is also the newer A5 spec oil which is meant to save on gas but don't know how suitable it is as ACEA say it isn't suitable for some engines. :)

Volvo and 50mpg in the same breath? Errr, no. One or t'other. As the mad taff says, with a diesel you might get that on a downhill run, but 34mpg is a pretty decent return for a petrol variant. I think we've just about had that out of the S40 on a good run in the past, but that was driving sensibly on clear roads.

Agree - I managed 36.8 once but long motorway runs usually result in 34ish. Locally i do 29/30 mpg but if really short journeys can get down to 25/26... :(