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NEWS
Volvo expands high-efficiency Drive-E lineup
Downsizing strategy continues with three new 2.0-litre fours, all boasting lower fuel consumption and higher performanceVolvo has announced a major overhaul to its drivetrain lineup, adding two new petrol engines and a new diesel to its high-efficiency Drive-E range.
The additions will hail from the same four-cylinder petrol and diesel architectures, with power output variation coming care of different levels of boost from turbocharging and, in the case of the top-shelf T6, the addition of supercharging. In time, further variations will turn up with electrification.
The new, 135kW 2.0-litre D4 twin-turbo diesel will sit midway up a Drive-E oiler line-up ranging from 90kW to 170kW.
At 182kW, the new turbocharged T5 will sit midway up the petrol range carrying the badge, with the new T6 pushing the top end up to 228kW. Drive-E petrol models start at 104kW.
Set for European release in Q3, the petrol T5 and the D4 will appear immediately in most of Volvo’s midsize and larger models: the S60 sedan, V60 wagon, XC60 SUV, the V70 and XC70 wagons, and the S80 sedan.
Volvo has said the trio will arrive Down Under “in due course”. Asked to elaborate, Volvo Car Australia spokesman Oliver Peagam told motoring.com.au it won’t happen until 2014. “We’re still working out what’s appropriate. Eventually the four-cylinder strategy will come to dominate the range, but at the moment it’s too early to say exactly what we’ll see or exactly when.”
Initially at least, only the 60 series cars will get the T6, which uses a crank-driven supercharger to generate boost at low revs. The compressor eliminates the lag inherent to turbos while the engine gets the revs up to generate the exhaust gases that drive them. Once the T6 has spooled up, the supercharger hands over boost duties to the turbo.
Depending on model, the engines will come with a new eight-speed auto transmission or a six-speed manual “enhanced” to improve fuel efficiency.
Derek Crabb, Vice President Powertrain Engineering at Volvo Car Group, said in a statement that all the newcomers provide buyers with a win-win proposition.
“Our four-cylinder engines will offer higher performance than today’s six-cylinder units and lower fuel consumption than the current four-cylinder generation,” he said.
“If you take a four-cylinder Drive-E engine versus any six-cylinder engine, there’s a massive weight and size reduction for the same power. Fuel economy savings are anything from 10 to 30 per cent, depending on which engine you’re comparing it to.”
In time, he added, electrification through PHEV and other technologies will give the engines “power figures in the V8 territory”.
For the D4, Volvo is claiming a world first in a technology it labels i-Art, which uses pressure monitors on individual cylinders rather than a single sensor monitoring aggregate pressure from the common rail. Working in cahoots with exceptionally high-pressure (2500-bar) injectors, the result is greater injector precision to optimise combustion efficiency, per cycle and per chamber. For buyers, that means considerable improvements in fuel economy, emissions and performance “as well as a powerful sound character”.
Volvo has also put plenty of work into other factors affecting efficiency like friction reduction and thermal management.
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Written byJeremy Bass
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